| Table 1 Charter and District A-F percentages 2016-17 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHARTER | % TOTAL | DISTRICT | % TOTAL | |
| A | 52 | 14% | 180 | 16% |
| B | 95 | 26% | 363 | 33% |
| C | 72 | 20% | 315 | 29% |
| D | 17 | 5% | 134 | 12% |
| F | 10 | 3% | 20 | 2% |
| No Results | 31 | 9% | 26 | 2% |
| Under Review | 84 | 23% | 63 | 6% |
| TOTAL | 361 | 1101 | ||
District schools outshine charter schools on the 2016-17 preliminary A-F school ratings and touted college prep charters suffer the embarrassment of B’s and C ‘s
The release of the preliminary 2016-17 A-F scores for Arizona Schools on October 9th held some shocking news for the school choice movement. Despite the significant lack of minority, poor, and special needs students in charter schools compared to district schools, charter schools failed to out-perform public district schools. Overall, charters had a significantly smaller percentage of schools receiving either an “A” or “B” rating – nearly half of all district schools received an “A” or “B” while only 40% of charter did so. [See Table 1]
George Washington Academy, an Edkey school founded by Senate Education Chair Sylvia Allen, was one of the ten failing charter schools.
Basis, Great Hearts, and other college prep charter schools are reeling from the news that they have many ”B” and even “C” schools in the 2016-17 A-F rankings.
Basis has four schools that received a “B” rating and another 10 Basis schools have requested a review of their scores – implying that they did not receive the expected “A” rating. Great Hearts has seven schools with “B” ratings and four with a “C” rating. Eight more Great Hearts schools have requested a review. [See Table 2]
| Table 2 Basis and Great Hearts A-F ratings 2016-17 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charter School | Grade | Charter School | Grade | |
| BASIS Goodyear | A | Great Hearts Academies – Archway Chandler | A | |
| BASIS Phoenix Central Primary | A | Great Hearts Academies – Archway Cicero | A | |
| BASIS Tucson Primary | A | Great Hearts Academies – Archway Scottsdale | A | |
| BASIS Chandler Primary – North Campus | B | Great Hearts Academies – Archway Lincoln | B | |
| BASIS Chandler Primary- South Campus | B | Great Hearts Academies – Archway North Phoenix | B | |
| BASIS Goodyear Primary | B | Great Hearts Academies – Archway Trivium East | B | |
| BASIS Oro Valley Primary | B | Great Hearts Academies – Archway Trivium West | B | |
| BASIS Ahwatukee | Under Review | Great Hearts Academies – Archway Veritas | B | |
| BASIS Chandler | Under Review | Great Hearts Academies – Cicero Prep | B | |
| BASIS Flagstaff | Under Review | Great Hearts Academies – Maryvale Prep | B | |
| BASIS Mesa | Under Review | Great Hearts Academies – Archway Arete | C | |
| BASIS Oro Valley | Under Review | Great Hearts Academies – Archway Glendale | C | |
| BASIS Peoria | Under Review | Great Hearts Academies – Lincoln Prep | C | |
| BASIS Phoenix | Under Review | Great Hearts Academies – Teleos Prep | C | |
| BASIS Prescott | Under Review | Great Hearts Academies – Anthem Prep | Under Review | |
| BASIS Scottsdale | Under Review | Great Hearts Academies – Arete Prep | Under Review | |
| BASIS Tucson North | Under Review | Great Hearts Academies – Chandler Prep | Under Review | |
| Great Hearts Academies – Glendale Prep | Under Review | |||
| Great Hearts Academies – North Phoenix Prep | Under Review | |||
| Great Hearts Academies – Scottsdale Prep | Under Review | |||
| Great Hearts Academies – Trivium Prep | Under Review | |||
| Great Hearts Academies – Veritas Prep | Under Review | |||
Districts where many of the Basis and Great Heart students reside had a large number of A schools. Scottsdale Unified had over 65% of its schools receive an A rating (15 of 23 schools) and Gilbert Unified had 14 of 34 schools receive an A. [See Table 3 and 4]
| Table 3 Scottsdale Unified A-F ratings 2016-17 | Table 4 Gilbert Unified A-F ratings 2016-17 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scottsdale Unified Schools | Grade | Gilbert Unified Schools | ||
| Anasazi Elementary | A | Burk Elementary School | A | |
| Cherokee Elementary School | A | Canyon Rim Elementary | A | |
| Cheyenne Traditional School | A | Carol Rae Ranch Elementary | A | |
| Cochise Elementary School | A | Finley Farms Elementary | A | |
| Cocopah Middle School | A | Greenfield Elementary School | A | |
| Desert Canyon Elementary | A | Highland Park Elementary | A | |
| Hopi Elementary School | A | Meridian | A | |
| Kiva Elementary School | A | Neely Traditional Academy | A | |
| Laguna Elementary School | A | Oak Tree Elementary | A | |
| Mountainside Middle School | A | Pioneer Elementary School | A | |
| Navajo Elementary School | A | Playa del Rey Elementary School | A | |
| Pima Elementary School | A | Quartz Hill Elementary | A | |
| Pueblo Elementary School | A | South Valley Jr. High | A | |
| Redfield Elementary School | A | Towne Meadows Elementary School | A | |
| Sequoya Elementary School | A | Ashland Elementary | B | |
| Desert Canyon Middle School | B | Augusta Ranch Elementary | B | |
| Echo Canyon K-8 | B | Gilbert Classical Academy Jr. | B | |
| Hohokam Traditional School | B | Gilbert Elementary School | B | |
| Ingleside Middle School | B | Greenfield Junior High School | B | |
| Mohave Middle School | B | Highland Jr High School | B | |
| Yavapai Elementary School | B | Islands Elementary School | B | |
| Tavan Elementary School | C | Mesquite Elementary School | B | |
| Tonalea K-8 | C | Mesquite Jr High School | B | |
| Copper Ridge School | Under Review | Patterson Elementary School | B | |
| Settlers Point Elementary | B | |||
| Sonoma Ranch Elementary School | B | |||
| Spectrum Elementary | B | |||
| Superstition Springs Elementary | B | |||
| Val Vista Lakes Elementary School | B | |||
| Boulder Creek Elementary | C | |||
| Desert Ridge Jr. High | C | |||
| Gilbert Junior High School | C | |||
| Harris Elementary School | C | |||
| Houston Elementary School | C | |||
With 147 charter and district schools under review, it is too early to make definitive statements about the 2016-17 A-F ratings. Two things are certain: It is going to be much harder for parents to fork out the $1500 “suggested donation” to a Basis or Great Hearts school that has a B or C rating. And school choice advocates will not be able to hide behind the mantra that charter schools do not need to be transparent because they perform at such a high level. It doesn’t look like charters are doing so well.
A full report will be released when final grades are determined.