Dive Brief:

• A new study analyzes the 2013 Illinois Standard Achievement Test (ISAT) scores of Chicago charter school students and traditional public school students, finding that charter schools do not perform any better than their traditional counterparts.
• The report, conducted by the Chicago Sun-Times and the Medill Data Project at Northwestern University, not only found similar scores but also that, in 2013, Chicago Public Schools had a higher percentage of elementary students exceeding the ISAT standards than privately run charter or contract schools. 
• News of the report contradicts some of the rhetoric Mayor Rahm Emanuel has pushed in his promotion of charter schools. 

Dive Insight:

Currently, Chicago has over 130 charter schools, with more slated to open next school year. Their popularity has been on the rise, with much help from current Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has made great strides to push the number of charter schools in the city.

While charter school advocates may be quick to write off the study since the number of students evaluated was so different (the analysis reviewed scores of almost 173,000 Chicago Public School students and more than 23,000 charter school students), the actual study analyzed findings in terms of percentage of those reviewed, which does provide a bit more validity. That said, since the pools were not the same, there is definitely room for critics to question the findings.