A charter school report card: Which ones make the grade? <\/p>\n
By EVA-MARIE AYALA <\/p>\n
Star-Telegram staff writer<\/p>\n
Monday, Jan 14, 2008 <\/p>\n
More than a decade since they arrived in Tarrant County, charter
\nschools are mastering some tough lessons. <\/p>\n
They attract the most inexperienced teachers and battle higher
\nteacher turnover rates when compared with traditional public schools.
\nThey tend to struggle academically and sometimes financially, a
\nStar-Telegram analysis of the county’s nearly 20 charter schools
\nfound. <\/p>\n
But many charter schools are helping students most at risk of failing
\nor dropping out of traditional public schools, said Clyde Steelman, a
\ndeputy executive director at Region XI Education Service Center in
\nFort Worth. <\/p>\n
“Four or five years ago, I had a negative outlook on charter schools
\nbecause you just heard a lot of bad stuff about them,” Steelman said.
\n“And there’s some bad ones out there. … But there are definitely
\ngood ones out there making a difference for students that truly need
\nit.” <\/p>\n
About half of all Texas charters are designated as alternative
\neducation schools, including Fort Worth Can! Academy, which serves
\nstudents at risk of dropping out, according to the Texas Center for
\nEducational Research, an independent organization in Austin. <\/p>\n
Statewide, charter schools enroll larger proportions of
\nAfrican-American and low-income students and fewer Anglo students
\nthan traditional schools, the research group said in a March 2007
\nreport. <\/p>\n
The group compared charter schools with traditional schools serving
\ndemographically similar students and found no significant differences
\nin 2006 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills reading\/English
\nlanguage arts scores. <\/p>\n
Low-performing students enrolled in charter schools earned higher
\n2006 TAKS math scores than comparable students enrolled in
\ntraditional public schools. <\/p>\n
In Tarrant County, the Star-Telegram found that the average charter
\nschool teacher has spent less than five years in the classroom,
\ncompared with nearly 11 years in traditional public schools in the
\ncounty. Additionally, teachers at most area charters have been there
\nless than two years on average. <\/p>\n
Most charter schools can’t compete with the pay offered by
\ntraditional public school districts. Starting pay in Tarrant County
\nis around $45,000, but at charter schools it is closer to the low
\n$30,000s. <\/p>\n
Melissa Lotspeich teaches at Treetops School International, a charter
\nschool in Euless, and has a master’s degree. She could earn about
\n$50,000 a year in a traditional public school district, well above
\nher current salary of $40,500. <\/p>\n
“But the opportunities we give to the kids here are worth it,”
\nLotspeich said. “A lot of parents seek us out because their kids have
\nfallen through the cracks at other schools.” <\/p>\n
Finding success <\/p>\n
Some charter leaders concede that they had no idea what they were
\ngetting into when they opened their schools. <\/p>\n
Arlington Classics Academy, for example, was started in 1999 by
\nparents who wanted to give their children a private school education
\nat a public school price, school Trustee Jimmy Turnbow said. <\/p>\n
“We had no idea of numerous state requirements that it would have to
\nmeet,” he said. “We ask the state if we can be ‘XYZ,’ and they say go
\nahead. But then the state also says you got to be A through V too,
\nwhich contradicts some of what we wanted to do.” <\/p>\n
Founders initially planned to start with kindergarten through fourth
\ngrade and add grades from there. But enthusiastic parents pushed
\nleaders to add grade levels, and the school eventually opened with
\nkindergarten through eighth grade, adding ninth grade the next year.
\nClasses were spread between two rented campuses in Arlington and
\nDalworthington Gardens. <\/p>\n
In 2001, trustees cut the middle school, allowing school officials to
\nfocus on the elementary program. The school now operates from a
\nbuilding it owns with upgraded additions; it even has a student-run
\nradio program. <\/p>\n
“That cut was absolutely the right decision, but it was the hardest
\nthing I’ve ever been a part of,” said Turnbow, who was board
\npresident at the time. “In a business, when you decide to close a
\nlocation or not offer a product line, it’s a data-driven decision.
