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N.J. approves a record number of charter schools: 23

Gov. Christie on Tuesday announced the approval of 23 new charter schools - by far a state record that will substantially boost the number of charters.

Gov. Christie on Tuesday announced the approval of 23 new charter schools - by far a state record that will substantially boost the number of charters.

Besides announcing the charter winners, which include four in South Jersey, Christie also called for far-reaching changes to the state charter law that would greatly increase the entities that could approve charters, encourage more new and different kinds of charters, and provide greater flexibility to the schools.

"We cannot ask children and families that have been relegated to failing public schools to wait any longer for relief while their hope is stolen away," Christie said in a statement.

In September, six charters were approved, a more typical number. Charters are publicly funded schools that operate independently of local school boards.

Come next September, New Jersey's total number of charters will be 97, educating about 25,000 students, according to state education spokesman Alan Guenther. Six of the 23 announced Tuesday will open later.

Locally, the newly announced approvals are for the Camden Community Charter School in Camden City, serving kindergarten through eighth grade; the Kingdom Charter School in Gloucester Township, serving kindergarten through sixth grade; the New Jersey Virtual Academy for high school dropouts in Camden, Perth Amboy, Neptune, and Paterson; and the Willingboro Academy Charter School, serving kindergarten through fifth grade, and ninth through 12th grades.

Charter schools, a major component of Christie's education agenda, are generating much interest locally and nationally. However, data also released Tuesday by the state suggest a mixed review of how the schools are performing.

The majority of charters in urban areas outperformed their district's other public schools on state tests taken last year, according to the state. In the eighth grade, 79 percent of those students scored higher than their home district average in language arts and 69 percent performed better in math.

That, however, does not mean the schools necessarily scored well. The majority of the test-taking charter grades scored below the state average, according to the data released.

In Camden, for example, the average eighth-grade math score last year at LEAP Academy University Charter School was 42.4 percent, and at the D.U.E. Season Charter School it was 23.9 percent. Both were better than the district average of 17.3 percent but well below the state average of 68.5 percent.

Assessing charter schools is highly controversial, and the findings of various studies conflict depending on what variables are considered.

Some studies have found more improvement performance among students who won lotteries to gain admittance than other students who tried to get into a charter but were unsuccessful.

On the other hand, a 2009 report by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University that analyzed data from 15 states, but not including New Jersey and the District of Columbia, found that only 17 percent of charters reported academic gains significantly better than traditional public schools. The study, which did not compare lottery winners and losers, also found 37 percent of the charters showed fewer gains than their traditional counterparts, and for 46 percent, there was no difference.

Carlos Perez, head of the New Jersey Charter Schools Association, said that he did not excuse schools with low test scores, but that test data alone do not reflect the academic gains students from low-performing districts may make after changing to a charter.

"We do need to make some account for student growth," he said.

And while Perez was "excited" by Christie's announcement, he said his organization's goal was high-quality charters, not just more.

To that end, he applauded Christie's proposal to require charters to enter performance contracts. He said he hoped that the proposal to make 31 public colleges and all local school boards eligible to became charter authorizers would be fashioned in a way that would result in greater oversight of charters.

Steve Baker, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, expressed concern that such rapid charter expansion and potentially numerous charter authorizers carrying out "a political imperative" could result in less quality control.

A proposal to eliminate teacher tenure at charters, where turnover is high, would "introduce more insecurity into the charter workforce," and worsen the problem, Baker said.

Leading Democrats also expressed some reservations.

Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D., Essex) cautioned that charters are not an educational fix-all.

"While we support charter schools, we also know that not all charter schools are successful, and they cannot be the lone solution to problems plaguing poor and urban schools," Oliver said. "We need a comprehensive approach that also touches upon the social and economic factors that lead to children performing poorly in schools."

Assembly Education Committee Chairman Patrick J. Diegnan Jr. (D., Middlesex) said he shared the governor's support of charter schools but said their expansion needed to done in a way that also assured quality.

"We have to be certain we don't get ahead of ourselves," he said.