Your Nov. 24 editorial "Curb D.C. school violence" wisely drew attention to the need to curb violence in the District's schools. However, the problem is much less serious in the District's public charter schools. District students at public charter secondary schools were half as likely to have a violent-crime incident at their school as students at traditional public secondary schools during the two most recent full school years, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
D.C. secondary school students in public charter schools with a majority of economically disadvantaged students also are twice as likely to score as advanced or proficient on math and reading tests as those in traditional public schools, data from the District's Office of the State Superintendent of Education reveals.
Readers can draw their own conclusions about how these two facts might be related.
ROBERT CANE
Executive Director
Friends of Choice in Urban Schools
Washington