Charter School Critics Blast Graduation Claims
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
An anti-charter school group is questioning the attrition rates at the Connecticut high school run by Achievement First, the nonprofit charter management organization that hopes to open schools in Providence beginning in 2013.
WeCanRI, which is led by Providence City Councilman Bryan Principe, is disputing the organization’s claim that 100 percent of its graduates are accepted to college because the school had a 50 percent attrition rate between 9th grade and 12th grade. The group failed to address the attrition rate of traditional urban public schools.
“Achievement First’s statement that 100 percent of its students have been accepted to college can give the false impression that all of its students reach graduation,” Principe said. “In reality, Amistad High School has experienced more than a 50 percent student attrition rate as their classes have moved from 9th grade to 12th grade.”
Total Attrition Rate: 11.4 Percent
At Amistad High School in New Haven, the 2010 and 2011 graduating classes each lost more than half of their students over four years. But officials at Achievement First, which runs high-performing elementary, middle and high schools in New York and Connecticut, say the numbers are misleading.
During the 2010-2011 school year, the organization claims its total attrition rate across each of its 19 schools was 11.4 percent, which is significantly lower than the attrition and/or mobility rates typical to urban settings.
“Like any district, students leave our schools for a variety of reasons,” Reshma Singh, vice president of external relations for Achievement First said. “In many cases this is due to circumstances out of our control such as a student moving away. In other cases, students opt to attend other schools, most of which have more specialized offerings (football, theater, etc.) than we have been able to offer. Like all Achievement First schools, our high school has an extended school day, required uniforms, and rigorous academic program.”
Singh continued: “We continually work on investing high school students in the hard work required to climb the mountain to college and building our extracurriculars and other programs to better compete with options available to our scholars. We are making progress towards those goals. The classes of 2010 and 2011, Amistad’s first two graduating classes were smaller than those succeeding them. The class of 2012, which includes students from our Elm City College Preparatory charter in New Haven, is almost double the size of the class of 2011.”
Misleading Statistics
Principe, however, claims there is potential that the majority of students enrolling in an Achievement First high school won’t remain in the school through graduation. He also challenged the organization’s claim that all of its students are accepted into college.
“By default this means that Achievement First will never have less than 100% of its graduates accepted to four-year colleges,” he said. “They also specify that this is an acceptance rate, not how many of their students actually enroll in or attend college. This kind of statistic can mislead Rhode Island parents into believing that enrolling their child in an AF school guarantees they will attend college. In reality, when you look at their attrition numbers, winning the lottery at an Achievement First school isn’t about getting to attend the school, it’s about being one of the few who will actually make it to graduation.”
Singh said the organization shouldn’t be criticized for having high standards.
“Achievement First does not try to hide the fact that acceptance into a four-year college is a requirement to graduate from our high schools,” she said. “This does not mean that we ask students to withdraw from our program when they face challenges in meeting that requirement. Rather, we set extremely high expectations for each scholar and work hard to help them accomplish their goals.”
UPDATE: Councilman Principe says WeCanRI is not anti-charter school, just anti-Achievement First. He said he personally supports local charters such as the Rhode Island Nurses Institute and the International Charter School.
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Comments:
Joseph Fazio
11:53am on Wednesday, December 28, 2011
The charter school system AND Achievement First believe that covering up the true facts will not go noticed by the taxpayers that have to pay for two educational systems. This stinks of a cover-up supported by people that have no basic knowledge of how to provide a basic platform of learning. Face it, they are FOR PROFIT, it is not a volunteer organization, to Achievement First it is about the bottom line. The more schools they open the better the bottom line. Under the guise of "education and children first" these hucksters come into places that struggle under a ton of social problems, dress the kids up in uniform, sing the same songs, and promise that every special child will become a genius. When they hit the speed bumps like those faced in taxpayer fueled schools they drop the chatter and the kid.
Aaron Regunberg
12:54pm on Wednesday, December 28, 2011
I don't quite know how AF gets around this. The 2011 class at AF Amistad had 47 students in 9th grade and only 23 students in 12th grade. In 2010, the first year that AF graduated a high school class, the graduating class decreased from 45 students in 9th grade to only 22 students in 12th. When factoring in attrition that occurred as those classes went from 8th grade to 9th grade, the attrition rate increases to 60%. So their talk about all their students graduating and going on to college is literally a lie. Rhode Island, these folks have literally been lying to you.
