Reply to New Charter Tier Rankings Are Out

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Sela needs to be investigated. But if you think that they really got a 100% score on all of the academic areas...just no. As a former teacher there I'm going to say that someone should contact the board. [/quote]

Maye they have an insider who is manipulating the tests or the grades.
It has happened with other charters and no one has thought of investigating the results.[/quote]

Clearly the Elders of Sela have a dark set of Protocols for manipulating the PARCC data...The sad, strange need to fake "chaos" at Sela is perhaps Trump-appropriate, but truly fake news. I can tell you having worked with charter schools, including Sela, ITS, and LAMB (in its infancy) that Sela's bumps were not out of the ordinary for a not for profit charter. They found a long-term space, have had solid books (more than you can say for most schools in DC) throughout their tenure, added a successful PK3 program early on, and have solid effective teachers and leadership. Some of the teacher churn is b/c of visas (just like YY), and they hired a lot of younger (cheaper) teachers early on. Yes, they replaced their head of schools (like, e.g., SSMA), but again it happens, and they  found someone who works effectively with the diverse group of families/language focus. Some families moved to MoCo, others got into a charter they liked better b/c it had a more established track record. From a statistical perspective, you are more likely to see very high (or very poor) results in a small sample size. As the school grows, and there is more data and larger sample sizes, you will get a more accurate picture of the performance over time. No need to invent a cabal b/c your kid is in a Tier 2 program.
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I'm not the PP who said they should be investigated or maybe they're cheating.  But I am the PP who said I wasn't going to go back over all their "bumps", but by once again minimizing and misinforming here, it feels important to do it.

First off, the student and family "churn" to use your word (also known as jumping ship for the 1st better school they get in to) continues to be a huge issue for the school.  More so than any school you name here.

The teacher turnover the 1st 2 years was ridiculous, including teachers leaving mid-year.  That, also, did dot happen at any of the school you named or any others still open now.  If you disagree, name a specific school and your source for that, because you mentioned "fake news", well you saying teacher turnover at those schools was like Sela (and was only visa-related at Sela) are both fake news.

The leadership issues were HUGE in the beginning.  You say "they replaced the Head of School" as if it was an organized, strategic move.  No, it was chaos and it threw the families at the time for a major loop.  Again, you minimizing it is a disservice to teh school and families who went through the madness as well as prospective families.

And you neglected to mention that also UNlike the schools you name above, who grew and grew and whose student and staff retention has improved and improved over time, Sela has continued to lose more families than it keeps if they get into another school, which many do.

One more thing true of Sela that isn't true of any other schools still open (even the ones that are part of national organizations, like Kipp and Rocketship): the low enrollment and repeated student turnover would have sunk any other school that wasn't also privately funded.  None of the other schools open know had enrollment that low or student turnover that high in years 2 and 3.  Again, if you disagree, name the school.

If you want to help Sela, instead of misinforming and acting like their bumps were no biggie and they're just like a bunch of other successful charters, then talk about what Sela has done to IMPROVE after the bumps.  Talk about real numbers of student retention - what % of families enrolled in SY15-16 returned in SY16-17?  If it's getting so much better, speak in real facts about how you're measuring those improvements.  Don't just say retention improved by ___ %, what % returned?  Talk about the current Head of School and what they've done to improve the school.

But all anyone with questions has to do is search this forum for "Sela" and read all about the extreme turmoil of the 1st 2 years to see your claim of it being regular old bumps that all these other schools went through is "fake news" in the most real way.[/quote]

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