No cyber charter school made AYP

[Pat Riot]

Adequate yearly progress that is. Can't imagine why.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/no-cyber-charter-school-in-pennsylvania-made-adequate-yearly-progress-671590/

[mrmpa]

1. I find this interesting...............

My nephew is a senior attending a Pennsylvania cyber school, he has for the past 4 years. This past October, he asked me to drive him to the offices of the cyber school. He told me that he was told to come in to take his State Assessment tests. I said to him, didn't you take that in your junior year? His answer was "yes" & he didn't know why he was told to come back in. He took the test again.

I'm wondering if the school was trying to change test scores in some way.

He has about a 3.5 GPA, he's taken his SAT's but I don't know yet what he scored. He will be attending college next year.

[Curmudgeoness]

2. That sure sounds fishy to me.

You are not alone in thinking that they want to get high achievers' results put in with other results to bring them up. Very interesting.

I hope that he is getting a good education and doesn't have a rude awakening when he hits college. I would be interested to know how well he does on the SAT's. That would be telling about whether the level of education he is getting is up to par. I worry.

[mrmpa]

7. I'll let you know...........

he took them in November(?). He's coming over tomorrow with his brother (who is going back to college on Sunday). I will ask him.

[badhair77]

3. a friend of mine works at a cyber charter school several years ago

Part of her job was to nudge some low-performing students back to their home schools before the PSSA tests. Those results would then go on the home school's scores even though the student had not been in the brick and mortar school for months if not years.

[MichiganVote]

4. This happens all the time. In fairness, lg. public schools dump on smaller districts too. How?

They do shit like telling the parents their underperforming son or daughter will "do better" in a smaller school district. Parents buy it, they enroll as school of choice students and they then decrease the new districts AYP because they are low average students to begin with and the crappy standardized tests are structured for average students.

Great system of testing isn't it.

[badhair77]

5. Is this thru vouchers? Are you in Michigan?

We do not have a widespread system of being able to switch districts, at least not in my county. The districts have gotten more hard-nosed about proving residency. For the schools that are failing, I believe the students have had a tough time finding anywhere else to go because there's no room.

My friend's job was to give that same talk you referenced but also to clean house of anyone who looked as if they would not do well on the test as in attendance problems, equipment issues and performance issues. I know of no local district that can get away with that.

[MichiganVote]

6. Yes this is Michigan. Snyder wants state wide school of choice.

AND they want to alleviate the charters of the requirements of the public school systems=total chaos.

The reasons districts have become more rigorous about residency is not to restrict student/parent choices. Yes it involves testing, AYP results. But so long as there are differing curriculum strategies, kids who change schools or change schools often, even with adequate attendance, will likely test lower. Kids with high absences are the bottom of the barrel as far as test results go. Some even lower than the special needs population-who are not exempt from the test outcome standards that the Repub's in Michigan want to give to charter schools. THAT is what anyone with a brain in Michigan calls the "voucher" schools. Its a complete power play driven by the DeVos family among others.

The education "reformers" want to eliminate local control in every state. So you'll pay your property taxes but the school services may go anybody who shows up to enroll. Neat huh

Eventually your friend and other like that employee will have quotas they will have to fill...no stress there.

That is the direction of public education today. Its ugly and getting uglier.

[JPZenger]

8. Public schools are blamed for students who only attend for a few months

The testing system needs plenty of reforms. For example, let people take the tests in their native languages if they are new immigrants. Don't blame a school for test results if that kid has only been in that school district for a few months.

[Curmudgeoness]

9. You are right that there are no local districts that can do that.

This is what is so disheartening. The public schools must take any student who lives in that district, and cannot choose not to take any student. Charter schools can decide not to take anyone they don't want, and they can get rid of any student that they want to get rid of. I don't see how these "reformers" cannot see the differences and the reasons why it is an unfair system.

Yet, with all the advantages stacked on the side of charter schools, they still do not meet the same standards that public schools are meeting. Go figure.