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Elite charter school losing students; Exodus sparks verbal war with city

By James Vaznis,

MATCH Charter High School is considered one of Boston's elite charter schools, a place where nearly all students pass the MCAS and nearly all graduates are accepted to college. But this year students are bolting.

Approximately 25 percent, or 14 members, of the senior class has defected to the Boston public schools - a system to which MATCH was designed to be a superior alternative. Just last week, two MATCH seniors with college acceptances arrived at Brighton High School.

"We were surprised to find them coming to our school so close to graduation," said Brighton High headmaster Toby Romer. "They were having academic difficulties. In talking with their principal, they said he suggested if they were not happy with the school they should transfer."

The exodus has set off a war of words between the two systems over college readiness and the effectiveness of the state's 15-year-old charter school law.

Boston officials accuse MATCH of not offering enough support for students to graduate on time, leaving Boston with the awkward task of determining the students' fate.

MATCH officials, on the other hand, say Boston presents an easy out - an automatic promotion - for their students struggling under rigorous graduation requirements. They deny encouraging students to leave, and ask that Boston make diploma determinations based on the charter school's standards.

"It breaks my heart to see students leave this late in the senior year, but it would break my heart more to change or lower our standards," said Jorge Miranda, the school's principal. "There's no compromising on the standards. They need that preparation to succeed in college, and when they get that col lege degree, that's their ticket out of poverty."

The city and the charter school are ensnarled in an unintended design flaw of the state's charter school law: Students at any time can leave a charter school and return to their hometown districts, even weeks before the pomp and circumstance.

The problem is intensified by long-festering tensions and sometimes fierce competition between traditional school systems and charter schools over financing and student recruitment. When students leave a traditional school system, they take thousands of dollars in state education aid to the charter school.

Boston loses roughly $10,000 a year in aid for each student who chooses to attend MATCH, a school of about 200 students that draws largely from Boston and will be starting a middle school this fall. Overall, Boston expects to forfeit more than $46 million in state aid next year for approximately 5,250 students to attend area charter schools.

Paul Reville, chairman of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, called the dispute an unfortunate dilemma.

"There appears to be a systemic problem here with different levels of expectations in two forms of different public school systems," Reville said. "The discord between standards is causing problems for students and the Boston schools by the last-minute transferring. This is not a good situation."

Even though US News & World Report ranks MATCH as one of the nation's top 25 public high schools, student defection is high. The school's four-year graduation rate last year was 60 percent, only 2.1 percentage points higher than the Boston public schools, according to the state education department.

Last fall, Johns Hopkins University, in a study conducted for the Associated Press, designated MATCH as among roughly 10 percent of public schools nationwide that are "dropout factories," where 60 percent or fewer freshmen graduate in four years. One Boston public high school made that list.

MATCH, located on Allston's Commonwealth Avenue, has set a high bar for graduation, rivaled by few public schools in the state, according to the state education department. Students must pass two classes at Boston University and two Advanced Placement classes, which are college-level courses taught in high schools typically as an elective. Seniors who fail one course go to summer school, while those who fail more return in the fall.

More than 70 percent of MATCH students live in poverty, while 92 percent are African-American or Hispanic. MATCH offers intensive support during a school day that runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. with tutoring available until 7:45 p.m. The school has enlisted 48 recent college graduates, housed in a dormitory on the school's third floor, to work as tutors.

Freshmen and sophomores receive two hours of tutoring a day, but older students receive less, just as the academic rigor rachets up. Administrators say that is necessary for a successful transition to college, where tutoring is less.

"It's a great school," said Frank DePina, 21, of Boston, who graduated from MATCH two years ago after repeating his junior year and is now attending Johnson & Wales University. "You feel like you are in a family when you are there. They helped me with study habits and organizing my schedule for homework and activities."

Andy Crane, a caretaker of three MATCH students, has seen mixed results. One boy is a soon-to-be graduate headed to Boston College. Another boy, also a senior, struggled with the college courses and transferred to Boston this spring, over the objection of the school and Crane.

"I'm a big fan of the school but it's not perfect," Crane said. "There are some students who can do work on their own and should be challenged to do so, but there is a subset who may not be able to make it without additional support."

The two girls who arrived at Brighton last week have returned to MATCH. Boston school officials said it was unfair for the girls to show up - 12 days before classes were to end - just to receive a diploma. They asked MATCH to help the girls graduate in time for college this fall.

"My number-one concern is that these students receive whatever support they need to graduate," said Boston School Superintendent Carol Johnson. "When you have students come back in the fall to make up one or two credits, you risk the chance they won't return."

MATCH, however, is sticking by its standards. School officials say most students are failing because they are not finishing homework.

"It comes down to what is the right standard to graduate from a Massachusetts public school, if that standard is college readiness," said Alan Safran, the executive director at MATCH, noting state leaders are concerned that many urban high school graduates are woefully unprepared for college. "I'd like Boston public schools to honor our standards or raise their own."

The state educaton board intends to develop guidelines to assist other districts, if any, grappling with transfer problems, Reville said. One solution may be setting a cutoff date on deciding diplomas for senior transfer students. Reville also said the board would look into MATCH's graduation standards and any influence on student flight.

"We are all in favor of high standards and expectations and you have to applaud that, but at some point you have to examine reasonableness and whether the standards are working broadly for all students who walk through the door," Reville said. "The standards are wonderful for those students who achieve them, but what's the safety net for those who don't? Right now, it appears Boston public schools are the safety net."

— James Vaznis
Boston Globe
2008-05-27


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