L.A. Magnets Outscore Charters on 2016 Tests
Both magnets and charters are schools of choice, and it is more appropriate to compare these schools than to compare charters to Los Angeles Unified School District traditional neighborhood schools. When these schools of choice are compared, magnets outperformed charters by large margins (11-21 percentage points) at every grade level on the English Language Arts (ELA) and Math sections of 2016 Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium tests.
Percent Met or Exceeded Standards
2016 SBAC English Language Arts
|
Magnets
|
Charters
|
Grade 3
|
57%
|
42%
|
Grade 4
|
58%
|
43%
|
Grade 5
|
62%
|
47%
|
Grade 6
|
56%
|
37%
|
Grade 7
|
57%
|
39%
|
Grade 8
|
60%
|
42%
|
Grade 11
|
76%
|
65%
|
All Grades
|
61%
|
45%
|
Percent Met or Exceeded Standards
2016 SBAC Math
|
Magnets
|
Charters
|
Grade 3
|
60%
|
47%
|
Grade 4
|
53%
|
37%
|
Grade 5
|
44%
|
31%
|
Grade 6
|
45%
|
25%
|
Grade 7
|
47%
|
26%
|
Grade 8
|
47%
|
26%
|
Grade 11
|
46%
|
33%
|
All Grades
|
48%
|
31%
|
This year's release (available here) by LAUSD's Office of Data and Accountability allows a much more detailed comparison of charters and magnets than was previously possible, including what kinds of students go to each type of school and how well they perform.
Consider English Learners (ELs). These students comprised 19% of charter school test takers and only 5% of those from magnet schools. ELs is the only sub-group in which charters outperformed magnets. On the English Language Arts assessment, ELs at charters outperformed ELs at magnets by five percentage points (11% to 6%), and on the L.A. Magnets Outscore Charters on 2016 Tests - On California - Education Week:
