Despite dismal record of Pa. cybercharter schools, 6 more apply to open
by thenotebook on Dec 02 2013 Posted in Latest news
by Kevin McCorry for NewsWorks
For many, "Cyber Monday" may mean shopping.
But for the more than 35,000 Pennsylvania students attending the state's 16 cybercharter schools, it's just another day of the hitting the e-books.
The question now is: Should those numbers climb higher?
In the past few weeks, six prospective cyberschool operators have made pitches to the state department of education in hopes of gaining a charter.
Looking at the performance of the 16 existing cybercharters, some education advocates say the state's decision should be easy.
Analyzing the state's recently released School Performance Profile information, the Philadelphia-based nonprofit Research for Action found Pennsylvania's cybercharters to be some of the lowest performing schools in the state.
Of the 11 cybercharters for which information was available, none met the the statewide average for publicly funded schools (77.2). The state's cybercharters received a score of 44.7, far below the scores of brick-and-mortar charters (67.3) and traditional public schools (77.8).
Researchers also found that the average cyberschool had a much higher than average annual student turnover rate. In 2011-12, 27 percent of the students in cybercharters withdrew from school.