Public school students as a whole performed better than charter school students in math, reading and science last year, according to the Charter School Commission’s annual report released this week.

Although the charter sector trailed overall academically, several of the state’s 34 charter schools placed among the state’s top-performing public schools.

The 265-page report took a look at Hawaii’s public charter schools and how they measured up, both individually and as a whole, on various indicators in the 2013-14 academic year. Charter schools have more autonomy and flexibility than regular public schools.

"While it’s clear that much work remains to be done, overall Hawaii’s charter schools and its chartering system continue to show promising signs of improvement," the commission’s executive director, Tom Hutton, said Thursday. The report will be presented to the Legislature.

The gap between public school students as a whole and charter school students is widest in math. On average, 59 percent of public school students were proficient in math, compared with 46 percent of charter students.

In reading the proficiency rate was 70 percent for public schools and 64 percent for charters. In science the spread was 41 percent to 30 percent proficient, in favor of regular public schools.

Nearly two-thirds of charter schools fell below the standard set by a new Academic Performance Framework that the commission created to better reflect the charter experience. The rest made the grade.

The framework takes into account the fact that many charters are kindergarten-through-12th-grade schools. It also puts more weight on high-needs students, partly at the request of charter administrators who have said they excel in helping such students.

As it turns out, economically disadvantaged students in regular public schools outpaced their counterparts in charter schools dramatically — by 30 percentage points — in math, but low-income students fared better in reading in charter schools. Special-education students and English language learners did better academically in regular public schools.

The Charter School Commission was created in 2012 under Act 130, a law designed to bring more accountability to charters, which report to their own school boards rather than the Board of Education. Each charter school now operates under a three-year contract and is expected to meet performance standards.

"This report helps all of us take stock of where we are in implementing the vision of Act 130," said Commission Chairwoman Catherine Payne. "It’s been difficult, and we still have a long way to go, but the commission remains committed to the hard work of ensuring that our charter schools are able to fulfill their missions and their responsibilities to the public and our keiki."

Lynn Finnegan, executive director of the Hawaii Public Charter Schools Network, said the Academic Performance Framework is too heavily weighted toward high-needs student performance, and the number of Hawaiian immersion charter schools might affect the results because it is tough to accurately assess their performance.

"Overall, charter schools are asked to operate and think outside of the box when it comes to education and operation of their schools," she said. "Then because of one-size-fits-all assessments and standards, they get put back into that box."

Under the state’s Strive HI Performance System, five charter schools placed among Hawaii’s 11 top-performing public high schools. They are Kula Aupuni Nii­hau A Kahelelani Aloha, Myron B. Thompson Academy, University Laboratory School, Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science and Halau Ku Mana. Voyager and Innovations charter schools were recognized as top middle schools.

All of those schools, except for University Lab, also met the standard set by the commission’s Academic Performance Framework.

The top two charter schools under the commission’s framework were Kula Aupuni Niihau A Kahelelani Aloha in Kekaha, Kauai, and Ka ‘Umeke Ka‘eo, an immersion school in Hilo.

In its report, the commission also examined financial data and found that charter schools generally have been good stewards of public funding, despite publicity over Halau Lokahi, which ran up a $500,000 debt and was raided by state investigators last week. That school is being restructured.

There were 33 charters operating in the last academic year, and a new one, Malama Honua, opened in the summer. The commission has approved the launch of another charter, Ka‘u Learning Academy, on Hawaii island next fall.

» The report is available here