COMMITTEE DOES NOT RECOMMEND RENEWAL OF REACH ACADEMYS CHARTER A second public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday on Reach Academy of Girls Charter School’s charter renewal. The hearing will begin at 5 p.m.in Conference Room C of Delaware Technical & Community College’s Wilmington campus, 333 N. Shipley Street. The Delaware Department of Educations Charter School Accountability Committee today voted not to recommend renewal of Reach Academy for Girls charter because of serious academic issues. If the charter is not renewed, the school would close at the end of this academic year. When considering a renewal application, committee members complete a comprehensive review, including looking at the school’s performance as measured by the Performance Framework (Academic, Financial and Organizational). Information also is gleaned by meeting with school representatives as well as from the renewal application, the public hearing and public comment period, the school’s response to the committee’s initial report, complaints posted on the charter school office website, the charter school’s annual reports and the results of any curricular reviews. The Charter School Accountability Committee concluded Reach Academy has not met the standard under its Academic Framework. Committee members noted student achievement data as among the lowest in the state. In almost every category, proficiency levels fall below or far below the standard. For example, only 25.1 percent of students finished the school year proficient in mathematics last year; 42.5 percent were so in English language arts (ELA). The percentage of students meeting their growth targets in 2012-13 was only 26.8 percent in mathematics and 36.4 percent in ELA. Citing mistakes in the school’s interpretation of its own data, committee members also noted what they perceive as a lack of understanding by Reach leadership of the school’s data and how to use the data to understand, plan for and meet student needs. More information about the school’s academic, financial and organizational performance is available online here. The renewal process began last month. Committee members convened Oct. 7 for the initial meeting with representatives of the school (minutes available online here). Committee members asked school leadership questions pertaining to three areas of the Performance Framework. An initial report was published Oct. 15 and is available online here. A public hearing was held Oct. 23 in Dover (transcript available here), and the school submitted a response to the initial report on Oct. 30. It is available online here. Where does the process go from here? Today was the accountability committee’s final meeting. As noted earlier, the second public hearing is 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6 in Conference Room C of Delaware Technical & Community College’s Wilmington campus, 333 N. Shipley Street. The accountability committee’s final report will be released by close of business on Nov. 7. Secretary of Education Mark Murphy will announce his decision to the State Board of Education at its Nov. 12 meeting. In other business, the committee recommended renewal of the charters of Kuumba Academy, Newark Charter and Positive Outcomes schools. Public input also will be taken on those schools with reports published Nov. 7 and Murphy’s decision made to the State Board on Nov. 12. Positive Outcomes’ public hearing is at 5 p.m. Nov. 5 in the Cabinet Room of the Townsend Building, 401 Federal St. in Dover. The Kuumba and Newark Charter hearings are at the same time and place as Reach’s. More information on all of the renewal applications is available online here. Reach, which opened in August 2010, is authorized to serve 475 students in grades kindergarten to 8. Current enrollment at the New Castle school is 468 students. Its charter was placed on probation in 2011 because of financial and governance issues. After meeting conditions, it was removed from probation earlier this year.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 13:12:15 +0000
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