Stanford University Researchers Recognize Roger Bacon Academy Charter Schools for Successfully Closing Racial Achievement Gap
LELAND, NC – The Roger Bacon Academy (RBA), a Leland, North Carolina-based charter school management (CMO) organization, earned high marks in a national study of charter schools conducted by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO).
Released on June 19, the voluminous new Stanford report covers four years of data from schools in 29 states. The study compares student academic growth in three groups of schools: stand-alone charter schools (SCS); charter schools managed in a network by a charter management organization (CMO); and traditional public schools (TPS).
While all charter schools, on average, out-paced traditional public schools in annual days of learning, CREDO reported that “CMO-affiliated [charter] students advanced by 27 additional days in reading and 23 more days in math over TPS, both of which are statistically significant.”
Further analysis by CREDO looked at CMOs that had higher than average achievement and closed the learning growth gap between student groups based on race or income, designating these CMOs as “gap busters.”
“We highlight the dramatic performance of thousands of charter schools with outstanding progress for minority and poverty students. These ‘gap-busting schools’ show that disparate student outcomes are not a foregone conclusion: people and resources can be organized to eliminate these disparities.”
Roger Bacon Academy was recognized in the report (p. 132) as a CMO that has achieved statistically significant results for “gap-busting” in both reading and math. Out of 7,250 charter schools studied, the four Classical Charter Schools of America (CCS-A) schools managed by RBA ranked among the top 10% (p. 69) that qualified as reading and math gap busters.
RBA founder Baker Mitchell attributes the schools’ successes to their traditional classical curriculum and positive school culture, along with the proven direct instruction teaching method they employ. “There are always fads in education that seem to needlessly distract from the ultimate goal of educating future citizens so our society can flourish. Humanity has known how to produce learning for thousands of years, and when schools deviate from these proven techniques their students pay the price,” Mitchell says.
Charter schools are schools of choice run by private nonprofit corporations under a contract with the state. They receive state funds on a per student basis when a parent enrolls a child in the school. The private corporations are free to develop their own curriculum and instructional methods so long as they administer the state accountability tests in reading, math, and science.
RBA manages four tuition-free, open enrollment schools in the Classical Charter Schools of America (CCS-A) network in southeastern North Carolina. The schools are located near Leland, Whiteville, Southport, and in downtown Wilmington.
The schools currently are accepting enrollments for the 2023-2024 school year, which begins July 20. Parents are urged to visit www.EnrollRBA.com to take a virtual tour of the schools and to enroll their child.
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