The Effect of Co-locations on Student Achievement in NYC Public Schools

Think Twice review reveals limitations

EAST LANSING, Mich. (Apr. 15, 2014) – A recent report by Marcus Winters of the Manhattan Institute argues that co-locations of charter schools with traditional public schools have no statistical impact on traditional public school achievement in New York City. However, a review of the report out today finds that the report omitted important details about its analysis, which provides little help to policymakers attempting to evaluate the effects of co-locations.

The report, The Effect of Co-locations on Student Achievement in NYC Public Schools , attempts to determine whether co-locations influence school academic outcomes. Tina Trujillo, assistant professor at University of California Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education, and Marialena Rivera, a doctoral student, reviewed the report for the Think Twice think tank review project. The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) produced the review with funding from the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.

The reviewers found that the report omits important details about its analysis, thereby making its validity difficult to determine. Additionally, the report narrowly focuses on standardized test scores as the ultimate outcome of schooling, neglecting important outcomes related to socio-emotional development, safety, health, and broader academic experiences.

The report suffers from three major limitations:

It does not adequately build on existing research or background information

The analysis is poorly documented, lacking sufficient methodological transparency

It perpetrates an overly narrow focus on standardized test scores as the ultimate outcome of schooling

Trujillo and Rivera note in their review that the report takes on several complicated research questions that are not easily answered. However, because of a lack of transparency behind the design and analysis, the report requires a certain amount of trustworthiness.

Given the limitations of the report, the authors conclude “neither policymakers nor practitioners can use this report to make informed decisions about the effects of co-location on students’ educational experiences and outcomes, both of which are inextricably linked with their opportunities for and access to high-quality conditions for teaching and learning.”

Find this Think Twice Review on the Great Lakes Center website:

http://www.greatlakescenter.org

Find The Effect of Co-locations on Student Achievement in NYC Public Schools on the web:

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/cr_85.pdf

Think Twice, a project of the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) , provides the public, policymakers and the press with timely, academically sound reviews of selected publication. The project is made possible with funding from the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.

The review can also be found on the NEPC website:

http://nepc.colorado.edu

The mission of the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice is to support and disseminate high quality research and reviews of research for the purpose of informing education policy and to develop research-based resources for use by those who advocate for education reform.

Visit the Great Lakes Center Web Site at: http://www.greatlakescenter.org .

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Contact:
Tina Trujillo, (510) 517-0874, trujillo@berkeley.edu
Dan Quinn, (517) 203-2940, dquinn@greatlakescenter.org