A Think Twice Review of:

The Impact of Milwaukee Charter Schools on Student Achievement

Think Twice - May 05, 2009

Publisher/Think Tank - Brookings Institution

Author(s) -

This report finds that there are no math achievement gains and small gains in reading in students who attend Milwaukee charter schools when compared to traditional public schools. The report also found that there is no evidence that the presence of charter schools influences that performance in traditional public schools.

Reviewer(s) - Robert Bifulco, Syracuse University

Though Bifulco finds that the methods used in the study have important strengths, he identifies several questions about the internal and eternal validity of the reported estimates. He indicates that this report is most informative when considered in the context of the larger body of research on charter schools. He finds the report's conclusion that charter schools "should not be expected to be the silver bullet that some reformers seek" to be reasonable.