Education at Prairie Crossing Charter School in Grayslake can be idyllic at times, as 3rd and 4th graders find “magic spots” in the surrounding fields and woodlands, then write essays about the experience.
Their scores on the latest state tests show 95 percent of those pupils performing at or above state standards, the ninth highest school score in Illinois.
The Southern Illinois University Charter High School of East St. Louis, serving primarily dropouts and teens who are years behind their peers, is at the other extreme. Only 3.1 percent of the school’s 11th graders meet or exceed state standards–the second worst total of all Illinois public schools.
Charter schools were created six years ago by the Illinois General Assembly. In theory, they were to offer a superior alternative to traditional public schools, freeing education from district bureaucracy, union rules, and inertia that proponents believed were demoralizing faculties and stifling student achievement.
But school report card data released this week by the State Board of Education shows that the 23 charters tested last spring in Illinois did no better or worse than their traditional counterparts.
Though still a relatively young movement, publicly funded charters have yet to consistently beat district and state averages.
Supporters say charters should be compared to neighboring schools. For example, in Chicago, home to more than half of the state’s charters, the vast majority are performing better than nearby traditional schools on many measures, including other standardized tests, attendance and graduation rates, according to a Chicago Board of Education report last spring.
Matching up with neighbors
Comparison to the statewide average is a different story, however. Of the 23 charter schools operating at the time, only three surpassed that mark last spring: Prairie Crossing, Springfield Ball Charter School in Springfield, and Thomas Jefferson Charter School in Des Plaines. The three were relatively small schools, with enrollments between 73 and 319, and served few children in poverty.
Even Jefferson, with just 73 pupils, couldn’t better the average of the district from which it draws its enrollment.
When comparing charters and their districts, 12 did not surpass the district passing average; the other 11 did.
In Chicago, the only district in Illinois with more than one charter school, the narrow margin was nearly identical: Eight posted scores better than the district average, but seven didn’t.
One of those seven, Nuestra America Charter High, with 171 students, was closed by the Chicago Board of Education in June because of poor attendance, low test scores and leadership problems. Nuestra America had the worst score of all 3,815 schools in Illinois taking the tests last spring, with just 2.4 percent of its students passing standards.
Despite that closing, the vast majority of charter schools in the city are performing at higher levels than their neighboring schools, according to an analysis last spring by system officials.
The state board’s latest annual report on charter schools, written in January, said determining the movement’s success depends on viewpoint.
“Have charter schools been successful in Illinois?” the report said. “The short answer is that they have been successful for the students they serve.
“Beyond the comparison with local or state student achievement data is the perspective of other measures of success and accountability as viewed by parents, educators and the community.”
Charter school critics said the latest scores demonstrate that the reasons for low test scores, and the solutions, often lie outside the schoolhouse. Achievement, they contend, has less to do with educational innovation than with funding and family influences.
“Sure some charter schools offer opportunities and ways red tape can be circumvented,” said Alex Wohl, spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers. “But the learning methods and whether you have quality teachers and parental involvement–those are things that are important to a charter school or a public school.”
“Charter schools are indifferent in performance. There’s been a few successes, but overall, they come off as mediocre to low to the public schools that they are supposed to be beating so handily,” said James Dougherty, president of Illinois Federation of Teachers.
Others disagree.
“Basically, I’m pretty pleased. Most are doing well,” said Arne Duncan, chief executive of Chicago Public Schools, which is home to 15 of the 23 charter schools. The school board is expected to vote in February on whether to renew four charter schools.
Below city average
One of the four up for renewal is the North Lawndale Charter College Prep, where 15 percent of its students passed standards on the Prairie State Achievement Test, well below the city’s average of 30 percent on that test.
“They’d be crazy to shut us down,” said John Horan, dean of students at North Lawndale. “We’re sending a higher percentage of kids to college than most high schools in the city,” he added, saying 48 of 55 graduates last June went to college and four more joined the military.
Duncan agreed, but added, “We want to see those test scores improve.”
