PA. Charter Schools Do Much Worse Than Public Schools, Once the Feds Ordered a Fair Comparison

[JPZenger]

Last edited Fri Jan 25, 2013, 01:42 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/01/pennsylvania_charter_schools_f.html

PatRiot already posted about cyber charter schools. This post is about all charter schools in PA. The PA. Secretary of Education had tried to use a different way of calculating success for charter schools than for public schools. The US Dept. of Education slapped him down, and guess what: charter schools do much worse than public schools, when compared fairly.

Excerpt:

"A new way of measuring charter performance ordered by the U.S. Department of Education casts this public school choice movement in a less favorable light.

The recalculation shows 34 fewer charter schools met all of their performance targets, also called “adequate yearly progress” or AYP, toward the 2014 goal of having all students perform at or above grade level in reading and math as is required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The recalculated results also show none of the 12 cyberschools in operation met their performance targets last year. Altogether, the recalculations show that only a third, or 51, charters hit all of their performance benchmarks as compared to the 59 percent, or 92, announced by the state Department of Education last fall. "

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http://articles.mcall.com/2013-01-22/news/mc-pa-charter-school-ayp-20130122_1_charter-schools-ayp-grade-level

Excerpts:

"The new system, which Tomalis initiated without federal approval and at the behest of a charter school lobbying group, made it easier for charter schools to reach federal standards than traditional public schools. It classified charters, no matter their size, as school districts, which are measured on a broader scale than individual schools.

The U.S. Department of Education, however, shot down that change in November. It ordered Pennsylvania to recalculate the charters' AYP status on the school level and publicize the results by January. So under the federal order, charters must have the school-level and district-level grades.

Under Tomalis' system, 77 charter schools — or 49 percent — made AYP when they were measured as school districts. But when tabulated as individual schools, only 43 — or 28 percent — made AYP ... By comparison, 49 percent of the state's public schools made AYP and about 61 percent of the state's 499 school districts that administered the PSSAs did, too."
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Updated: Phila. Inquirer article:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20130124_With_recalculation__Pa__charter_school_performance_falls.html

And here's the worst part - even with the skewed calculation used by Corbett's charter zealots, ONLY ONE cybercharter school had met the federal standards. Under the more fair calculation, none met the standard.

[Patiod]

1. And they are also licences to steal

So they are underperforming, draining funds from better schools, and lining the pockets of crooks.
Let the dismantling of public education continue!

[Curmudgeoness]

2. Figures lie, and liars figure.

At least until they are called on it. I am pleased with the US Dept of Education, and I now see a reason for the Republican who want to "fix" the schools also want to do away with that federal agency.

[Scuba]

3. There's only one way to measure the performance of charter schools: profits.