Not one cyber charter school in the state and fewer than one-third of 'brick-and-mortar' charter schools made Adequate Yearly Progress last year.
Charter schools have been touted as a way for students to escape underperforming local public schools ever since Pennsylvania passed legislation in 1997 establishing them as a independent public schools. Cyber charter schools followed in 2002. One of the key selling points used by charter schools has been that their students outperform their public school counterparts. But according to the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, historical data indicate that a consistently lower percentage of charter schools make AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) than traditional public schools. Last fall, the state Department of Education implemented a new way of determining whether charter schools have met student achievement milestones for AYP under the …
A roundup of the week's top stories.
Here are this week's top stories from Patch sites in your region: Councilman Threatened With Shotgun Assault, Trespassing Charges Against Former Highmark CEO Withdrawn Tax Dollars Pay for Cyber Charter School Ads Dormont Teacher Wins Golden Apple Award
'There's money to be made shortchanging kids' educations,' letter writer says.
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Wednesday, February 15, 2012
For the second straight year, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has proposed massive education budget cuts. For the second straight year, Corbett has proposed massive cuts to colleges, universities and K-12 public schools. For the second straight year, Corbett has proposed the state do less for its citizens and more for big business. Why? It’s all about profits. There’s money to be made shortchanging kids’ educations. States throughout the country spend the majority of their budgets on schools. On average, states spend about 40 percent of their tax revenues on K-12 and colleges, according to The National Association of State Budget Officers. That’s some $400 billion every year. Pennsylvania comes in somewhat below the national average with …
NE12Ukid
4:59 pm on Thursday, April 25, 2013
Ed M 2:05 pm on Thursday, April 25, 2013 I agree home schooled kids are usually smarter. But they are socially more awkward. .>>> EdM, are you talking about homeschooling or charters now? Curious as to where you got your information that homeschooled kids are "smarter" kids. And who determined that they were also socially awkward, and how that was determined? I agree that cyber charter schooled … more ›