\nBut our product was children.” <\/p>\n
Other charter schools with a tightly focused mission are flourishing.<\/p>\n
The Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts was founded as a charter through
\nthe Texas Boys Choir. Students audition as part of the enrollment
\nprocess. The school has been rated recognized or exemplary, the
\nstate’s highest mark, for four of the past five years. <\/p>\n
The Harmony Science Academy of Fort Worth opened in southwest Fort
\nWorth last year and is one of 14 schools run by the nonprofit Cosmos
\nFoundation, based in Houston. The school’s heavy focus on science has
\nkindergartners preparing for science fairs. Professors from area
\nuniversities serve as school advisers. <\/p>\n
Harmony’s first state rating was exemplary, according to data
\nreleased in August. The school serves mostly poor and minority
\nstudents. <\/p>\n
Still struggling <\/p>\n
But not all niche schools meet state and federal benchmarks. <\/p>\n
Jean Massieu Academy in central Arlington opened in 1999 for deaf
\nstudents and children living with deaf relatives. The school, which
\nteaches kindergarten through 12th grade, has missed federal Adequate
\nYearly Progress standards for three straight years because too many
\nstudents took the alternative special-education test instead of the
\nTAKS. Fewer than 30 percent of students passed all parts of the TAKS
\nfrom 2003 to 2007. <\/p>\n
For deaf students, English is a second language, Jean Massieu
\nofficials said. The nuances of reading and writing can take longer to
\ntranslate and learn, they said. And that makes state-mandated tests
\nmore difficult. <\/p>\n
Deaf students must be taught in American Sign Language, and the TAKS
\nisn’t written for them, business manager Bobby Dunivan said. Of Jean
\nMassieu’s 90 students, 52 percent are in special-education programs. <\/p>\n
“If one or two students fail, it makes a huge difference in our
\nrates,” Dunivan said. <\/p>\n
And with a starting salary of $27,000, Dunivan said he’s lost many
\nteachers to higher-paying districts where they teach American Sign
\nLanguage as an elective and don’t have to worry about the TAKS. <\/p>\n
This year, the state appointed a monitor for the school after it was
\nrated academically unacceptable for two straight years. The monitor
\nreports to the Texas Education Agency on school activities. <\/p>\n
Charter schools that continually receive unacceptable ratings can
\nface state sanctions, including the loss of their charter. About 10
\ncharters have been closed by the TEA or by themselves because of poor
\nperformance, according to state officials. <\/p>\n
Dunivan said most of Jean Massieu’s students won’t be proficient in
\nreading and math by 2014, the stated goal of the federal No Child
\nLeft Behind Act of 2001 because many come to the school after falling
\nbehind in a traditional public school. <\/p>\n
“I can tell you that’s not going to happen here,” Dunivan said. “It
\ntakes years to improve, not just one year. If a deaf eighth-grade
\nstudent comes in at a third-grade level, he’s not going to make all
\nthat up in one year.” <\/p>\n
Leadership <\/p>\n
Stable leadership is key to a successful charter school, experts say.
\nAnd that has been a hallmark of East Fort Worth Montessori Academy. <\/p>\n
About 90 percent of the school’s students qualify for free or
\nreduced-price lunches, a population that often performs below other
\ngroups on standardized tests. But East Fort Worth Montessori has been
\nrated as recognized, the second-highest rating on the state’s
\nfour-tier scale, for the past two years. <\/p>\n
Joyce Brown founded the academy as a preschool to give poor and
\nminority students access to the Montessori method of self-directed,
\nhands-on learning. She has since helped it grow into a self-supported
\ncharter school that teaches through fifth grade. <\/p>\n
“It’s easier if you are working with affluent families,” she said.
