The Springfield News-Sun analyzed the state report cards, which were released last week.
Despite those increases, Springfield City Schools’ high rating in the Value-Added category, which measures the amount of progress students make during the year, placed the district at the same designation as Springfield Preparatory and Fitness Academy and two levels above the two other Springfield charter schools.
“We did really well. We outperformed every elementary there in Springfield City other than Snowhill, and certainly all the middle schools” said Springfield Preparatory and Fitness Academy Administrator Myrrha Satow.
Snowhill Elementary’s high performance index, “Above” Value-Added score and perfect score on proficiency indicators earned it the highest rating of “Excellent with Distinction.”
Although Springfield Preparatory and Fitness Academy dropped from “Excellent” to “Effective” due to a reduced Value-Added score, the school has a student body that includes 89 percent economically disadvantaged students and 45 percent students with disabilities, said Satow.
“If they have profoundly disabled students, multiply disabled students, then they are doing something that has to be incredibly powerful,” said Springfield City Schools Superintendent David Estrop.
For the first four years of its existence, Springfield Preparatory earned either “Academic Watch” or “Academic Emergency,” the lowest two ratings. Its performance indexes during those years were slightly below those for the Springfield City district.
But in its reports for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years, the charter school’s performance index jumped almost 10 points each year as it advanced to “Continuous Improvement” and “Excellent” in 2009-10 and 2010-11. This year’s report card showed only slightly lower proficiency and performance index scores.
Satow said that there were no policy or curriculum changes during those years that caused the boost.
“We’re just doing the hard, roll-up-your-sleeves work, chipping away one child at a time, working our mission and vision,” she said. “We enjoy low staff turnover, and we have amazing parents and amazing staff, and our mission works.”
The Springfield Prep curriculum includes 2 hours of reading, 1.5 hours of math, an extended school day and a daily fitness program. Students are given 1,200 hours of instruction each year, much more than the state minimum of 920 hours, said Satow.
“We are a back-to-basics approach; we don’t do a lot of specials,” Satow said. “We care that the children can read, do math, and can write, and so that’s where we spend all of our resources and all of our time, and that’s our program.”
The program’s success is not limited to the company’s Springfield school. Satow said that nine of the group’s 10 charter schools in Ohio performed as well as or better than their local districts and that all have made significant yearly gains.
“There’s no silver bullet. It doesn’t happen overnight; it’s a slow and steady progress,” she said. “We just keep working the program with the same teachers, the same mission and vision and the same curriculum and the extra time on task, and the rewards come, but they come over time.”
Another K through 6 charter school, the Springfield Academy of Excellence, earned the designation of “Academic Watch,” scoring similar proficiency score indicators as Springfield City schools but receiving a lower performance index and Value-Added rating.
The school saw improved scores in some grades and lower scores in others, which may have been caused by an increase in new students and staff, said Principal Edna Chapman. The school’s performance index was similar to that earned the year before.
“We expected third grade to be lower this year, but we didn’t expect it to be that much lower,” Chapman said. “Had it not been for third grade data being half of what it was the previous year, we really would have had a different performance index score.”
The educational model for the Springfield Academy of Excellence includes a year-round calendar, integrated math and science blocks and a focus on developing the whole student, said Chapman.
“I think all charter schools should strive to do something more for students, to have some different results,” Chapman said. “I feel that charter schools should strive to exceed state goals, not just the local district.”
The third area charter, the Life Skills Center of Springfield, focuses on at-risk youths and students that have dropped out of traditional public high schools and also earned an “Academic Watch” rating. Although the charter reports graduation test scores, graduation rates and attendance rates far below the local and state averages, those numbers are to be expected given the school’s mission, said Maggie Ford, chief academic officer for White Hat Management.
Life Skills Center is a drop-out recovery school and can not take students unless they are older than 16 and have dropped out of traditional public school already.
“There is a drop-out epidemic in Ohio and around the country,” said Ford. “The bulk of our students are two or more grade levels behind, and the majority of our students are over 18.”
Ford said that it doesn’t make sense for the school to be held to the same criteria as K through 6 charters or traditional public school buildings but that they still use the report card numbers to strive to improve each year. With the challenges that the school’s students face, Ford says that it’s incredible that so many come to school and get the scores that they do.
“We work really hard because we’re committed to this population,” she said. “It would be easy to abandon these kids, but … it’s really important that we don’t forget about them.”
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