My Blog

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?

By Eileen Sigmund and Ildi Laczko-Kerr

Arizona issued its 2017 “A-F” letter grades for public schools – district and charters- last week for the first time since 2014. Here’s what you need to know about these grades:

• The State of Arizona initially instituted an “A-F” rating system in order to provide parents and families with easy-to-understand information about the relative performance of public schools across our state. This year, for the first time, the State significantly altered this formula to one that more heavily emphasizes the improvement and academic growth of students at individual schools, rather than simply looking at student performance on a single assessment. Arizona’s revised A-F accountability system was released last week after the State Board of Education endorsed changes and revised cut-scores for school grades. The grades reflect school performance during the 2016-17 school year.
• As to the results, Arizona’s charter sector leads the state in the percentage of quality A and B rated schools, with 55 percent of charters receiving these top grades. That means that 70 percent of public charter school students are enrolled in a quality school. We are heartened by this fact, and that charters are fulfilling their mission of increasing student achievement by providing parents quality public school choices.
• We are also encouraged by the fact that a larger proportion of charter schools received grades—up to 65 percent from the baseline of 50 percent when preliminary grades were released last fall. Schools not rated include all alternative and online schools, small schools and new schools with limited data. More of these schools will receive letter grades as the state creates additional accountability systems to address their unique needs.
  As policymakers seek to expand Arizona’s accountability system in 2018, hard choices loom around what to do with schools with poor or failing grades. On behalf of Arizona charter schools, the Association will continue to push strongly for changes to ensure public schools are rated appropriately, and Arizona parents and policymakers receive the accurate information they need to make decisions about our public charter schools.