Charter schools have grown from educating fewer than 50,000 Georgia students in 2005-06 to 265,431 for the 2014-15 school year, the annual state report on charter schools says.
That 265,431 students includes, however, all the students in public systems, such as Fulton County, that have been recognized as charter systems. Of the 382 charters schools in the state, 87 are start-up charters, created from the ground up.
The report breaks down some of the numbers among tradtional and charter schools and shows a mixed record in test results.
Over the last two years, system charter schools scored the highest on College and Career Readiness Performance Index tests, the state’s system for rating school performance. Conversion charter schools, those that were once traditional public schools but are now charter, came in second while non-charter schools came in third. Charter start-ups finished last.
There were some bright spots for start-up charters. On the 2013-14 reading tests, 50.7 percent of students in start-ups exceeded the reading standard; and 50.5 percent of charter system students did. Charter conversions came in third at 48.8; and among non-charters it was 46.9 percent of students.
