A new report has found that students in Alberta charter schools are outperforming those enrolled in public and Catholic schools.
The report said that when all subjects and grades were considered, the average test score for charter school students was 9.3 percentage points higher than the average score for students in public schools, and 7.7 percentage points higher than for students in Catholic schools.
Barua said among the tests where direct comparisons could be made, charter school students “earned higher grades on average in every subject” compared to students in the other two school systems.
“It’s interesting that charter schools are funded by the government, run by non-profits and yet their test scores were so much higher,” said Barua.
“The provincial government will want to think about how it can help more kids access these high-performing schools,” he added.
Alberta charter schools are required to teach the provincial curriculum and are given government funding to operate, though they have a greater degree of autonomy, allowing them to offer certain programs or a specialized focus that are not available through regular public schools. For example, they may focus more on STEM (science, technology, engineering or math) or the classics.
Charter schools are allowed to provide religious instruction, but are not permitted to be affiliated with a specific religious faith or denomination.
The schools are also required to accept all students if they have the space. They are run by autonomous boards that report directly to the province and are considered non-profits, and do not charge tuition
Barua said that the largest difference in students’ performance between charter schools and public schools was in Grade 9 math, with a gap of 14.1 percentage points. The smallest difference between students in the two systems was in Grade 6 science , with 6.2 percentage points.
When compared to students at Catholic schools, the performance of charter school students saw the greatest difference in Grade 9 math at 13.3 percentage points, and the smallest difference between students performance was in English language arts at 4.9 percentage points.
The report notes that about 15,400 students or nearly two percent of all students in the province attended charter schools in 2024. This is a 63 percent increase from 2016 enrolment numbers, when an estimated 9,400 students or 1.4 percent were enrolled in charter schools.
The report comes as Alberta teachers are in the midst of a strike over an ongoing contract dispute with the province. The teachers’ union is calling for higher salaries, and for the province to address classroom “complexity.”
Premier Danielle Smith said that her government will consider back-to-work legislation if the strike has not been resolved when the legislature reconvenes on Oct. 23.
