Study: N.J. charters outperform traditional schools

A Stanford University study finds students in New Jersey charter schools are outperforming students with similar backgrounds at traditional public schools on most standardized tests.

The review by Stanford's Center for Research on Education Outcomes is the first in-depth, independent study of its kind of New Jersey charter schools.

Charter schools are publicly funded schools that operate outside of regular school districts. There are more than 80 of them across New Jersey.

The study finds that 30 percent of charters do better than their counterparts at teaching reading and 11 percent do worse.

In math, 40 percent of charters do better and 13 percent do worse.

Those marks are better than most charters across the country.

The charter school performance is especially strong in Newark.