Arizona is home to 556 charter schools serving 170,755 students, representing 30 percent of schools and 15 percent of students in the 2015-16 school year. Charter schools are public schools that are innovative while still being held accountable for improved student achievement. Arizona laws provide public charter schools more autonomy in exchange for greater accountability for improved student achievement.
NAEP
Recent data indicate that Arizona’s charter students outperformed nearly every other state on the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress. On eighth grade mathematics, for instance, Arizona charter students scored in a statistical dead heat with Massachusetts, the highest scoring of the 50 states.
AzMERIT
The Arizona Department of Education reported AzMERIT data for 1,925 schools, enrolling about 1,077,740 students in the 2014-15 school year.
- 523 (27 percent) are public charter schools (15 percent of state enrollment).
- 1,402 (73 percent) are public district schools (85 percent of state enrollment).
Noted Achievements
- Charter students outperformed the state average of students passing the test in ELA and Math by 5-12 percentage points in every grade level.
- 49 of the top 50 LEAs on the English/Language Arts exam are charters, when looking at percent of students passing the test.
- 49 of the top 50 LEAs on the Math exam are charters, when looking at percent of students passing the test.
