I got a copy a couple of days ago on the one performed for the 2012-2013 school year. It shows the kids in the charter perform 10% higher than the state average in math, and 20% higher than the school district. They receive a rating of: Exceeding for Comparative Student Achievement.
Um-- okay, but keep in mind that what passes for "state standards" in most places has been
abysmally low in terms of standards for basic numeracy.
So "Exceeds" benchmarks just means that
most kids in the school are performing at my
personal (admittedly jaded) 30th percentile or up. For grade level.
What it
often means is that test-prep and drill-and-kill are the order of the day, at least in grades K-8. Because
this is what produces reasonable test score gains in KIDS who are at the 25th through 60th percentiles, and that IS the group that teachers must focus on in order to maintain acceptable test scores.Sorry-- but 'school report cards' don't really mean much here.
ITA about the Common Core highlights, btw. Good stuff.
