National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Announces Enhanced 'Dashboard' With Searchable Data on Nearly 5,000 Charter Schools

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The "Public Charter School Dashboard," a database of statistics on nearly 5,000 public charter schools, is now upgraded and includes search capabilities for individual charter school data, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools announced today.

In 2009, the Alliance released the most comprehensive set of charter school data ever made publicly available, the Public Charter School Dashboard. It is now upgraded, so users can search for individual charter schools by location, name, management organization and various accolades including performance data benchmarks and recognition under the U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools Program.

"We hope the Public Charter School Dashboard continues to be a valuable resource to all who are interested in the performance of public charter schools. Many of our constituents, including parents, lawmakers and the general public need accurate, timely information about the quality and growth of charter schools in order to make informed decisions that will continue to fuel innovation in public education," said Nelson Smith, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

"We are thrilled to be able to offer this expanded capability to our partners in the education, research and public policy sectors," said Anna Nicotera, Director of Research for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. "Equipped with the tools to sort and define search parameters, users will have access to performance data that's consistent across states and allows for comparison," she added.

The Public Charter School Dashboard is built from a database of statistics and indicators about the growth and quality of public charter schools. It includes a more than 10-fold increase in the amount of the data previously available, two important academic performance indicators (ACT scores and SAT scores), individual dashboards for each of the 41 jurisdictions with charter schools, and a companion on-line database of this report that allows users to create their own custom reports.

As several recent studies show public charter schools outperforming traditional public schools in cities like Chicago, New York City and Boston, the availability of comparable data across states continues to limit the ability of researchers to answer questions about charter school performance. To help address this challenge, the Public Charter School Dashboard now offers researchers and policymakers access to an online database tracking adequate yearly progress, standardized test scores like NAEP, SAT, and ACT, and other performance indicators.

About the Alliance: The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (http://www.publiccharters.org/) is the national nonprofit organization committed to advancing the charter school movement. The Alliance works to increase the number of high performing charter schools available to all families, particularly low-income and minority families who currently do not have access to quality public schools. The Alliance provides assistance to state charter school associations and resource centers, develops and advocates for improved public policies, and serves as the united voice for this large and diverse movement. Over 4,900 charter schools serve 1.6 million students in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

SOURCE National Alliance for Public Charter Schools

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