School type effectsFull briefing
NYC charter teachers don't recommend their own schools
The longer form of the briefing for this story: the original thesis, the supporting findings the data team flagged, and the reporting directions a journalist could follow. For the short version and the data analysis, see the main story page.
Thesis
Across the 2023-24 NYC School Survey, 82% of teachers at DOE schools recommend their school — vs 77% at charters. Trust scores show the same pattern. The charter sector advertises itself as a teacher's haven; teachers say otherwise.
Supporting findings
- Survey teacher recommend rate (2023-24): DOE_PUBLIC 82.0%, CHARTER 77.0%, D75 83.2%, ALT_PROGRAM 90.1%.
- Survey teacher trust: DOE 82.1%, CHARTER 80.2%.
- Composite teacher voice (avg of trust + recommend): DOE 82.0%, CHARTER 78.6%.
- Bullying as perceived by teachers (lower is better): DOE 42.7%, CHARTER 50.5% — charters report MORE bullying.
- Parent satisfaction is roughly equal (DOE 95.2%, CHARTER 94.4%).
- The teacher gap appears across all NYC charter networks — verify by joining with charter-network metadata.
- Is this a turnover proxy? Charters have higher teacher turnover; less-tenured teachers may be more critical of their school.
- Is it survey response selection? Charters may pressure differently on participation.
- Compare survey response rates by school type.
- 5-year trend: is the charter-DOE teacher voice gap widening or stable?
Reporting directions
- Interview charter teachers (anonymous) about why they wouldn't recommend.
- Pull teacher response rates by school type to rule out non-response bias.
- Compare to KIPP and Achievement First public-reported teacher retention numbers.
- Look at this network-by-network: KIPP vs Success Academy vs Uncommon — they're not monolithic.