Reminder

 I have previously posted a link to this article, but it's worthy of reposting, so here's the text.
 I mean seriously, out of 168 or more schools, these four get yanked up because they suck, and have no meaningful plan for improvement, Windsor and NewPoint are affiliated. Does this not give anyone pause for thought?

This is the entire text from the article, which you can find here: tampabay.com

LARGO — The point of charter schools is to do greater for students. They have the freedom to feel outside the box, innovating with longer school days or years, gender-segregated classrooms and a lot more, all in the name of delivering superior alternatives for youngsters than the conventional program can.

But four Pinellas County charter schools came under fire this week from the School Board immediately after standardized test scores indicated subpar student functionality.

University Preparatory Academy, Windsor Preparatory Academy and Newpoint Pinellas Academy all earned F grades last school year, when Alfred Adler Elementary earned a D grade.

Newpoint is in Clearwater, whilst the other 3 charters are in St. Petersburg.

The schools have been needed to present plans for improvement to the board, which reviewed them at a Tuesday workshop.

Adler's principal, Greg DeCosmo, mentioned his 89-student college supplied a nurturing environment. The school performed improved than the district average in reading, but under the typical in math and far below it in writing. Just 9 percent of students showed proficiency on the FCAT writing test.

DeCosmo mentioned this was an location the college was targeting. They would also devote this year attempting to bring up the achievement of its lowest performing students in all topic places.

"We're not tucked away in an affluent suburb," he mentioned. "We're ideal in the middle of St. Petersburg, and that's simply because that is exactly where the actual educational challenges are that will need to be resolved."

College Board members have been skeptical of Adler's improvement program, saying it lacked the particular methods to make its targets a reality.

"The 'how' is not there for me," board member Robin Wikle mentioned.

Board member Rene Flowers mentioned she wanted to see "what it is that you strategy to do, actions A, B and C" whilst board chairwoman Carol Cook mentioned she wanted to see Adler name employees members responsible for making each and every aim occur.

Christopher Wiand, the director of Newpoint, stated the Clearwater middle school desires to enhance the number of students taking algebra 1. He also hopes to boost FCAT scores, and thus the school's grade, by better monitoring data throughout the school year.

Windsor Preparatory Academy also took tough inquiries from board members right after principal Jessica Clements stated the charter college had decided to use the standard college system's curriculum this year.

"What are you undertaking differently than we're performing in Pinellas County schools? You're working with the exact same curriculum, doing the identical testing," said Cook.

Clements stated that Windsor Prep's approach to instruction differed from the school system's simply because they typically broke students into smaller groups.

Just after the charter school leaders left, School Board members said they have been unsatisfied with some of the responses to their questions, like Clements'.

"I consider your query at the finish was profound, and it wasn't answered," stated Wikle, although Flowers stated, "We do significant groups and little groups, that's what we do."

Superintendent Mike Grego agreed, saying he was "glad" he wasn't the one to have to say it. "The complete notion (of charters) was once an innovative, let's see what we can discover from them circumstance," he mentioned. As an alternative, "in numerous techniques we're studying together."

All credit to Lisa Gardner at the Tampa Bay Times: Speak to Lisa Gartner at lgartner@tampabay.com. Adhere to @lisagartner.

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