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Thursday, July 21, 2011

How Does the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School Explain its Test Results?« City School Stories

Reflections: Then and Now « City School Stories

How Does the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School Explain its Test Results?

Submitted by Frank Murphy on July 21, 2011

There are currently four cyber charter schools operating in Pennsylvania. The functions of these schools, for the most part, are invisible to public scrutiny.

One of the 89 schools whose PSSA test scores are under investigation by the Pennsylvania Department of Education is the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. According to a study conducted by Data Recognition Corporation (DRC) on behalf of the state, the test results of multiple grades of this school were flagged for potential irregularities.

I had written a post earlier this year concerning the large sum of funding this school receives from state-mandated charter school payments. This money is drawn from the operational budgets of the local public school districts where its cyber school students live. I noted how this one virtual school receives more funding per school year than the entire budgets of many