OAPCS Media Statement on State School Report Cards

February 26, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE–The Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools (OAPCS) President and CEO Dr. Darlene Chambers made the following statement today regarding the just released Ohio State Report Cards:

“The report cards released this week for both traditional district and charter schools are overly complex, too late to be useful and are based on constantly shifting state assessment vendors,” said Dr. Darlene Chambers. “Ohio’s parents should take the recently released results with a grain of salt,” she added.

Despite the report card flaws and complexity, there was evidence of charter school student progress. In the Urban 8, where the majority of Ohio public charter schools are located, there are approximately 220 brick and mortar public charter schools serving students in grades K-12 that are not drop-out recovery or statewide virtual schools. These 220 charter schools also include those with blended learning models and about 35 with a special education focus serving primarily students with autism and other learning disabilities requiring an Individual Education Program (IEP).

“An analysis by OAPCS comparing state report card measures in Performance Index (PI) scores for the Urban 8 public brick and mortar charters compared to the Urban 8 traditional school districts indicates charters in Columbus, Cleveland, and Dayton exceeded their traditional district counterparts in receiving a rating of A to C,” Dr. Chambers said.

“Within the context that new state test systems are continually being changed and that proficiency expectations are redefined every year, it is encouraging that the charter schools have PI scores in this range,” Dr. Chambers said.

For Value Added (VA), which measures the amount of learning a student made during a school year, brick and mortar charter schools tracked close to their urban traditional school counterparts in obtaining A to C grades.

Within the “high-mobility” VA score on the report cards, results for virtual charter schools showed that student retention has an impact on academic success. Only those students who have been in a virtual school for two years or more are tracked in this category. Of the statewide virtual schools, four received an A in the “high-mobility” VA score: Ohio Connections Academy, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), Ohio Virtual Academy and Alternative Education Academy. Ohio Connections also received an A in its overall VA grade. Three other virtual schools received a C in the high mobility VA score: Buckeye On-Line School for Success, Insight School of Ohio and Virtual Community School of Ohio. Buckeye On-Line School for Success and Ohio Virtual Academy also received a C in its overall VA grade.

“Due to the high percentage of students who move in and out of virtual schools, the “high mobility” VA results indicate that for those who make the transition successfully and adapt to the virtual model, their learning growth is exceeding or meeting expectations,” Dr. Chambers said.

A more complete Report Card analysis will be released by OAPCS in early March.

Read the article in the Hannah Report here.

 

About the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools (OAPCS)

The Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools is a membership organization that aspires to provide children with greater educational opportunities by improving the quality and fostering the growth of Ohio’s public charter schools. Approximately 125,000 students attend public charter schools in Ohio.