NCLB Standards Often Misinterpreted for Charter School Networks
Chicago International Charter School proves its campuses are among the best of non-selective enrollment schools in Chicago
CHICAGO, Dec. 22, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Several facts were misinterpreted in the Chicago Tribune article fromDecember 15, 2010 entitled "Critics force CPS to table charter vote". Chicago International Charter School (CICS) wishes to clarify several points about how its academic performance was portrayed.
When Ahmed-Ullah refers to CICS being on the "Federal Academic Watch List," she was speaking of how CICS, a 15-campus public charter school network, is rated by the Average Yearly Progress (AYP) standards set forth by No Child Left Behind. AYP is calculated by a combination of factors including the percentage of students who meet or exceed targets on standardized tests like the ISAT, the PSAE, and IAA, as well as high school graduation rates.
There are several issues with using AYP to measure the performance of charter school networks like CICS:
"That CICS has not met Annual Yearly Progress does not mean it isn't making remarkable gains on the student level," saidAndrew Broy, President of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. "First of all, the rating does not apply to individual
