A new editorial from JerseyCan examines the student body and student outcomes in Camden’s hybrid district/renaissance schools. Here are some facts, unsullied by anti-charter propaganda.

Who they are:

• During KIPP, Uncommon, and Mastery’s first year serving Camden students grades K-5, 99% of KIPP students, 97% of Uncommon students, and almost 97% of Mastery students qualified for free lunch.
• 16% of KIPP kindergarteners, 17% of Uncommon kindergarteners, and 19% of Mastery kindergarteners were classified as special education students.
• 5% of KIPP students and 10% of Mastery students are ELL, or English Language Learners.

How they did:

• Uncommon Prep’s students began in fall 2014 with only 19% of students hitting proficiency benchmarks. By June, 90% of students “were at or above end-of-year benchmarks” in language arts. In math, 36% of students hit proficiency benchmarks last September; by June, “84% were proficient.”
• KIPP kindergarteners began last year with 37% hitting proficiency benchmarks in reading and ended the year at 63%. “In fact, KIPP went from having 10% of its students in the top quartile to 41% in the top quartile in reading.” In math, students demonstrated similar progress, moving over the year from 25% proficiency to 68% proficiency. In the beginning of the year, 5% of KIPP kindergarteners were tin the top quartile, while at the end of the year 51% were in the top quartile.
• At Mastery, “the average student gained significantly more than a year, and third-graders actually grew by 1.8 grade levels in a single year.”

For the complete report, see here.