Adams 50, in Westminster, has one charter school: Crown Pointe Academy. Ricardo Flores Magon Academy, authorized by the state Charter School Institute (CSI), sits within the Adams 50 School District boundaries, but their students would be counted with CSI and not Adams 50. There's no way 2,770 students (22%) are in charter schools in Adams 50!
What does make sense is that the Brighton 27J school district is at 19%. The Brighton district has five charter schools and has creatively used charter schools to address community needs. Rather than going to the electorate for bond resources, the district has put charter schools in new communities in need of a school.
Closely following Brighton, at 18%, is the Falcon School District that serves the east side of Colorado Springs. Falcon has Banning Lewis Ranch (operated by Mosaica Education, Inc.), The Imagine Classical Academy at Indigo Ranch (operated by Imagine, Inc.), Rocky Mountain Classical Academy and Pikes Peak School of Expeditionary Learning. In addition, the Falcon School District has become an Innovation district, another indication that they seek creative solutions to address needs within the district.
You may wonder where the large school districts in Colorado fall in this report. Denver Public Schools (DPS) made the list with 11%, but the other large districts didn't even make the list. The two largest districts in the state are Jefferson County R-1 (~88,000) and DPS (~83,000). DPS has 34 charter schools, whereas Jeffco only has 13.
It's important to note that the NAPCS report is meant to highlight the districts that have used charter schools for the majority of their students. These include New Orleans, the District of Columbia, Detroit, and Kansas City, MO. A full 70% of students in New Orleans are in public charter schools.
7 comments:
Interesting observation about Adams 50. Wonder what the source of the error is? Their report says that the district's total 2010-11 enrollment was over 12,000, but CDE data show it's just over 10,000:
http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdereval/download/PDF/2010PM/SC1_PupilMembershipbySchoolandGrade.pdf
I was wondering if they meant Adams 12, which has COVA with about 5,000 students. It could be that they didn't understand the difference between the numbers associated with Adams County.
If I am not mistaken, GOAL Academy (a state-wide, online charter school), lists Westminster as their home district. GOAL has about 2,000 students.
GOAL Adademy's home district, if I am not mistaken is Westminister.
John, it's correct that GOAL Academy sits within the Adams 50 School District boundaries, but as a Charter School Institute (state authorized) charter school, GOAL students are counted with CSI.
This is a bit off topic (but related to Adams 50) - My state DOE is proposing that all schools in the state move to the model of instruction used at Adams 50 (RISC - no more grade levels). Are parents in Adams 50 happy with this model? We have no school choice in Maine. Do many parents opt out of Adams 50 and into charter schools?
MidCoast Mom, I don't know the answer to your question. There are two charter schools within the Adams 50 school district (one chartered by the state and not the district). The district has a reputation of being unfriendly to charters. I haven't heard from parents what they think of the standards-based model the district is using. Sorry I can't help you!
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