The Other Lottery: Are Philanthropists Backing the Best Charter Schools?

No correlation exists between a charter school receiving private funding and its later performance after controlling for external factors, writes Andrew Coulson in an analysis of California charter schools. Thus philanthropists have shown no ability to choose and replicate the best charter schools, instead repeatedly wasting their millions on poor or mediocre schools that can put together a snazzy grant application but can’t use the proceeds wisely.