Every spring, each public elementary school in Illinois must administer the Illinois Standards Achievement Test in grades 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8, and all public high schools must give the Prairie State Achievement Exam to 11th graders. When results on those state tests, as well as those for bilingual and special education students, are combined, the state’s average for “meeting” or “exceeding” standards is 60 percent.
Charter schools must give the tests too. Whether a charter school should be closed for academic performance is largely left up to each district that has awarded a charter contract, a state board official said.
In Chicago, the board has guidelines for achievement and annual growth for its charter schools, but there are no absolute pass-fail cutoffs for test performance. Board officials also consider the makeup of a school’s enrollment, such as whether dropouts or other academically troubled students attend the school, said Greg Richmond, the board’s charter school director.
Chicago comparisons
Chicago officials also factor how a charter school’s score compares to the neighborhood public schools where its students would have been enrolled, Richmond said.
Duncan acknowledged low scores at some charter schools, such as Youth Connection Charter High, where passing rates fell last year to 9 percent from 11 percent. But the school, actually a network of 24 independent alternative schools, handles 4,000 Chicago public school dropouts, and the board’s charter school funding, at $5,325 a student, pays for only 1,700 of them, a charter school official said.
“They are dealing with a hard-core population, and they are meeting a real need there. Youth Connection is dealing with students who may end up on the street, and we want to reduce our dropout rates,” Duncan said.
One reason for creating charter schools was to establish incubators for experimental and innovative approaches to teaching and learning.
More Top Picks Best Microfiber Sheets
That is one of the goals at high-scoring Prairie Crossing in Grayslake, which grew to 220 students this fall from 160 after adding 5th grade. There, educators don’t rely on textbooks; rather they use original sources like history books and selections from fiction, said Principal Kathy Johnston.
Others revert to more traditional methods. Jefferson Charter School in Des Plaines relies heavily on textbooks and a form of direct instruction in which teachers heavily correct student work before moving on to the next skill.
“The teacher is deciding what is important for the children to learn, using various resources from textbooks, online resources, teacher-created material,” said Marilyn Keller Rittmeyer, executive director. “Traditional educators like a more structured approach to instruction.”
– – –
Most charter schools scored below state average
Charter schools, which are publicly funded, were created six years ago in Illinois as a way to provide an alternative to traditional public schools. But school report card data released this week shows that the schools are performing similar to their traditional counterparts. Only three scored above the state average.
%%
Ranked on percentage of test scores that met or exceeded state standards
State average: 60.1
SCHOOL CITY GRADE TESTED* PCT.
Prairie Crossing Charter School Grayslake 3,4 95.2
Springfield Ball Charter School Springfield 3,4,5 67.1
Thomas Jefferson Charter School Des Plaines 3,4,5,7,8 62.5
Young Women’s Leadership Chrtr Chicago 7 56.8
North Kenwood/Oakland Charter Sch Chicago 3,4,5,7,8 50.5
Chicago International Charter Chicago 3,4,5,7,8 49.4
Learn Elem Charter School Chicago 3,4,5,7,8 46.0
**Governors State Univ Charter Sch Crete 3,4 46.0
Noble Street Charter High School Chicago 11 45.2
Shabazz International Charter Elem Chicago 3,4,5,7,8 43.7
Paz Elem Charter School Chicago 3,4,5,7,8 42.8
Ft. Bowman Academy Charter Sch Cahokia 3,4,5,7,8 42.4
Perspectives Charter High School Chicago 7,8,11 38.1
KEYS Charter School Edwardsville 7,8 37.5
Global Village Elem Charter Chicago 3,4,5 34.0
Robertson Charter School Decatur 3 30.0
Triumphant Charter Elem School Chicago 7,8 29.0
Acad of Comm & Tech Charter HS Chicago 7,8,11 25.7
North Lawndale Charter HS Chicago 11 14.9
Alain Locke Elem Charter School Chicago 3 13.6
Youth Connection Charter HS Chicago 11 8.9
SIU Charter Sch of East St Louis East St. Louis 11 3.1
** Nuestra America Charter HS Chicago 11 2.4
* Omitted grades means grade does not exist at school.
** Closed June 2002
Source: Illinois State Board of Education
baiduhai
More Top Picks Best Heating Pads For Cramps
%%