Category: Association Blog

By Jamar Younger

Arizona’s public charter schools have made great strides in providing quality choices to the state’s families.

Our students have scored higher than their peers on state and national assessments for four straight years, while our schools continue to receive top ratings in the state’s A-F letter grade accountability system.

Enrollment has continued to grow, with schools serving an increasingly diverse array of students.

However, our work is not done. We need your help. Sign up today to join our Charter Champions Network and learn how you can help us keep the progress moving forward.

Arizona is home to the most robust public school choice environment, including open enrollment and public charter schools. In 2016-17, 17 percent of Arizona’s students attended a public charter school and 83 percent attended a district school.

Yet, these statistics don’t paint the whole picture of school choice in Arizona, given open enrollment. A 2017 study of school choice in Maricopa County (see here) demonstrated that one out of two students exercised choice by not attending their assigned district school, most often opting for a different district school. Data indicated that districts in Maricopa County were in greater competition with other districts for student enrollment than they were with public charter schools. Whether these claims could be made in other counties or across Arizona would require additional research.

By Ildi Laczko-Kerr and Eileen Sigmund
A common myth is that alternative schools serve as a “last resort” for at-risk students or as a means to re-entry into school for students who have dropped out and are under-credited and over-aged. Recent data demonstrate that in fact, many students are choosing to enroll in alternative schools before ever stepping foot on a traditional high school campus.

An alarming percentage of students are leaving their non-alternative district school and choosing to attend an alternative charter school, beginning in ninth grade. These students are either self-identified as at-risk, or designated as such by their district school. However, they are not drop-outs because 1) nearly all were promoted from grade 8; and 2) they have not started their high school classes so they are not under-credited or credit deficient. In other words, alternative charter schools are casting a much wider safety-net for Arizona’s academically struggling students than previously thought.

By Ildi Laczko-Kerr and Eileen Sigmund

Contrary to the common myth that charters skim the “cream of the crop” from school districts, the average student who transferred to a charter school over the summer in 2015 from a district school performed below the state average on AzMERIT in both math and English language arts. At the same time, districts that received students from charter schools during summer transfer actually enrolled higher performing students; begging the question: Who’s creaming whom?

By Eileen Sigmund

Early voting is underway for the 2018 primary elections. With that in mind, the Association asked all legislative candidates running for elected office in 2018 to participate in a survey that sought their perspectives on education in Arizona.

As Arizona’s largest charter support organization, we believe education should and must be the top priority for lawmakers this session. Survey results show that legislative candidates largely agree. According to the survey, more than 80 percent of candidates rank education as their first or second priority. An overwhelming majority also support parent choice and charter schools, and more equitable funding between district and charter schools.

By Ildi Laczko-Kerr

The 2017 A-F results provide accountability for a sizeable portion of public schools in the state; however, not all schools received a letter grade. The table below summarizes the percentage of schools that received a letter in 2017, by district and charter. Most of the schools classified as “not rated” are small schools, have their letter grades currently under review from the state, or identify as alternative or online, virtual schools. In 2017, 90 percent of all district schools received an A-F letter grade rating, compared to 65 percent of charter schools. That means 22 percent of charter students attended a school that didn’t receive a letter grade.

By Ildi Laczko-Kerr

More than 150,000 students are enrolled in charter schools that either received a 2017 A-F letter grade or can’t be rated due to its small size. About 70 percent of these charter students attend an A or B-rated school, compared to 56 percent of district students and 58 percent of the state. This is great news for Arizona’s charter sector, because these data tell us that the overwhelming majority of charter school students are sitting in “quality seats.”

What’s a quality seat?