Exploring Charter School Innovation: A Comparison of Popular Charter School Models

ABSTRACT This paper expands on previous work on charter school typology and presents disparities in standardized test outcomes across models by using standardized Z-Scores weighted by NAEP performance. Analyses indicate that in ELA, Classical schools have the highest relative performance, followed by Montessori and Art schools. In math, Classical schools once again have the highest relative performance, followed by Montessori and STEM schools. For reasons discussed in the paper it is premature to posit causality, so the results should instead be viewed as descriptive. We suggest a more pluralistic testing framework may be appropriate when evaluating the performance of specialized schools.