Charter-schools sponsors uneasy over Ohio’s new evaluations
Some charter-school advocates already are criticizing academic requirements and questioning how much Ohioans will learn from the results of new evaluations of charter sponsors coming this year.
The sponsor evaluations were delayed last year after a top Department of Education official illegally excluded the results of large online charter schools, boosting the ratings of some sponsors.
State legislators responded by crystallizing the evaluations, and officials hope they become a key tool for increasing the accountability of a charter system that has been widely criticized.
Two years’ worth of sponsor evaluations, for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years, will be released in October.
“Unfortunately, the school academic-performance component standard has been set so ridiculously high that even the best of sponsors will struggle to meet them,” Ron Adler, president of the charter-school advocacy group Ohio Coalition for Quality Education, said in a recent statement.
Sponsor evaluations will consist of scores of zero to 4 in each of three categories: use of quality practices, compliance with the law, and student academic performance. Each category is weighted equally, and the scores are totaled to determine a rating.
Sponsors with 10 or more points are “exemplary,” while those with 7 to 9 points are “effective,” 3 to 6 points are “ineffective,” and 2 or fewer points are “poor.”
“We’re looking to ratchet up the pressure on people to do what they claim they could do,” said Tom Gunlock, president of the Ohio Board of Education. “When the charter-school movement got started, people said they could do it better. I’m all about results.”
National studies have shown that Ohio charter schools are, generally, not doing better. The academic portion of the sponsor evaluation largely mirrors report cards set up for traditional school districts.
Considering past academic performance, many sponsors are likely to see low academic scores. Adler and other charter advocates stress that sponsors do not have direct management of the schools.
“The expectations must be reasonable — and many of the most recent Charter-schools sponsors uneasy over Ohio’s new evaluations | The Columbus Dispatch:
