BSU-led charter schools troubled
Chief Academic Officer Kevin L. Handley Sr. talks about Galileo Charter School on Aug. 9, 2011. / Joshua Smith / Palladium-Item file photo
Indiana has some of the best performing charter schools in the country, a report from a Stanford University announced last week.
But Hoosier charters could be much better, the study also said, if not for one barrier: Ball State University, sponsor of more than half of Indiana’s 66 charter schools, hasn’t done a good job of overseeing them.
Ball State’s approval of — and tolerance for — low-performing charter schools erases many of the gains other charters are making across the state and depresses the overall averages, said Stanford’s Macke Raymond, one of the study’s authors.
“Indiana has seen a tremendous amount of effort to create a strong and vibrant charter sector,” she said. “They’re not helping. The responsibility is pretty clearly on the authorizer.”
Stanford isn’t the only observer troubled by Ball State’s charters.
The National Association of Charter School Authorizers, a trade group for charter school sponsors, just issued a report that
Richmond charter school
The Office of Charter Schools at Ball State University currently is evaluating renewal of the charter for the Kenneth A. Christmon STEMM Academy, formerly Galileo Charter School. The process includes consideration of the Richmond school’s academic achievement, attendance and financial solvency since it opened in 2005. Evaluation is expected to conclude in March. Ball State could renew the charter for up to five years or close the school.
In its October ranking of schools with grades from A-F, the Indiana Department of Education gave the STEMM Academy an F. The previous year, it had earned an A.
“Do we need to get better? Yes. Improvement is a start,” Chief Academic Officer Kevin Handley told the P-I before the school year began, noting its most important goal is getting students to proficiency.
In its October ranking of schools with grades from A-F, the Indiana Department of Education gave the STEMM Academy an F. The previous year, it had earned an A.
“Do we need to get better? Yes. Improvement is a start,” Chief Academic Officer Kevin Handley told the P-I before the school year began, noting its most important goal is getting students to proficiency.