Public charter schools, one types of schools of choice, scored big in New York City. The headline in the New York Times says a lot: "Charter Schools Outshine Others."

The story is about a new report issued by the city's education officials.

"As a group, they skew higher," said Michael Duffy, who oversees charter schools for the city’s Education Department. "I think that charter schools are all about accountability. It’s baked into their DNA. They are data driven and focused on how their students are doing, so it’s not surprising to see them do well."

The New York Sun, meanwhile, offers another summary:

The city is pulling charter schools into the letter-grade game, and the privately run public schools have quickly jumped to the head of the class, claiming the top two spots in the city and raking in more A and B grades than traditional public schools.

A month ago, the Economist ran an interesting story about charter schools in the city. I had to smile when I read this:

When [Chancellor] Mr [Joel] Klein took the job in 2002, having led the Clinton administration's efforts to break up Microsoft, The Economist joked that he should try to do the same thing to New York's schools monopoly. He more or less has.

More amazing than an a trust-buster doing some good by turning his attention on a true monopoly (government schools) is this fact: it's the schools that perform the best on the report cards that get the most money. Usually, failure is rewarded with more funds. Not so under Mr. Klein's rule:

Principals whose schools are still faltering after two years will be fired. Schools still failing after four years will be closed.

The new emphasis on results, of which the charter effort is a part, is paying off:

In 2002 less than 40% of students in grades three to eight (aged eight to 14) were reading and doing maths at their grade level. Today, 65% are at their grade levels in maths and over 50% in reading.

There's still a lot of room to go, but that's substantial progress. You can find the reports on the school system website.