January 3, 2013 MEMORANDUM Charter Schools Institute logo fin.jpg To: Members of the Board of Trustees From: Susan Miller Barker, Executive Director, Charter Schools Institute Subject: SUNY Charter Schools Institute Update CRPE Report Summary Attached please find a summary of a report prepared by the Center on Reinventing Public Education regarding a New York State Special Education Enrollment Analysis, which discusses district and public charter school enrollment of students with disabilities. Charter Revisions or Extensions Approved by the Institute Pursuant to Resolution No. 2012-038 dated June 12, 2012, the Board of Trustees delegated authority to the SUNY Charter Schools Institute (the “Institute”) to approve certain revisions and extensions to the charters of charter schools authorized by the Board of Trustees. 1. Achievement First Apollo Charter School Charter Extension (Brooklyn) Achievement First Apollo Charter School (“AF Apollo”), an existing school located at 350 Linwood Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11208 in Community School District (“CSD”) 19, currently serves grades K-3. AF Apollo utilized two planning years prior to opening for instruction; therefore, AF Apollo sought an extension of its charter to commence on May 19, 2013 and to terminate on July 31, 2015 with a projected enrollment of 504 students in grades K-5. In order to allow AF Apollo to accumulate a full five years of operational, financial and academic performance data before beginning the charter renewal process and to receive the full benefit of the intended five-year charter term, the Institute approved the charter extension. 2. Achievement First Brownsville Charter School Charter Extension (Brooklyn) Achievement First Brownsville Charter School (“AF Brownsville”), an existing school located at 2021 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11233 in CSD 23, currently serves grades K-5. AF Brownsville’s charter expires prior to the completion of its fifth full year of operation; therefore, AF Brownsville sought an extension of its charter to commence on January 14, 2013, and to terminate on July 31, 2013, which would allow the school to complete its current academic year. Should the Charter Schools Committee renew AF Brownsville’s charter, the school’s next charter term would allow it to accumulate a full five years of operational, financial and academic performance data before beginning the subsequent charter renewal process. The Institute approved AF Brownsville’s requested charter extension. 3. Bedford Stuyvesant Collegiate Charter School Charter Extension (Brooklyn) Bedford Stuyvesant Collegiate Charter School (“Bed Stuy Collegiate”), an existing school located at 800 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11221 in CSD 16, currently serves grades 5-9. Bed Stuy Collegiate’s charter expires prior to the completion of its fifth full year of operation; therefore, Bed Stuy Collegiate sought an extension of its charter to commence on January 14, 2013, and to terminate on July 31, 2013, which would allow the school to complete its current academic year. Should the Charter Schools Committee renew Bed Stuy Collegiate’s charter the school’s next charter term would allow it to accumulate a full five years of operational, financial and academic performance data before beginning the subsequent charter renewal process. The Institute approved Bed Stuy Collegiate’s requested charter extension. 4. Green Dot New York Charter School Charter Extension (Bronx) Green Dot New York Charter School (“Green Dot”), an existing school located at 600 St. Ann's Avenue, Bronx, NY 10455 in CSD 7, currently serves grades 9-12. Green Dot’s charter expires prior to the completion of its fifth full year of operation; therefore, Green Dot sought an extension of its charter to commence on January 14, 2013, and to terminate on July 31, 2013, which would allow the school to complete its current academic year. Should the Charter Schools Committee renew Green Dot’s charter, the school’s next charter term would allow it to accumulate a full five years of operational, financial and academic performance data before beginning the subsequent charter renewal process. The Institute approved Green Dot’s requested charter extension. 5. Icahn Charter School 3 Charter Extension (Bronx) Icahn Charter School 3 (“Icahn 3”), an existing school located at 1500 Pelham Parkway South, Bronx, NY 10462 in CSD 11, currently serves grades K-6. Icahn 3’s charter expires prior to the completion of its fifth full year of operation; therefore, Icahn 3 sought an extension of its charter to commence on March 10, 2013, and to terminate on July 31, 2013, which would allow the school to complete its current academic year. Should the Committee renew Icahn 3’s charter (as recommended by the Institute), the school’s next charter term would allow it to accumulate a full five years of operational, financial and academic performance data before beginning the subsequent charter renewal process. The Institute approved Icahn 3’s requested charter extension. 6. True North Troy Preparatory Charter School Charter Extension (Troy) True North Troy Preparatory Charter School (“Troy Prep”), an existing charter school located at 2 Polk Street, Troy, NY 12180, currently serves approximately 320 students in grades K-1 and 5-8. Troy Prep utilized a planning year prior to opening for instruction; therefore, Troy Prep sought an extension of its charter to commence on March 10, 2013, and to terminate on July 31, 2014, with a projected enrollment/grades served of 394 students in grades K-2 and 5-8. In order to allow Troy Prep to accumulate a full five years of operational, financial and academic performance data before beginning the charter renewal process and to receive the full benefit of the intended five-year charter term, the Institute approved the charter extension. 7. Manhattan Charter School II Charter Revision (Manhattan) Manhattan Charter School II (“Manhattan II”), an existing charter school located at 220 Henry Street, New York, NY 10002 in CSD 1, serves approximately 96 students in Kindergarten and 1st grade. The Institute approved a change to the school’s admissions policy to incorporate an at-risk design factor for English Language Learners (“ELLs”) by reserving 18 percent of its incoming class for students deemed ELL’s. The school will rely on a home language survey and, when available, previous results of the state’s Language Assessment Battery-Revised (LAB-R), to determine which students are eligible for the admissions set-aside. 