9486 in the collection
Unjustified press exaltation of a mediocre San Francisco charter school
Once again, Grannan provides facts.
by Caroline Grannan
If only charter operator Envision Schools were half as successful at educating students at is it at persuading the press to print flattering articles about its schools, our education challenges would be solved.
Today's San Francisco Chronicle Insight section carries a pair of puff pieces praising Envision's City Arts and Technology (CAT) for its "remarkable results."
Dose of reality: While I'm not blasting CAT as a failure, its achievement ranks 12th out of the 17 general- education (non-continuation) high schools in the San Francisco Unified School District. Below are the spring 2009 achievement results for San Francisco high schools, from California's Academic Performance Index reporting system, ranked in descending performance order. All schools not otherwise
designated are non-charter schools with enrollment by lottery:
1. Lowell (academic magnet) 949
2. Washington 785
3. School of the Arts (arts magnet) 781
4. Galileo 757
5. Lincoln 751
6. Balboa 747
7. Raoul Wallenberg 744
8. Gateway Charter 743
9. Metropolitan Arts & Tech Charter 629
10. Leadership Charter (Small School by Design) 618
11. Phillip & Sala Burton 615
12. City Arts & Tech Charter 610
13. International Studies Academy 590
14. Thurgood Marshall 575
15. Mission 555
16. John O'Connell 550
17. June Jordan (Small School by Design) 504
The Chronicle article (actually a two-article package, by UC Berkeley's Bruce Fuller) notably neglects to include any specifics about academic results, though it does imply that CAT serves an inordinately high number of low-income students (an implicit effort to justify the wan achievement scores).
But more reality: CAT ranks 10th of SFUSD's 17 general-ed high schools in the percentage of low-income students it serves, and it ranks 15 of SFUSD's 17 general-ed high schools in the percentage of limited English speakers it serves. And of course "education reform" advocates never let public schools get away with justifying low achievement based on demographics -- that's "excuse-making" -- so CAT doesn't get to either.
Fuller's articles don't mention the odd policy at CAT and Envision's other SFUSD schools, Metro Arts & Tech, of giving no grades below a C. That would be called "grade inflation" or "lowered standards" at a public school, and would certainly give graduates a nice boost at getting into colleges. I know lots of kids at other fine SFUSD high schools who sure wish their schools had such a policy.
— Caroline Grannan
Examiner.com
2010-01-17
http://www.examiner.com/x-356-SF-Education-Examiner~y2010m1d17-Unjustified-press-exaltation-of-a-mediocre-San-Francisco-charter-school?cid=examiner-em
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