Updates on 2011 Regents Exam Results and Progress towards Renewal Benchmarks
NEW ROOTS IS GROWING STRONG!
As the word spreads about the opportunities, support, and successes that students are experiencing at our school, we have experienced a 33% growth in enrollment in 2011-2012.
In a recent guest column, Pat Ehrich cites Regents exam scores from our first year of operation to question our school’s service to students and long-term viability. I would like to provide some information to orient you to both the role of Regents examinations as one indicator of our progress, and the process the Charter Schools Institute will use to evaluate our progress towards meeting our Accountability Plan goals.
While my purpose here is not to address the misinformation in Ms. Ehrich’s column, I would appreciate the opportunity to talk with you about any statement that she made in that column that you have questions about. Please email me at principal@newrootsschool.org so that we can find a time to talk.
I have put key points in italics and bold so that you can skim this if you’d like. I hope this helps rather than distracts.
CLEAR EVIDENCE THAT WE ARE ON TRACK FOR RENEWAL OF OUR CHARTER
In their August 1, 2011 report, the conclusion of the State University of New York’s Charter Schools Institute is that “based on the analysis of the evidence from the evaluation visit, New Roots is on a trajectory towards meeting its Qualitative Educational Benchmarks (a component of the Renewal Benchmarks) by the time of renewal.”
SUNY’s Charter Schools Institute is recognized nationally as one of the premier charter school authorizers. In year two, we successfully demonstrated that we are already reaching many of their high standards for student and school performance, and are on track for our charter to be renewed after five years.
School “charters,” or contracts authorizing them to operate as a public school, are renewed every five years if a school is meeting their Accountability Plan measures and the Institute’s Renewal Benchmarks. The Accountability Plan includes over 40 student performance measures, including Regents pass rates, graduation rates, college readiness, and measures of core outcomes of an education for sustainability.
REGENT EXAM RESULTS ON A STRONG UPWARD TRAJECTORY
As the data from 2010 and 2011 show, New Roots students are on a strong upward trajectory in terms of success on Regents exams. Despite the fact that we do not “teach to the test,” Regents passing rates in many subjects are already comparable to other regional schools in only our second year. (Please download the attached document containing our preliminary analysis of our June 2011 Regents exam scores for the actual data.) Most importantly, what we’ve learned about our students and the exam requirements in these first two years has allowed us to develop a plan to address areas that need further growth.
In our first year, we found a clear correlation between students’ grade level equivalencies in both literacy and mathematics entering high school and their success on these exams. In our second year, we’re beginning to change the trajectory students were on in their school careers!
These early results are consistent with the experience of other schools that use our interdisciplinary, community-based approach to education. Data compiled by the State Education and Environment Roundtable, an organization with representatives from over 20 state education departments, demonstrates that the New Roots Charter School model will support student success on Regents exams and other standardized tests. Over ten years of data from well over a hundred schools nationally has demonstrated that our approach of using interdisciplinary projects connecting classroom learning to understanding the community and local bioregion increases success rates for students in all demographic groups on standardized measures of assessment such as the Regents exams. What’s more, this approach allows our students to develop critical skills and knowledge that will support their development as community leaders and entrepreneurs, essential 21st century learning that they will need in a rapidly-changing world.
OUR ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN AND THE RENEWAL BENCHMARKS
In New York State, a charter school is assessed every five years against well-defined indicators of a healthy school organization and academic program, as well as academic performance goals. These goals are summarized in a school’s Accountability Plan, as well as the Institute's Renewal Benchmarks. While the Accountability Plan is unique to each school, it contains many required measures that are standard to schools across the state.
In her guest column, Ms. Ehrich presents a highly simplified version of our Accountability Plan. There are no fewer than 20 absolute measures, 18 comparative ones, and two growth measures in our Accountability Plan, not including the ones that measure outcomes for an education for sustainability education that we are piloting in our third year. Our authorizer, the Charter Schools Institute, will look at the school’s overall progress in meeting benchmarks established by the Accountability Plan in determining their recommendation for our renewal after five years. These measures include not only Regents scores, but also yearly progress towards graduation, preparation for college, growth in math and literacy skills, and others. No single measure determines the outcome of this process.
As stated in the written recommendation for renewal of one charter school, “in order for the Charter Schools Institute to recommend that a charter school authorized by the State University Board of Trustees be awarded a five-year renewal of its charter, a school must show that it has met its Accountability Plan measures and goals or at least made consistent and meaningful progress towards meeting those outcome measures and goals. It must also demonstrate that it is, at the time of renewal, a fiscally and organizationally sound entity and meets the requirements of the Charter Schools Act and applicable law.
In year two, New Roots is already making “meaningful progress towards meeting those outcome measures and goals,” and has been demonstrated to be a “fiscally and organizationally sound entity.” As such, the conclusion of the Charter Schools Institute is that New Roots is already on a trajectory towards renewal of our charter in this early stage of our development.
I am so proud of our staff and students for the tremendous growth and development of our school over this past year. Regents exam scores provide only one small window into our successes.
Respectfully submitted,
Tina Nilsen-Hodges
Principal
