Proponents say recent test results show that Rhode Island's way of licensing the controversial schools is working.

09:19 AM EST on Wednesday, November 24, 2004

BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer

The state's charter schools routinely outperform their district peers and, in some cases, their test scores exceed the state average.

Every one of the nine charter schools tested last spring was ranked as moderately or high-performing on the state's annual tests in reading, writing and math.

According to Robert Pilkington, president of the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools, "If the league was considered a district of 11 schools, then this predominantly urban system would be producing suburban performance ratings."

One school -- the Learning Community School in Central Falls -- wasn't tested because it hadn't opened. The state tests students every year in grades 4, 8 and 11.

After the state test scores were released this fall, Pilkington compared the scores of charter school students to their district peers and the statewide figures. This is what he found:

At Times2 Academy, eighth graders scored higher than their Providence peers on six out of the seven tests. The academy's high school juniors outdid their city peers on every test category and outperformed the state average in all but one test.

At Textron Chamber of Commerce Academy, 11th graders matched or exceeded the scores of their Providence peers on four out of the seven tests and performed better than the state in three.

At CVS Highlander School, students in grades four and eight met or exceeded the scores of students in the Providence public schools on four tests.

"Is this a cause for celebration? Yes and no," said James Donahue, head of school at CVS Highlander. "Our goal is to be a high-performing school."

Some charter schools, however, are struggling to catch up. Students at New England Laborers Career Academy in Cranston and Compass Elementary Charter School in North Kingstown lag well behind the state average in almost every area tested.

And fourth graders at International Charter School in Pawtucket scored well below the state average in math, especially problem-solving.

THE GOOD NEWS about Rhode Island charter schools comes at a time when the movement is under attack. Washington state voters recently rejected a bill to establish charter schools, and both Massachusetts and Rhode Island have imposed moratoriums on new charters.

A new study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education found that charter schools were less likely to meet state performance standards than traditional public schools. The study looked at charter schools in five states: Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts and North Carolina.

It comes on the heels of two other highly publicized reports on charter schools that showed sharply contrasting results. A study by the American Federation of Teachers, which found that charter school students lagged behind their peers at traditional public schools, was widely criticized for using poor methodology.

A second study by Harvard University's Caroline M. Hoxby concluded that charter students, when compared with students in the nearest traditional public schools, are slightly more likely to be proficient in reading and math.

But the nation's 3,000 charter schools are not monolithic. They run the gamut from ultra-progressive schools without grades or formal classes to schools with dress codes and traditional curricula.

"I don't know if there is such a thing as a generic charter school," Rhode Island Education Commissioner Peter McWalters said. "Some states give charters a blank slate. Shame on them. I'm not surprised that they are collapsing. The danger of these studies is they place all charters in the same box."

Charters have one thing in common: They are allowed to operate free of the existing bureaucracy. Although they may be run by school districts, universities or private foundations, charter schools are always public institutions that are financed with public dollars.

According to charter advocates, Rhode Island has a strict approval process that weeds out weak applications before they ever get off the ground. A school's charter is reviewed by the state Department of Education every five years to make sure it is true to its mission and making academic progress.

"Charter schools [in Rhode Island] truly do face the loss of their license if they don't perform," Pilkington said. "We all stare into the abyss every day."

CRITICS SAY charter schools drain valuable resources from regular public schools, because, at least in Rhode Island, tuition follows the student.

Tim Duffy, executive director of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, said it's unfair to compare charters with traditional public schools, because per-pupil spending is greater for charters.

But Stanley Thompson, the academic head of Times2 Academy, said his school receives the same per-pupil dollars as other Providence public schools.

Pilkington looks at it another way. He said charter schools should be applauded for pursuing grants and outside sources of money.

"At Textron, we fundraise aggressively," he said. "I see this as a wonderful advantage because these corporate dollars increase the amount of money that works to benefit public school students."

Duffy also said there is anecdotal evidence that charter schools ship troublemakers back to the traditional schools -- a claim charter school leaders staunchly deny.

"That is ridiculous," Thompson said. "We aren't like Classical High School. Students are picked by a lottery. We've taken kids who are two or three grade levels behind their peers and pulled them up."

That said, it's not uncommon for charters to ask both student and parent to sign a document that commits them to meeting certain standards of behavior. In that sense, successful charters often attract parents and students who are more committed to academic success than those found at the typical public school.

What makes charter schools successful? According to McWalters, the same things that make any school effective: high expectations, a passion for teaching and learning, lots of adult attention and small classes.

"It's so much easier to open a school with a common culture than to convert a school into something else," he said. "With charters, you start from scratch, and that's a huge plus."

Because the charter school movement is only a dozen years old, it may be too soon to say whether these experiments are working. Thompson said he would like to see someone study the sorts of things a test can't measure.

"The one thing that isn't quantifiable is the values these schools convey to students, the quality of teaching and the impact these kids have on the community," he said.