Check out the source: http://www.achievementfirst.org/schools/connecticut-schools/amistad-elm-city-high/aechs/
Aaron Regunberg
3:11pm on Wednesday, December 28, 2011
http://sdeportal.ct.gov/Cedar/WEB/ct_report/EnrollmentReportViewer.aspx
West Side Parent
5:07pm on Wednesday, December 28, 2011
I can't believe the AF spokesperson's defense to Achievement First's horrendous attrition rate is that AF is combining senior classes of Amistad and Elm City (2 separate schools) and is thereby increasing its numbers of seniors for 2012. Combining senior classes at 2 different schools does not change the fact that AF Amistad has consistently lost more than half its students between 9th and 12th grades.
For a "no excuses" charter school, Achievement First sure makes a lot of excuses -- for all of its elementary and middle schools in CT failing to make AYP in 2011; for enrolling consistently lower numbers of the highest need students (ELL, special education and economically disadvantaged students) than its traditional neighborhood districts; for treating its ELL students like special education students at a NY school that had been open for 5 years; and now, for losing half of its high school students by the time they reach 12th grade.
Also interesting is Ms. Singh's selective use of data regarding attrition. Using a statistic that is an average across all 19 of AF's schools and across all of its grades dilutes the fact that this is a program that purports to be college prep. As such the final years in a student's career is where the rubber hits the road towards college. Sadly, it is also where most of AF's attrition takes place. On the way from 9th grade to 12th, Amistad consistently loses over half its students. This is shameful.
I also want to point out that Dan McGowan's characterization of WeCanRI.org as an "anti-charter group" lacks journalistic integrity. If you like, I think it's fair to say that WeCanRI is an "anti-Achievement First group," but to say it's anti-charter just isn't true. This group does not oppose all charter schools, JUST THIS ONE.
West Side Parent
5:10pm on Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Mr. McGowan, if you want to know who WeCanRI.org is, ask Councilman Principe or check out the About Us page on their website:
We-Can is an online grassroots gathering place whose content supports putting public education in the hands of taxpayers and citizens. We believe that a strong democracy requires public education that is by, for, and of the people. We endeavor to balance the debate about education reform that includes community voice and counters the influence of corporate-backed philanthropists and lobbying organizations.
Joseph Fazio
5:49pm on Wednesday, December 28, 2011
What utter bilge. WE CAN is a lobbying group supported by private dollars from other lobbying groups. They have their sticky fingers in the urban schools where politicians, consultants, and special interest groups hoover waiting for a chance to lock onto a school. WE CAN fails to mention the true nature of their mission and their backers. You can spin it any way you want, but shadow groups like WE CAN are funded by out of state interests.
West Side Parent
7:23pm on Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Dear Joseph, I think you are confusing WeCanRI.org with RI-CAN which is absolutely a lobbyist organization that is funded by out of state interests.
I had read that We-Can's name was a play against RI-CAN the lobbyist organization. It is confusing.
In any case WeCanRI.org is an all-volunteer-supported website that is posting research and data (and cites its sources, by the way!) that challenge the spin coming from Achievement First lobbyists such as RI-CAN, DFER (Democrats for Education Reform), and RIMA (RI Mayoral Academies).
It should also be noted that Bill Fischer is the spokesperson for all three of these lobbyist groups! Mr Fischer was also the spokesperson for Providence City Council President Michael Solomon, one of only two city council people who publicly support Achievement First. Councilman Davian Sanchez had written a letter of support for the Cranston version of this proposal but has since publicly come out in opposition of the Providence proposal.
Concerned Incentralfalls
8:59pm on Wednesday, December 28, 2011
I also want to add my 2-cents to this discussion. If Achievement First wants to compare itself to the urban schools in our state, then it must use the same measurement tools. In RI, a student who entered 9th grade in a school is counted as a drop-out if he/she did not graduate from said school, regardless of where he/she went! That bit of dropout "accounting" is why Central Falls High School was in such hot water in 2010, the high dropout rate. No consideration was ever given to that school for the kids who move back to their countries of origin, move to another state, or simply tio the next town. if they're not there at graduation time they're considered dropped out. So, it sound like Amistad Academy is on equal footing with CF High. Ain't that a coincidence?