Giving Compass' Take:

• New research on K-12 education indicates that schools in Newark, Boston, and Pittsburgh are most successful at "beating the odds" and are driving exceptional learning outcomes. 

• How can this research help inform charitable giving in K-12 education? Where are you looking for examples of successful student achievement? 

•  Learn more about impactful education funding. 

Schools in Newark, Boston and Pittsburgh are the most successful at helping students outperform their academic peers, according to new research into K-12 education in the nation’s largest cities. Charter schools are often, though not exclusively, the major forces driving students’ exceptional learning outcomes, the authors write.

Released today by MarGrady Research, the study was funded by the New Jersey Children’s Foundation, a reform-oriented nonprofit focused on building collaboration between school districts and charters. A relatively new player on the education scene, the group has bankrolled earlier research touting the successes of education reforms instituted by former Newark mayor (and current senator) Cory Booker, including a major expansion of charters.

The most recent report takes a wider view, examining student academic data in 50 large American cities to determine how many of their students “beat the odds” — i.e., how many edge out demographically comparable students in other parts of their respective states. For example, if a given school in Albuquerque produces better state testing results than other New Mexico schools with similar racial and socioeconomic characteristics, it is considered a “beat-the-odds” institution.

“Producing schools that beat the odds for children is the hardest work in public education,” he said. “It is the mission of education reform, and it is the equity and social justice mission that so many people bring to this work and have for years. The progress is slow and incremental, that’s what this study is showing me.”

Read the full article about successful school districts by Kevin Mahnken at The 74.