NZEI Simply Wrong On Charter School Facts

"NZEI Secretary Paul Goulter is simply wrong when he says that charter schools have failed overseas," says ACT Leader David Seymour

"Anyone with Google can quickly find that the schools have raised student achievement above that of local state schools wherever they have been tried.

"In the United States, the most comprehensive research comes from Stanford University's Center for Research in Educational Outcomes (CREDO) has made findings such as: 'Students in poverty, black students, and those who are English language learners (ELL) gain significantly more days of learning each year in both reading and math compared to their traditional public school peers.' and 'This research shows that many urban charter schools are providing superior academic learning for their students, in many cases quite dramatically better. These findings offer important examples of school organization and operation that can serve as models to other schools, including both public charter schools and traditional public schools.' in numerous studies such as this.'

"In the Canadian province of Alberta, which has Charters, research has found: 'that charter schools, although small in number, generate much better results when compared to other schools where students come from the same social and economic background.'

"In Sweden, research has found 'an increase in the [charter] school share of municipality school students moderately improves short-term educational outcomes in grade 9 (15-16 years).'

"Anyone with Google can see that Goulter's claims are untrue. He is either too thick or too dishonest to debate on the facts.

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