P.S. Gov. Josh Shapiro and our lawmakers literally own Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA) that plans to take more than $500 million of taxpayer money from local public schools next year. That includes nearly a quarter of a million dollars for a lobbyist – for one school. Make them fix it now.
2023 Student Achievement
Each year, the PA Department of Education (PDE) administers tests of student achievement in reading and math (grades 3-8) and science (grades 4 and 8). They’re called the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). Reports rate school performance as percentages of students in each grade and subject as advanced, proficient, basic and below basic in their learning.
Then there are the Keystone Exams administered to 11th graders for Algebra 1, biology and English literature.
First the results of CCA versus the state as a whole. Then the kicker.
English Proficient & Better
Grade CCA Penna.
3 49.3% 54.0%
4 45.4% 51.8%
5 46.4% 53.7%
6 53.1% 55.6%
7 46.8% 54.5%
8 49.7% 52.7%
Math Proficient & Better
Grade CCA Penna.
3 37.3% 51.7%
4 29.6% 46.5%
5 18.4% 42.6%
6 16.3% 36.5%
7 18.5% 33.2%
8 11.9% 26.1%
Science Proficient & Better
Grade CCA Penna.
4 70.6% 74.2%
8 59.6% 57.0%
Algebra 1 Proficient & Better
CCA Penna.
16.4% 34.2%
Biology Proficient & Better
CCA Penna.
33.8% 50.7%
English Literature Proficient & Better
CCA Penna.
50.4% 65.3%
CCA’s scores are lower for every demographic category for which they have students enrolled, including “economically disadvantaged” students.
SOURCE: PA Department of Education.
THE KICKER – WHAT WE DON’T KNOW WON’T HURT CCA.
The most remarkable thing about these scores is not that CCA fares so poorly considering the abysmal (in my opinion) graduation rates documented in my April 18th edition of Potts Shots. It’s that CCA tests so few of its students.
This even though the PDE website states, “Every Pennsylvania student in grades 3 through 8 is assessed in English Language Arts and Math. Every Pennsylvania student in grades 4 and 8 is assessed in science.” Apparently CCA didn’t get the memo.
Statewide, 91% of students take the PSSA exams. But at CCA, only 18.5% of the students take them.
Similarly, per DPE: “The Keystone exams meet the federal accountability criteria of ESSA [Every Student Succeeds Act] for the high school level. Students must take the Keystone Exams for purposes of federal accountability. Failure to do so will affect a Local Education Agency (LEA) and school’s participation rate.”
CCA’s participation rates in the Keystone Exams also are worse than the state rate. CCA’s rates range from 44.0% (Algebra 1) to 48.4% (English literature) to 50.6% (Biology). The state rates range from 64.6% (Algebra 1) to 86.1% (Biology) to 87.6% (English literature).
Given how little information is easily available about the academic achievement of CCA’s students before they advertise for parents to enroll their children, it’s tempting to conclude that the small percentage of students tested are CCA’s best students.
But I’d rather not speculate, so I asked CCA’s president and CEO (2023 salary $268,889 plus $104,100 in “other compensation”) why there is such a difference between state and CCA participation rates, specifically for the PSSAs. Two weeks have passed without a reply or even an acknowledgement of the question.
Here are some other questions he hasn’t answered:
· I was comparing the total expenses listed on CCA’s 990 for 2021-22 with the expenses CCA reported to PDE for the same year, $274,675,729 versus $391,880,658.94, respectively. That’s quite a difference, so I asked him to help me understand it.
· Second, I’d like to know how much CCA has spent acquiring real estate either as an owner or co-owner.
· Third, I’d like to know whether CCA invites students from local public schools to participate in CCA’s family field trips and other events.
· Fourth, I’d like to know the cost of the bookmobiles CCA is purchasing, how CCA will decide what books and other materials they contain, and whether their collections duplicate books that are available in the bricks-and-mortar public school libraries in the communities the bookmobiles serve.
I included these questions in an email on April 12. CCA’s chief executive replied on April 16, accusing me of being “uncivil” in my criticisms of CCA both in Potts Shots and in our local newspapers. “…we do not see any potential positive outcomes that could result from our voluntary engagement with you,” he wrote.
To me, civility in public service begins with honesty and transparency. It is entirely uncivil for public agencies to be anything less, but CCA continues to claim that it provides its services “at no cost to families” – an uncivil statement if ever there was one.
When CCA decides to be honest, I will stop complaining about its dishonesty. When CCA decides to be transparent, I will stop complaining about its secrecy. When CCA provides value worth its cost, I will stop complaining about enriching itself at the expense of others, especially poor children. I will not be silenced by the ridiculous notion that speaking the truth is uncivil.
I will pursue these questions by filing right-to-know requests. Of course, making people jump through hoops to get public information is not civil either. Never during my career did anyone have to file an RTK request to get public information in my possession. All it took was a phone call or an email.
I’ll predict now that CCA will not answer these questions but instead will deny them and force me to complain to the state Office of Open Records. Which I will do.
But who knows? Maybe they’ll prove me wrong.