It’s not just in math and reading that charter schools are dealing out aces.
New data obtained by The Post shows that charter-school kids outperformed traditional public-school kids in three of the four grades tested in science and social studies last year — often by leaps and bounds.
The results are sure to lend ammunition to those who support the state’s raising of the charter schools cap, which has been at the center of heated debate among Albany lawmakers for weeks.
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According to the city’s Department of Education, charter-school eighth-graders bested their public-school peers by 19 percentage points in social studies and by nearly 18 percentage points in science.
Additionally, more than 90 percent of charter-school fourth-graders aced last year’s state science exams, compared with 80.3 percent of fourth-graders at traditional public schools.
Only in fifth-grade social studies did traditional public schools score higher — with 77.1 percent of kids reaching proficiency on the state exams compared to 72 percent at charter schools.
“It’s more evidence that charters are providing city kids a good education, and it particularly points to the fact that they’re providing a well-rounded education,” said James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center.
The city’s charter schools also outperformed the regular public schools by nearly 9 points in both math and reading last year — which led some critics to charge that those were the only subjects they focused on.
Merriman said charter schools are able to devote more time to teaching math and reading than traditional public schools, but not because they narrow their focus.
“Their longer school day and longer school year and flexibility allows [charters] to do that but to not neglect other important subjects like science and social studies,” he said.
Among the highest-performing charter schools in science was the state’s oldest — Sisulu- Walker Charter School in Harlem — where 100 percent of fourth-graders were proficient on last year’s state exam.
In social studies, 94 percent of eighth- graders at KIPP Infinity in Harlem aced the state exams.
But United federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew said the better scores stemmed from the type of students that charter schools serve.
“It’s nice to see charter students doing well, but hardly surprising, since compared to the average public school, charters have significantly fewer of the city’s poorest children, English language learners, and special-ed students with the greatest needs.