8. Success Academy Charter School – Manhattan 3 Charter Revision (Manhattan) SUNY approved the application of the charter school education corporation, Success Academy Charter Schools – NYC, to operate Success Academy Charter School – Manhattan 3 (“Manhattan 3”) on June 25, 2012. Manhattan 3 originally planned to be located in CSD 4 in Manhattan; however, the New York City Department of Education (“NYCDOE”) later indicated that space was limited in CSD 4, and recommended that the school be sited at 968 Cauldwell Avenue, Bronx, NY 10456, in CSD 8. The education corporation also sought to change Manhattan 3’s name to “Success Academy Charter School – Bronx 3.” Success Academy Charter Schools – NYC’s revision request included community petitions that suggest that the school will be able to meet its anticipated enrollment in CSD 8. As a result, the Institute approved the location and name change request for Manhattan 3. 9. South Buffalo Charter School Charter Revision (Buffalo) South Buffalo Charter School (“South Buffalo”), an existing school located at 2219 South Park Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14220, currently serves grades K-8. South Buffalo sought an enrollment decrease due to unanticipated delays in construction of a new facility. As a result, South Buffalo sough to decrease future enrollment from 900 students to 669 students in the 2013-14 school year, and from 900 students to 800 students in the 2014-15 school year, the final year of South Buffalo’s current charter. The enrollment decrease is not expected to impact the schools’ ability to operate in an educationally, fiscally, or legally sound manner. As such, the Institute approved the revision to South Buffalo’s charter. New York State Special Education Enrollment Analysis A report by the Center on Reinventing Public Education published November 2012 Summary of Findings for the SUNY Board of Trustees Committee for Charter Schools In June 2012, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that charter schools across the country enrolled 3% fewer students with special needs than their traditional public school counterparts (8.3% compared to 11.2%). As a result of the GAO study, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) commissioned a New York State-specific study to see if a more accurate picture would emerge. The resulting research, New York State Special Education Enrollment Analysis, was conducted by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) at the University of Washington. The news from CRPE is positive. Enrollment Analysis offers nuance where there was none in the GAO report. In aggregate, charter schools in New York State do enroll 3.9 percent fewer special education students than traditional district schools. CRPE reports that charter schools enroll 14.3% of students with disabilities, compared to 18.2% overall in district schools across the state. The findings for charter middle and high school enrollment are nearly indistinguishable from district enrollments. Charter elementary schools, however, show under-enrollment of special education students. Figure 1: Charter Middle and High schools enroll special education students in percentages comparable to district-run schools Although the study speculates about why the disparity among grade levels exists, it did not determine a reason as it was outside the scope of the study. With regard to the recently adopted enrollment and retention targets, the report suggests that a single, state-wide goal is misaligned with the realities of student demographics. If, for example, the state “implemented a single target for all schools of the statewide average enrollment of students with disabilities, 133 of the 168 charter schools (about 79%) and 775 of the 1561 district-run schools (roughly 50%) in our data would fail” (CRPE, page 3). The effective targets adopted by the Trustees in October 2012 addresses this problem, by actively comparing charter school data to district-level data disaggregated by grade span, instead of a statewide target. The report suggests that the comparisons vary widely among the districts which host charter schools. In New York City, for example, 59.1% of the charter school match the district 70% enrollment data band. In Albany, though, none of the schools match the 70% band, and several enroll entirely fewer students with special needs. The variation does not seem to match with district size (that is, the districts that have higher concentrations of charter school are no more likely to meet targets than those districts with fewer charter schools). Figure 2: Special education enrollment percentages vary among districts hosting charter schools CRPE examined the four authorizers in the state, to ascertain if the policies and practices in each had an effect on the enrollment of students with disabilities. Overall, Institute-authorized schools are faring well, although not all schools fall within the 90% band for enrollment. 11.0% of SUNY authorized schools fall below the 90% target mark (8 out of the 73 schools surveyed). Comparatively, 14.8% of schools authorized by the Regents fall beneath the same band (4 out of 27 schools). On the positive end of the enrollment spectrum, 4 Institute-authorized schools have the highest enrollment percentages for students with disabilities compared to their district counterparts – these 4 schools fall above the 90% enrollment band, well above the districts and the targets. The report also sheds light on additional areas for study. For example, it is suggested (by CRPE and a prior study by the New York City Charter School Center) that charter schools may keep enrollment rates in elementary schools low because they employ Response-to-Intervention practices that effectively support students’ academic achievement and thus mitigate the need for special education services. Conversely, the CRPE report suggests that early intervention programs at district-run schools may over-identify students as needing services, or require that students stay in district-run schools to receive these services instead of transferring to charter schools. The Institute anticipates that research and dissemination work will correct the record about services that charter schools provide and effectively communicate the successes of charter schools in educating students with disabilities.