Dear Joel,
I appreciate your effort to treat the charter school /
traditional school debate fairly on Sunday April 7.
May I offer some perspectives you may not know?
I am the founder and CEO of PA Leadership Charter School, one
of 15 PA Cyber Charter Schools. We started in 2004 and have grown to over 2,400
students state wide.
You stated in your article:
"Pennsylvania's revised method of evaluating charter schools reported that only 28 percent of the more traditional charter schools and none of the state's Cyber Schools (another outsource) met the standards for "adequate yearly progress... Unfortunately, we have no way of determining whether this massive educational experiment is succeeding."
Several observations:
1. Charter schools in Philadelphia are performing better than
their counterparts in the traditional public school arena.
- 9 public charter schools have made AYP every year since their inception.
-
54% of public charter schools in Philadelphia
County made AYP in 2012
-
13% of traditional public schools in Philadelphia County made AYP in 2012
-
29 public charter schools are classified as either Making Progress or School Improvement
2. Cyber Charter Schools are evaluated unfairly. They are
evaluated as individual schools and as Local Educational Agencies (LEA's). This
is the equivalent of a school district. If a school district has one school
that makes AYP, the entire school district may be classified as making AYP. Not
so with a Cyber Charter School. Cybers must make AYP in all grade levels and
all categories.
3. Our cyber charter school (palcs.org) has made AYP in 9 out of 10 categories each year since the inception of the school. Yet, we are not given a 90% success rate in the press. Rather we are given the equivalent rate of 12.5% because we made all categories in only one of 8 years of testing. Cyber Charter Schools have a tough time making AYP because our large size gives us 40 students in numerous categories (28 this last year) including: low income, minorities, English as a Second Language, Special Education, etc."
4. With our students that stay with us for more than three years, we have seen dramatic successes - far exceeding the AYP standards.
5. We have started, and currently run seven live centers where students come to a local location to connect with their teachers via the Internet. In these centers, we see great success. The Philadelphia Tribune reported on one of our Philadelphia Centers that boasted a 100% graduation rate. http://www.palcs.org/2013/03/charter-school-boosts-full-graduation-rate-philadelphia-tribune/. These centers strain the school's budget, however. We are experimenting with several different models financially to determine if we can expand this concept.
6. All charter schools begin with at least 30% less in funding than the home school district. Yet, all charter schools are held to the same AYP standards.
7. There are currently 15 cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania. Several were started and are run by school districts. Several are totally independent. Only two are run by outside management companies (Commonwealth Connections and Agora). The rest are not as you say "another outsource."
8. Parents are evaluating charter schools and are moving to charters in record numbers. For every two students in charter schools, there is one student on the waiting list.
Charter Facts:
3. Our cyber charter school (palcs.org) has made AYP in 9 out of 10 categories each year since the inception of the school. Yet, we are not given a 90% success rate in the press. Rather we are given the equivalent rate of 12.5% because we made all categories in only one of 8 years of testing. Cyber Charter Schools have a tough time making AYP because our large size gives us 40 students in numerous categories (28 this last year) including: low income, minorities, English as a Second Language, Special Education, etc."
4. With our students that stay with us for more than three years, we have seen dramatic successes - far exceeding the AYP standards.
5. We have started, and currently run seven live centers where students come to a local location to connect with their teachers via the Internet. In these centers, we see great success. The Philadelphia Tribune reported on one of our Philadelphia Centers that boasted a 100% graduation rate. http://www.palcs.org/2013/03/charter-school-boosts-full-graduation-rate-philadelphia-tribune/. These centers strain the school's budget, however. We are experimenting with several different models financially to determine if we can expand this concept.
6. All charter schools begin with at least 30% less in funding than the home school district. Yet, all charter schools are held to the same AYP standards.
7. There are currently 15 cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania. Several were started and are run by school districts. Several are totally independent. Only two are run by outside management companies (Commonwealth Connections and Agora). The rest are not as you say "another outsource."
8. Parents are evaluating charter schools and are moving to charters in record numbers. For every two students in charter schools, there is one student on the waiting list.
Charter Facts:
-
105,056 - The number of students enrolled in public charter schools across Pennsylvania representing 6% of the entire K-12 student population.
-
44,000 - The number of children in Pennsylvania who are currently on waiting lists to attend charter schools
-
25% - The percentage of students in Philadelphia School District that attend public charter schools.
Currently, there is an effort in Harrisburg to cut the funding
for Cyber Charter Schools as much as 30%, making these schools the least funded
schools in the state. All cyber charter schools are asking is to be treated
equally with all other public schools. Then, we would not mind being compared
to our traditional brick and mortar counterparts.
I hope that you find this information helpful. If I can be of
further help to you, please call.
Sincerely,
Jim Hanak, CEO, PA Leadership Charter School
610-399-9876 cell
Dr.
James Hanak, CEO
PA Leadership Charter School
1332 Enterprise Drive
West Chester, PA 19380
Phone: 610-701-3333
1332 Enterprise Drive
West Chester, PA 19380
Phone: 610-701-3333
Fax: 610-701-3393
www.palcs.org
www.palcs.org
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