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CHARTER vs DISTRICT · PENNSYLVANIA

Pennsylvania charter schools, ranked

Every Pennsylvania charter with a BeatsExpectations score, best to worst, against what its student demographics predict.

Charters ranked
60
with a BeatsExpectations score
Charter sector vs district
-14.3 pp
charters trail on average
Top charter
+27.0 pp
Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures CS
PA CHARTER SCHOOLS RANKED BY BEATSEXPECTATIONS
SchoolCity% FRL% ProficientBeats (pp) ↓
Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures CSPhiladelphia98.6%62.3%27
Franklin Towne CHSPhiladelphia99.8%59.9%25
Independence CSPhiladelphia99.6%45.8%10.9
Infinity CSHarrisburg19.1%80.3%10.9
Universal Creighton CSPhiladelphia101%44.5%10.2
Mastery CS -Thomas CampusPhiladelphia99.8%43.0%8.1
Tidioute Community CSTidioute102%41.4%7.4
Multicultural Academy CSPhiladelphia96.1%42.0%5.6
Mathematics Science & Technology Community CSPhiladelphia57.0%58.5%5.3
Harambee Institute of Science and Technology CSPhiladelphia101%38.7%4.3
New Foundations CSPhiladelphia68.5%52.1%3.9
Philadelphia Academy CSPhiladelphia58.4%53.9%1.3
Keystone Academy CSPhiladelphia91.0%39.8%1.2
Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania CSPittsburgh100%35.7%1.1
Tacony Academy CSPhiladelphia99.2%35.4%0.3
Executive Education Academy CSAllentown95.6%36.1%-0.5
Collegium CSExton99.1%34.5%-0.6
Philadelphia Performing Arts CSPhiladelphia71.0%46.2%-0.9
Penn Hills CS of EntrepreneurshipPittsburgh94.5%35.8%-1.3
York Academy Regional CSYork95.4%35.1%-1.6
Capital Area School for the Arts CSHarrisburg5.7%73.3%-1.9
Young Scholars of Central PA CSState College49.5%54.5%-1.9
Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the ArtsBethlehem25.3%64.8%-2
Centre Learning Community CSState College35.8%60.2%-2
Green Woods CSPhiladelphia39.9%58.0%-2.5
Universal Audenried CSPhiladelphia99.1%32.2%-2.9
Environmental CS at Frick ParkPittsburgh35.1%59.1%-3.4
Montessori Regional CSErie97.9%32.2%-3.4
Propel CS-McKeesportMcKeesport99.0%31.6%-3.6
Mastery CS-Harrity CampusPhiladelphia99.6%30.9%-4
Sylvan Heights Science CSHarrisburg96.3%31.6%-4.7
Mariana Bracetti Academy CSPhiladelphia99.6%29.9%-5
Mastery CHS-Lenfest CampusPhiladelphia96.1%31.2%-5.2
Young Scholars of Greater Allegheny CSPittsburgh94.9%31.5%-5.4
Urban Academy of Greater Pittsburgh CSPittsburgh100%29.1%-5.6
City CHSPittsburgh88.6%33.6%-6
Avon Grove CSWest Grove40.9%53.6%-6.5
Franklin Towne Charter Elementary SchoolPhiladelphia69.1%41.5%-6.5
MaST Community CS IIPhiladelphia69.3%41.2%-6.7
Bear Creek Community CSBear Creek Township53.0%48.0%-6.9
Propel CS-EastTurtle Creek98.2%28.5%-7
Sugar Valley Rural CSLoganton100%26.3%-8.3
Sankofa Freedom Academy CSPhiladelphia98.4%27.0%-8.4
Mastery CS-Smedley CampusPhiladelphia99.6%26.3%-8.7
TECH Freire CSPhiladelphia90.8%30.0%-8.7
West Oak Lane CSPhiladelphia102%25.2%-8.9
Universal Institute CSPhiladelphia94.5%28.1%-9
Mastery Prep Elementary CSPhiladelphia99.5%25.9%-9
Lehigh Valley Dual Language CSBethlehem99.3%25.6%-9.4
Mastery CS-Cleveland ElementaryPhiladelphia102%24.2%-9.6
Baden Academy CSBaden66.6%39.2%-9.9
School Lane CSBensalem52.4%45.1%-10
Community Academy of Philadelphia CSPhiladelphia101%24.2%-10.3
Mastery CS John Wister ElementaryPhiladelphia98.4%25.0%-10.4
Christopher Columbus CSPhiladelphia29.9%54.0%-10.7
Lincoln Park Performing Arts CSMidland25.4%55.8%-10.9
Universal Alcorn CSPhiladelphia90.6%27.7%-11.1
Vida CSGettysburg54.6%42.8%-11.4
Mastery CS-Hardy WilliamsPhiladelphia95.1%25.3%-11.5
Mastery CS - Mann CampusPhiladelphia97.7%24.1%-11.7
60 of 60 rows · Every scored charter in PA (top 60 by residual), best to worst. "Beats" is the percentage-point gap between a school's actual proficiency and what the per-state regression predicts from its FRL share. Sort ascending to see the state's weakest charters. Worst charter shown: Mastery CS - Mann Campus (-11.7 pp).↓ Download charter-vs-district-by-state-pa.csv

What "Beats" means here

Ranking charter schools by raw proficiency mostly ranks them by the families they enroll. To compare a charter to the district schools it actually competes with, we use BeatsExpectations: a per-state regression of school proficiency on free-and-reduced-lunch share. It predicts the proficiency a school "should" post given its poverty profile, and the residual, in percentage points, is how far above or below that line the school actually lands. A charter at +15 is beating its demographics; one at -15 is trailing them. The table above ranks every scored Pennsylvania charter on that residual. Sort ascending to see the weakest performers.

How Pennsylvania charters compare to district schools

The headline stat is the charter sector's average residual minus the district sector's. A positive number means Pennsylvania charters, on average, beat their demographics by more than the state's district schools do; a negative number means they trail. The national picture is genuinely mixed: charters beat district schools handily in some states (New York is the clearest case) and trail them badly in others (Ohio and Pennsylvania, where troubled cyber-charter sectors drag the average down). See the national report for every state side by side.

Limits

BeatsExpectations controls for poverty, but not for everything that separates charters from district schools: charters can have application and lottery processes, different special-education and English-learner shares, and different mid-year attrition. A high residual is strong evidence a school is doing something right, but it is not proof the same students would have done worse down the street. Treat this as the fairest single comparison available from public data, not a settled verdict on school choice.

Source data

NCES Common Core of Data 2024-25 (charter flag, FRL share, enrollment) and Pennsylvania's native state assessment for the most recent available year. The BeatsExpectations regression is recomputed after every data refresh.

HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT

Anyone is welcome to cite or republish these findings. Please credit allk12.com and link back to this page so readers can verify the underlying data.

allk12 (2026). "Pennsylvania charter schools, ranked by BeatsExpectations." Retrieved from https://allk12.com/reports/charter-vs-district/pennsylvania
For interview requests or custom data pulls: [email protected]
DOWNLOAD THE DATA
↓ charter-vs-district-by-state-pa.csv
RELATED
Charter vs district by state · Best Pennsylvania schools · Pennsylvania test scores · All Pennsylvania schools
DATA NOTICE

allk12 is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NCES, the US Census Bureau, any state education agency or assessment program, or any other government agency. Source data is compiled from public records and provided "as is," without warranty of accuracy or completeness. You rely on it, and any analysis derived from it, at your own risk. See the full disclaimer.