Lizbeth Cuevas of Alliance Gertz-Ressler High School

Three Los Angeles charter school students were among the winners of $2,000 scholarships awarded at the 23rd Annual California Charter Schools Conference this week.

The 10 recipients of the Susan Steelman Bragato Scholarship Award have “a passion for community service and for reaching their educational dreams,” the California Charters Schools Association (CCSA), which hosted the conference, said in a statement.

The Los Angeles winners are Lizbeth Cuevas of Alliance Gertz-Ressler High School, Anahi Gutierrez of Animo Venice Charter High School and Ricardo Lopez of Synergy Quantum Academy.

The conference took place Monday through Thursday at the Long Beach Convention Center and was attended by over 4,000 educators and charter school leaders from around the state.

CCSA provided the following information on the three students:

• Cuevas: Lizbeth describes herself as a Latina immigrant, whose father was a construction laborer and mother sold the family jewelry to help pay rent. Her parents were never able to help Lizbeth with academics, but they supported and encouraged her in life. Lizbeth consistently earns high academic grades and finds herself on the Dean’s List and Honor Roll. She is an active volunteer at her school and in the community, engaging in activities such as cleaning up downtown Los Angeles and creating gardens. She plans to earn a college degree to become a teacher and help other Latina immigrants like her find their voice.
•  Gutierrez: Anahi was born and raised in West Los Angeles as a first-generation Mexican-American in a home where Spanish is the predominant language. As the daughter of immigrant parents, she has witnessed their struggles, which shape her dreams and aspirations to attend college and become a nurse. Anahi takes six Advanced Placement courses, consistently places on the Honor Roll and participates in several clubs and committees. She is also a team player on the volleyball court and runs for the gold on the cross-country team. Anahi worked as a summer youth intern at the Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Hospital where she assisted nurses and delivered meals to patients at the Family Care Center.
• Lopez: Ricardo credits his father for always encouraging him to learn as much as possible in order to provide value to others in life. He plans to attend college and change the world through engineering and by inventing new technologies. Ricardo has participated in the MESA engineering program for three years and interned at Northrop Grumman in the electronic engineering department during the summer of 2015. He plans to return to the organization every summer until he graduates from college and becomes a full-time employee. Other than his engineering activities, Ricardo participates in Uncensored, a club that focuses on social issues and ways to give back to the community. He is also a member of the weightlifting club and part of the Los Angeles Police Department cadet program.

The other winners of the scholarship are Christopher Huebner of University Preparatory School in Redding, Jian Hao of Oakland Charter High School in Oakland, Lucerito Lopez of High Tech High North County in San Marcos, Melissa Murdock of Charter University Prep in Placerville, Katherine Najar Velazquez of Gompers Preparatory Academy in San Diego, Michael Regla of San Jacinto Valley Academy in Heme and Keelan Winter of Springs Charter School in Temecula.

The scholarship is named in honor of Susan Steelman Bragato, the co-founder of the first charter school in California and the founder of the California Network of Educational Charters (which was renamed the California Charter Schools Association in 2003). Steelman Bragato was one of the first people to recognize the importance of building a strong network of support among charter school leaders statewide. She also organized the first California Charter Schools Conference. She died in 2005 at the age of 47.

As educators from around the state head to Long Beach next week for the 23rd annual California Charter Schools Conference, California is holding steady in its friendliness to charter schools, says a January report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS), a pro-charter advocacy group that releases an annual study of state-level policies.

The survey ranked 43 charter laws — the 42 states that allow charter schools plus the District of Columbia — in regards to how successfully they encourage charter expansion, autonomy and accountability. As has been the case in recent years, California ranked near the top of the list.

Five takeaways — and one important caveat — from the report on the state of California’s charter schools:

1. California has held steady, remaining slightly above average in its friendliness to charter schools.

NAPCS ranks California’s charter laws as 15th friendliest in the nation. This represents a slight decline from 2015 when the state was ranked 11th, but the report is quick to point out that the slide came from other states gaining ground, not because California’s laws have become less supportive of charters.

2. One in 12 students in California attend charter schools.

About 8 percent of California students now attend charter schools — above the national mark of 5.8 percent. As of the 2014-2015 school year, the state has nearly 1,200 charter schools operating today, by far the most in the country — though this statistic is mostly a reflection of California’s large population.

3. California has a cap on charter schools, but it’s not restricting growth.

NAPCS opposes state caps on the number of charter schools, and thus gives full points to states with no such limitations. California gets substantial credit, however, because although it does have a cap, charters still have “ample room to grow.” Specifically, California began with a charter cap of 250 in 1998, but by statute the ceiling increases by 100 schools each year. The current limit is 1,950 charter schools; there are just under 1,200 schools operating in California presently. The number of charters is California has more than quadrupled since 1999.

4. California gets extra points for allowing virtual charters — but that might not be a good thing.

NAPCS awards points to states that allow a “variety” of charter schools, including start-ups, conversions — in which a district school is turned over to a charter operator — and online schools, in which students receive some or all of their instruction via computer.

But according to a recent study, online charter schools do much worse than traditional public schools, and California’s virtual schools are no exception (the results were particularly bad for student achievement in reading). According to data from 2009-2010, about one in five California charters were virtual schools.

5. California does not require charter teachers to participate in collective bargaining agreements.

NAPCS credits states for not requiring that charter school teachers be unionized and participate in collective bargaining. In 2009-2010, only about 15% of California charter schools were unionized. Recent controversy has erupted as L.A.’s Alliance College-Ready Public Schools chain has aggressively fought efforts to unionize its teaching staff. Research has found that when some California charter schools unionized, student achievement was largely unaffected.

Caveat: These rankings don’t seem to say anything about student achievement.

One important thing to remember about the NAPCS rankings: Just because a state scores well (or poorly) doesn’t say much about the quality of the state’s charter sector, as measured by student achievement. There just doesn’t seem to be a correlation between the two.

For instance, Rhode Island received poor marks from NAPCS, but its charters perform extremely well relative to traditional public schools, according to one study. On the other hand, Indiana was ranked No. 1 as having the best laws in the nation, but charter schools there only slightly outperform district schools.

California charter schools, despite getting relatively strong ratings from NAPCS, perform slightly better in reading and slightly worse in math than traditional public schools.

Earlier research suggests that “permissibility” in charter law — how easy it is to get a charter started and authorized — is negatively related to student achievement. On the other hand, charter autonomy — the degree to which existing charters are free from certain regulations — is positively associated with achievement.

This article was published in partnership with The74Million.org.