No excuse left behind

Visit eRobin at Fact-esque re the latest NYT piece on charters.

It seems charter school proponents are having a harder time with finding excuses for the results of this DOE study. But that doesn't stop them, does it.

Update: eRobin does her usual excellent job but I just wanted to note a few things about this study. Key quote:

"How can we consider charter schools to be an option for dealing with failing public schools when this study, commissioned by the Department of Education, shows that about half of them don't appear to be doing any better at meeting performance standards than other public schools?" asked Gary Miron, a researcher at Western Michigan State University who has written a book on charter schools.

A lot of excuses have been made for the poor charter school performance overall. The thing that makes this DOE study worth its while is this part:

The report found that in two states, however, Texas and Colorado, even when allowances were made for race and poverty, the charter schools were still less likely to meet state standards than regular schools.