Taken as a group, Los Angeles charter schools outperform Los Angeles Unified School District across all grade levels on the Academic Performance Index (API), California’s primary academic accountability metric for schools, says Sierra Jenkins in a press release by CalCharters.

“Charter schools in Los Angeles are showing incredible academic growth,” said Jed Wallace, President and CEO of the California Charter Schools Association.

“They are demonstrating that charters are fulfilling the promise of reinventing public education.“

The number of charter schools has grown dramatically in Los Angeles, from 10 schools in 1994 to 183 LAUSD-authorized schools serving more than 77,000 students in the 2010-11 school year.

An analysis of data also found that all but one of the new charter schools authorized by the Los Angeles School Board during the first phase of its Public School Choice initiative outperformed similar new schools run by LAUSD.

Despite that success, the Board on Tuesday voted to severely restrict the ability of charter operators from applying to run new schools in the next round of Public School Choice.

“Clearly charter schools in LA are offering the kinds of innovative successful programs that are achieving results for kids and that parents and the public want to see within our public education system,” said Wallace.

“The Board’s decision yesterday however demonstrates just how hard reforming public education can be.”

In analysis of the data, it is interesting to point out that both LAUSD and charter schools have seen their median API scores increase in the past four years.

Charters have seen bigger cumulative gains than the district over that period at the elementary and high school levels.

The difference between district and charter performance is particularly notable for Socioeconomically Disadvantaged and Latino students in charter high schools. Students from those subgroups had median API scores that were over 100 points higher than their counterparts at non-charters.

English Learners at charter middle schools also had median API scores over 100 points higher than their non-charter counterparts.

Charter schools offer another public education option to parents, who are seizing upon the successes that the schools are generating, writes Jed Wallace at City Watch LA.

Charters in the state serving large numbers of low income students are far outperforming traditional public schools serving similar demographics of students.

Parents, who know their children best and who deserve to have a choice in their children’s education, are flocking to charters in large numbers.