Report: Charter school students excelling, enrollment up in the Bay area

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Article published on April 10, 2012 by Bay 9 News.

BAY AREA — Students who attend charter schools in Florida are excelling, according to the Florida Department of Education.

A new report shows that students who attend charter schools outpace their traditional public school counterparts on state assessments.

The report, Student Achievement in Florida’s Charter Schools: A Comparison with Achievement in Traditional Public Schools, is a statewide analysis of student achievement in charter schools versus the achievement of comparable students in traditional public schools. It’s required by state law.

“This report clearly demonstrates that charter schools are a viable option for parents,” said Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson. “Charter schools offer a wide range of educational environments to meet the needs of students and their families.”

Using data from the 2010-11 school year, the report makes 168-comparisons covering three measurements: FCAT proficiency percentages, achievement gaps, and learning gains.

Each of these measurement areas are further broken down to offer a more detailed view of student achievement.

The FCAT proficiency section of the report contains 54-separate comparisons of student achievement using both overall rates of proficiency by grade groupings and comparisons of subgroup performance.

In 50 of the 54 comparisons, charter school students outperformed traditional public school students.

The achievement gap section contains both longitudinal and current data to analyze the gap between white students and African American students, and white students and Hispanic students in reading, math and science.

The achievement gap was smaller for charter school students in 16 of the 18 comparisons.

The learning gains section of the report makes 96 comparisons of learning gains made by charter school students and traditional public school students. Charter school students had higher average learning gains in 79 of the 96 comparisons.

Charter school enrollment up

Meantime, parents and students are noticing charter schools more than ever.

Enrollment is up at charter schools around the Tampa Bay area.

Stacey Kantazar’s, daughter is in fifth grade at Imagine Charter School in Lakewood Ranch.

She said she transferred her to this school three years ago from a traditional public school.

“Our daughter has ADD,” said Kantazar. “We wanted to go to a class size that was smaller and a little bit more tightly knit as a school.”

By switching to a charter school, she accomplished those goals.

Kantazar said her daughter who was once struggling in school, is now excelling.

“The class sizes were getting really big, as they are across entire county, and private school is so expensive, so a charter school is kind of the best of both worlds,” said Kantazar.

Stephen Sajewski, Imagine school’s leader, said since opening their doors in 2008 their student population has increased.

“Since we’ve started in 2008 with 57-students, each year we’ve grown,” said Sajewski. “Right now we’re at 620 students.”

This isn’t the only school seeing growth, charter school enrollment is up district-wide.

Since the 2009-2010 school year in Manatee County, the numbers went from 2,703 to 3,686 in 2011-2012.

During that same time frame in Polk County, enrollment went from 10,404 to 11,004.

And in Pinellas County, enrollment jumped from 2,492 to 4,128 during that time.

“I think word of mouth has gotten around in area that we’ve made a difference in public schools or maybe kids needed to be challenged,” said Sajewski.

Charter schools are independent public schools with the autonomy and flexibility to provide expanded learning opportunities to meet students’ individual educational needs.

Charter schools are overseen by a governing board while being held accountable to state standards for academic performance and financial solvency.

Charter schools receive state funding like public schools on a per student basis.

However, they receive less money. Right now there is a push to get more funding for these schools.