\n“But when you’re working with 90 percent free- and reduced-
\nstudents — and those are the students who really need to be in
\nhigh-quality programs — it’s expensive. And it’s challenging. And
\nit’s not easy to replicate.” <\/p>\n
The school focuses on much more than classroom learning, Brown said. <\/p>\n
Under her leadership, the school has built a peace labyrinth for
\nmeditation and a wheelchair-accessible flower garden to share with
\nvisiting senior citizens. It boasts many multicultural offerings,
\nsuch as Mexican ballet folklorico, African dancing and Japanese tea
\ntime. Additionally, Brown formed a partnership with the Tarrant Area
\nFood Bank to provide nutritious meals to students while the bank
\ntrains participants in its welfare-to-work program to be chefs using
\nthe school’s cafeteria. Food bank staffers fill students’ backpacks
\nwith nutritional groceries for the weekends. <\/p>\n
Because many of the school’s families are Hispanic or Somali, the
\nschool offers parents English and parenting classes with on-site
\nchild care for parents and teachers. <\/p>\n
Still, there is much more to do, Brown said. One student was recently
\noverheard at lunch saying he was going to go to high school, college,
\nthen jail and prison because that’s where people learn to become a
\nman, Brown said. Soon after, Brown met with local black ministers and
\npastors to develop a mentoring program for students. <\/p>\n
“I just don’t know how you change that kind of mind-set that prison
\nis inevitable,” she said. “But we try. Whenever there is an issue we
\nsee, we try to address it. I think that is why we are successful.” <\/p>\n
Shaky ground <\/p>\n
By contrast, Metro Academy of Math and Science in Arlington is
\nstruggling to find academic and financial footing. It converted from
\na private school operated by Mount Olive Baptist Church to a charter
\nschool in 2000. Since then, it has had about a half-dozen principals <\/p>\n
Last week, board members removed Principal Lasonia Russell, who had
\nbeen there 1 1\/2 years. Russell said the parting was mutual. <\/p>\n
In a three-year average of TAKS results, Metro Academy posted the
\nlowest average scores in Tarrant County in third-, fourth- and
\nfifth-grade math; the lowest in fourth-grade reading; the lowest in
\nfifth-grade science; and was near the bottom in all other areas. When
\nthe school offered ninth grade last year, not one of the 21 freshmen
\npassed the TAKS. <\/p>\n
“There is no question that most of our students come from traditional
\nschools where they fell behind, and they come here looking for smaller
\nclasses or something different,” Metro board President Darryl Killen
\nsaid. “Some kids need more resources than we have to serve them, but
\nwe can’t turn them away. We take them in and do the best we can.” <\/p>\n
Money is an issue. Students are split among three locations, with
\nthird through eighth grades at a newer $3 million campus with two
\ngyms and a cafetorium. <\/p>\n
The upper-school library has only about $20,000 worth of books on a
\nfew bookcases. Donations have helped, particularly to build a
\ncomputer lab. But the school has operated with a shortfall in recent
\nyears. <\/p>\n
This year has been made more difficult by a grant dispute that led to
\nMetro Academy returning nearly $1 million to the state. An independent
\naudit of finances in 2006 found that the school’s accounting was not
\nbeing done properly because of high turnover in key personnel,
\naccording to state records. <\/p>\n
Killen said school leaders have tried to take on more than they can
\nhandle with the school’s finances. This year, the board turned over
\nthat responsibility to the Region XI Education Service Center, which
\nprovides help to area schools. <\/p>\n
Metro Academy was recently designated an alternative education school
\nbecause more than 75 percent of students qualify as at risk of
\ndropping out. Therefore, during the next round of state ratings, the
\nschool will be judged on different standards that require fewer
\nstudents to pass the TAKS. But it can only be rated acceptable or
\nunacceptable, the lowest ranks. Killen said the school will only have
\nthat status for one year. <\/p>\n
Because the school was rated academically unacceptable in August, it
\nis going through an intervention process with the TEA, which
\nevaluates everything from finances to curriculum. <\/p>\n
Wanda Strong said her two children are learning about character
\ndevelopment and getting the personalized attention they need at Metro
\nAcademy. <\/p>\n
“I believe the school is just going through a process,” Strong said. <\/p>\n
“I like the small classroom sizes. The environment here is more
\nnurturing” than a traditional public school, she said. <\/p>\n
CHARTER SCHOOL FACTS <\/p>\n
Charter schools have been supported by state tax dollars since 1995.
