Pennsylvania senator wants failing students out of cyber charter schools
yber charter schools are meant to be an accessible alternative to traditional schooling, but one state senator wants to make them a privilege that can be revoked at any time.
The bill, proposed by Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill, would require students who are consistently underperforming in a cyber charter school to return to a brick-and-mortar school, according to a May 31 memorandum.
The bill is in its very early stages and is far from making it to a vote, according to Argall.
"The idea came up in town hall meetings in Berks County," he said. "We did a little research, and realized there aren't currently any rules on struggling students. So how do we define failure?"
A task force would be created to do just that, according to the memorandum. It would be responsible for developing and issuing minimum achievement requirements for the state's 35,477 cyber charter school students.
There were about 1.77 million students enrolled in all types of public schools in the 2015-16 school year, the last full year of records at the state Department of Education. That total includes 132,860 charter school students, 26 percent of whom attend cyber charters.
The state already tracks the performance of cyber charters as part of the annual School Performance Profile report it issues on all public schools. A school's overall score is based in part on student test scores.
In 2015-16, the latest year available, cyber charter students in the majority of the 14 cyber charters fared worse on state math and reading tests than the statewide average of all public school students.
Cyber charters also have a significantly lower graduation rate than the statewide average, according to the state Department of Education. Cyber charters had a cumulative Pennsylvania senator wants failing students out of cyber charter schools - The Morning Call:
