Tom Hoffman: Charter schools barely outperforming public schools in Providence
Tom Hoffman is a journalist and teacher in Rhode Island. In this column for Uprise RI, he looks at the data about charter schools from the Rhode Island Department of Education.
What do RIDE’s new report cards tell us about the presumed superiority of Achievement First and other charters in Providence?
By my count*, PPSD has seven district elementary schools receiving a three star rating exceeding all Providence based charters.
No Achievement First elementary school, or any other Providence based charter elementary, scored above two stars. Receiving two stars at the elementary level were Achievement First Illuminar, Achievement First Providence, Nuestro Mundo, Paul Cuffe, and Highlander. Southside charter received one star.
Ten more PPSD elementary schools matched the best charters at two stars. Five had one star.
Among Providence middle schools, only the new Providence Preparatory Charter School achieved three stars, although that is attributable in part to having so few multi-language learners that their poor performance in that category did not count in their overall score.
Read the full piece here. Charter schools barely outperforming public schools in Providence (upriseri.com)