How did Oakland’s charter schools do?
By Katy Murphy
Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 7:38 pm in charter schools, test scores.
Oakland’s charter school test scores vary just as widely as those of the rest of the schools in the district. Want to see how the state-funded, privately run schools did on the 2010 state tests, and whether their scores improved from last year?
Look no further. I’ve just finished compiling the numbers. (If you spot an error, please let me know!)
Click here for the spreadsheet, which you should be able to sort to your heart’s content, and here for the link to the state CST data.
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August 16th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Based on the District’s own website, Arise and Aviation are about to begin the final year of their charters. I guess we’ll see how tough the renewal process really is. Why would the Board continue to approve charters for schools that are underperforming District schools?
Charter leaders like to talk about how important test scores are. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
August 16th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
I believe ARISE has an extra year to prove itself. On Wednesday, if I remember correctly (minutes not yet posted), the school board agreed to change the terms of its charter so it would expire in 2012, not 2011. From the petition:
August 17th, 2010 at 9:35 am
“Charter leaders like to talk about how important test scores are. Live by the sword, die by the sword.”
Um, so the union dominated unreformed mainstream schools in Oakland shouldn’t be judged on how well or poorly their student’s performed?
I’m all for charters that do not perform to be shut down.
But so should the noncharters that fail to educate, and unfortunately — that’s not on the school board’s agenda. And it’s the students who pay the price of those failures.
August 19th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Problem is, since it’s the most challenged, high-need, at-risk students who post the lowest test scores, if you shut down the schools that enroll those students, they will have no school to enroll in. Charter schools, of course, don’t have to enroll any students they don’t want, as they control their own enrollment process without oversight.
August 19th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
CarolineSF –
Many charters operate on a lottery system. Many charter schools do not have an application, they simply have a student interest form. Once a spot opens up, the next family on the list is called.
There is a false belief that all charter schools hand pick students. This is not fair and discredits all of the positive impact that they have. Large schools like Berkeley High and Oakland Tech do very little to serve a large proportion of their students. Charter schools step in to do the work that these schools have failed to do.
Stop lumping all charter schools together in one category. You could have stated, “Some charter schools.”
August 19th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
@Caroline…
Thank you for post #5…all Charters are not equal and they are not all bad. The failing ones should be shut down (OUSD probably has too many), just like the failing district schools. There is often a lot of negative entries on the blog toward all of the charters, but it is nice to hear that others recognize that some of them are really are helping students succeed.
August 19th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
The Real Issue…sorry, I thought I thanked you 1st!
August 20th, 2010 at 7:24 am
My thoughts are
1. Arise is a school led by an OUSD “crony: (taken from a post on another category)? There scores are horrible , but I thibk that the charter process will point that their closure in imminent.
2. American Indian schools- what are their Asian population numbers? I know they are as high as their scores, but why?
(C’mon- you know the deal with Asian students. They do perform better).
3. Many charters are overall doing well, so what can be learned from them. Isin’t that the cencept behind the original charter school concept? They are here and instead of being bashed, lets see what works.
The same goes for other school types.
4. Aviation is a terrible concept for a charter in Oakland. I laughed when it was first approved and I doubt it will survive, but am sure it should not!
Anyway, a few random though after reading Katy’s posting.
August 24th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Missed some posts. No, The Real Issue, what I said is true. Charter schools control their own enrollment process without oversight, so they don’t have to enroll any students they don’t want. Period, paragraph. Some may go out of their way to enroll challenging students (oh, I see a pig flying by) — no, sorry, some actually may. But they don’t have to. In real life here on Planet Earth, charter schools are totally free to pick and choose their students, to reject and kick out any they don’t want. I’m not necessarily saying they all do that, but they are all free to do that.