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The headline reads: Despite successes, charter school takeovers draw protests. The first two story highlights, taken directly from CNN.com (where the story was posted):

• Mastery Charter School's Shoemaker Campus has seen big rise in students' test scores
• Some students, parents don't want their schools taken over by charter school operators

Neither is false. But are they related? No.

Mastery’s success – which is undeniable – has no predictive value on whether other charter school operators will have similar success. In fact, as we know from the often-cited CREDO study, the vast majority of charter schools perform no better than their neighborhood schools – and 37% perform worse. Yet in this article (as in countless others), while the author may acknowledge briefly, deep in the article, that not every charter school is successful, she certainly does not draw attention to that fact – or any specifics on charter school movement as a whole.

Instead, under the aforementioned headline and after showcasing the success of Mastery, this article tells the story of Audenried High School in South Philadelphia, which has been identified to be turned into a charter operated by Universal Companies (i.e., not Mastery).

According to the article, Audenried just reopened in 2008 after closing in 2005 because of its failing status, with students taking state standardized tests for the first time since the reopening this year. The results are not in, but the district's predictive assessment shows 37% of students proficient or advanced in math and 38% proficient or advanced in English. Not great, to be sure, but many in the school community think that it was making great strides and that it is too soon to give up on the school as is. Frustrated students staged a walkout. Teachers and community activists have complained.

Of course, there are two issues here. The first is whether the school was given a fair shot before being identified for drastic action – which certainly seems debatable. The second is whether going charter makes sense. And in talking about that issue, we shouldn’t look at one successful charter and assume others will be like it.

As one Audenried student put it, "Just because it turns into a charter school doesn't mean it's going to be a good school."

It is heartening that students understand this. It is frustrating that a reporter would suggest in an article like this, even if (offering the benefit of doubt) unwittingly, that it would be.