\nSupporters hailed them as an alternative not subject to all the rules
\nand regulations of public schools. <\/p>\n
Since passage of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, they
\nhave become more accountable to state and federal requirements. <\/p>\n
Statewide, there are 211 active charters run by nonprofits,
\nfor-profits or sometimes a small group of elected parents. <\/p>\n
CHOOSING A SCHOOL <\/p>\n
Parents should find as much data available on specific charter
\nschools before enrolling their child said Robin Lake, executive
\ndirector of the National Charter School Research Project. <\/p>\n
The Texas Education Agency collects testing, student and teacher data
\nfor all public schools, including charter schools, in its Academic
\nExcellence Indicator System reports available online. Lake said
\nparents should consider: <\/p>\n
Test scores and accountability information. Look at how a school has
\nimproved, or not improved, over several years. <\/p>\n
The school’s mission. Is it clear? Does it match your family’s goals
\nand values? <\/p>\n
School leadership. Is it strong and stable? Teacher turnover rates
\nare higher at charter schools, but stable leadership can make up for
\nthat. <\/p>\n
Teacher quality. Do teachers work well together? Are they qualified? <\/p>\n
Online: www.ncsrp.org <\/p>\n
CHARTERS THAT DO WELL, AND THOSE THAT FACE CHALLENGES <\/p>\n
Top ratings <\/p>\n
The Tarrant County area has at least 20 charter schools, though a
\nprecise number is difficult to determine because some are run by
\noperators in other counties. Five have received the TEA’s top two
\nratings of exemplary and recognized. <\/p>\n
Exemplary: Arlington Classics Academy and Harmony Science Academy of
\nFort Worth <\/p>\n
Recognized: East Fort Worth Montessori Academy, Fort Worth Academy of
\nFine Arts and Westlake Academy have been rated as recognized for at
\nleast the past two years. <\/p>\n
Unacceptable ratings <\/p>\n
Charter schools rated academically unacceptable for two straight
\nyears may face state sanctions, including a review of their charters,
\nrevised improvement plans or charter revocation. To date, about 10
\ncharters have been closed by the state or by themselves because of
\nlow performance. <\/p>\n
Three Tarrant County charter schools — Theresa B. Lee Academy in
\nFort Worth, Richard Milburn Academy in Fort Worth and Jean Massieu
\nAcademy in Arlington — have been rated academically unacceptable at
\nleast two years in a row. <\/p>\n
Theresa B. Lee Academy <\/p>\n
4327 E. Lancaster Ave., Fort Worth <\/p>\n
A state conservator was appointed in September because of testing
\nirregularities on the 2005 TAKS. The conservator, whose role is
\nexpanded because of low academic performance, can overrule decisions
\nby school officials. The school has missed federal accountability
\nstandards for the past three years. <\/p>\n
Jean Massieu Academy <\/p>\n
823 N. Center St., Arlington <\/p>\n
The school, which serves deaf students, their siblings or children of
\ndeaf parents, has been rated unacceptable for two years and has missed
\nfederal accountability standards three years in a row. School
\nofficials said it is difficult for the academy to meet standards
\nestablished for schools that serve the general population because it
\nhas a large percentage of special-education students. A state monitor
\nwas appointed this school year. <\/p>\n
Richard Milburn Academy <\/p>\n
6785 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth <\/p>\n
The west Fort Worth school aims to serve students who have fallen
\nbehind or struggled in traditional classes. It, too, has a state
\nmonitor assigned this school year to keep the TEA updated on its
\nactivities. It has missed federal standards twice in the past three
\nyears. <\/p>\n
Source: Texas Education Agency <\/p>\n
NEW SCHOOLS <\/p>\n
Three charter schools opened in Tarrant County in 2007: <\/p>\n
The Education Center International Academy, based in Garland, teaches
\npre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Arlington. <\/p>\n
The nonprofit charter management group Uplift Education converted the
\nformer Country Day School of Arlington into Summit International
\nPreparatory. (The campus also offers a private Montessori preschool
\nthrough kindergarten.) <\/p>\n
The Texas Boys Choir opened the North Texas Elementary School of the
\nArts, a spinoff of its Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts charter
\nschool. <\/p>\n
NEW NAME <\/p>\n
The Eagle Academy of Fort Worth is now Premier High School of Fort
\nWorth. The school is still part of the Eagle Academies of Texas,
\nwhich has campuses across Texas that serve students at risk of
\ndropping out. They are run by Responsive Education Solutions, a
\nnonprofit based in Lewisville. <\/p>\n
Link: http:\/\/www.star-telegram.com\/629\/story\/406907.html<\/p>\n
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A charter school report card: Which ones make the grade? By EVA-MARIE AYALA Star-Telegram staff writer Monday, Jan 14, 2008 More than a decade since they arrived in Tarrant County, charter schools are mastering some tough lessons. They attract the…<\/p>\n