Utah charter schools are continuing to increase their prominence in the state. With 135 charter schools and over 75,000 enrolled students, charter schools have shown consistent growth in enrollment from year to year and are representing a greater share of the Utah student population than ever before. Despite this growth, the demand for alternative and innovative educational opportunities outpaces the supply in many areas and thousands of students are wait-listed statewide every year.
This report takes a look at charter schools on the whole, identifying some of Utah charter schools’ greatest successes, as well as areas for improvement in the coming year. While the majority of success metrics are relatively consistent with prior years, the strongest trend in Utah charter schools is a consistent growth in demographic diversity. As a result, this year’s report includes an expanded look at the demographic make-up of the charter school student population. Demographic diversity provides an additional way to distinguish Utah charter schools on top of the variability and originality of the educational models.