A new study from the Hoover Institution finds that for-profit schools outperform their nonprofit counterparts in math and reading and district-run schools in math:

The Peterson-Chingos study, published in the peer-reviewed research section of the forthcoming issue of Education Next (Spring 2009), confirms that the effect of for-profit management of schools is positive relative to district schools, with math impacts being statistically significant.

Over the last six years, students learned each year an average of 25 percent of a standard deviation more in math — roughly 60 percent of a year?s worth of learning — than they would have had the school been under district management. In reading, the estimated average annual impact of for-profit management is a positive 10 percent of a standard deviation — approximately 36 percent of a year?s worth of reading. Only the math differences are statistically significant, however.

The researchers found the difference between the effects of for-profit and nonprofit management even more stark. In math, students in for-profits gained between 70 percent and greater than a year?s worth of learning more each year than in schools under nonprofit management. In reading, students learned approximately two-thirds of a year more in a for-profit than a nonprofit. Both math and reading impacts were statistically significant.

The analysis was based on tests cores and demographic and enrollment information between 2001 and 2008 in the School District of Philadelphia. Read the full study here (PDF download).