Richard Whitmire’s analysis ran in the August 12 edition of The Orange County Register:

Something puzzling emerged from a research project looking at the number of charter school graduates who go on to earn four-year college degrees.

Of the nine charter networks I was profiling, three were California based — and all three ended up on the bottom of the college success list. Alliance College-Ready Public Schools and Aspire Public Schools scored no better than 25 percent of their graduates earning four-year degrees within six years of leaving high school, and the rate at Green Dot Public Schools, while a bit iffy due to rough data, is probably lower.

Now compare that to New York-based Uncommon Schools or the KIPP New York region, where roughly half their graduates earn four-year degrees in that time period.

What’s up with that?

Read Richard’s full column at OCRegister.com.