Few answers from troubled charter school
Missing test scores, financial strain and a lack of resources are contributing to difficulties at Beacon Classical Academy, where state assessment results show very few of the students to be proficient in English and math.
Alma Van Nice, the charter school’s executive director, presented an academic achievement report at the Oct. 26 National School District board meeting that has district officials deeply concerned.
She was asked to return to the school board next week with additional information requested by district administrators and trustees.
State standardized test scores released in August show Beacon’s students are way behind their counterparts at the district, county and state level. Only 17 percent meet or exceed standard in English language arts, and 6 percent meet or exceed standard in math.
“This is very dire. This is very disheartening,” Van Nice said. “When I presented this data to staff, their eyes welled up with tears.”
The National School District’s overall scores from the new state exam, commonly called the Smarter Balanced test, show 41 percent of its students meet or exceed standard in English and 30 percent meet or exceed standard in math.
The testing is intended to show how well students understand Common Core state standards. Those who meet or exceed the state standard are considered to be proficient.
Beacon’s state test results conflict with scores from quarterly benchmark assessments the school conducted this year that Van Nice said shows students making gains.
How student improvement is being measured, however, is in question. Van Nice told trustees she didn’t have access to last year’s Smarter Balanced scores, so they were not used as a guide to academic needs.
That was a surprise to district officials. They told Van Nice how to find the publicly available results on the California Department of Education’s website and pointed out that Beacon’s scores in English and math fell from last year.
Overall, school districts across the state saw about a 5 percent gain over last year’s test scores.
The K-8 charter school serves 188 students, most of whom are economically disadvantaged. Ninety percent of the children qualify for free or reduced-cost breakfast and lunch. Forty-four percent are English language learners.
Superintendent Leighangela Brady said the information Van Nice presented last week left the district with more questions than answers.
“It was very unclear that there is a plan, that there is a good understanding of the deficit in the test scores,” Brady said.
To get the charter school on track, Brady said the district is currently auditing its academic program.
“We feel the test scores are alarming,” Brady said. “We’re going to get some answers at the November board meeting and make some decisions. We don’t want to wait for another round of testing to get this rectified.”
The district will also be investigating the charter school’s finances and governance structure.
Beacon’s charter petition calls for a five- to seven-member governing board. It has been operating this year with three board members, and often doing business with two members present.
Van Nice said a variety of factors have put a strain on the charter school this year, including a decrease in enrollment that caused a loss of state revenue and the financial cost of fighting a lawsuit.
Beacon opened its campus on Euclid Avenue two years ago under the authorization of the Julian Union School District. National, however, said the arrangement violated California Education Code and filed a lawsuit against Julian.
The case was settled last year with oversight of Beacon being transferred to National’s jurisdiction. The school district is now responsible for supervising the charter school’s operations and providing support.
“It was a very unstable year, and we lost a lot of students,” Van Nice said.
Finances were so bad, Van Nice took out a $200,000 personal loan to keep the charter school afloat. She said most of that money was spent fixing up the building the school leases from South Bay Community Church.
Charter schools are publicly funded and independently operated. Beacon’s most recent financial report shows it operating in the black.
Van Nice said she is working to improve testing conditions at Beacon, which used its Chromebook laptop computers to take the state assessment. It only has 25 of them up and running, however. Another 25 have yet to be configured, Van Nice said, because it’s a “time consuming process.”
Brady said the district is committed to working collaboratively with Van Nice to get all the right curriculum, resources and processes in place for the charter school to succeed. But things need to get turned around fairly quickly.
“She’s passionate and her heart’s in the right place,” Brady said of Van Nice. “But in the end, we need to do right by kids.”Few answers from troubled charter school - The San Diego Union-Tribune:
