The first in-depth examination of charter schools in New Jersey finds they outperform their public school counterparts.

The study was conducted by Stanford University’s Center For Research on Education Outcomes. The Center’s director Macke Raymond says the New Jersey results are astonishing.

 “When we do these studies typically around the country we find very mixed results, but in New Jersey we were absolutely staggered to find that the typical charter school student has substantially greater learning gains in both learning in reading and math.”

Raymond says students in Newark charters had the best results of any charter school study they’ve done in five years.

She says the focus on teacher quality, advanced student learning, and strong oversight of charters helps make them successful.

Raymond says New Jersey is unusual in its willingness to close schools that are not performing.

“We think that that’s the sort of the second half of the secret sauce that says there’s a focus on creating quality, and there’s also a focus on having the political will to admit when something is not working and take action.”