More on “White Hat” Ohio charter scam.
The latest entry on the Columbus Education Association blog has more data about White Hat Management’s Ohio charters.
One of the main arguments for charters made by their proponents has been that they can and will provide a quality education to underserved students.
What did the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) find?
Did White Hat provide services to students with learning disabilities?
Of the 3,682 students enrolled in the 12 Hope Academies, only 71 were classified as having a specific disability documented in an IEP. This amounts to only 1.9% of the chain’s total student enrollment. By contrast, Cleveland Municipal School District (CMSD) listed 17.6% of its students as disabled; several percentage points above the 14.3% average listed by the entire state of Ohio.
In fact, did White Hat hire special ed assistants? Or even special ed teachers?
More than 20 teachers were listed as being employed by the 12 Hope Academies as Special Education Supplemental Services Teachers, tasked with providing supplemental aids and services necessary to enable students with disabilities to receive an appropriate education in the greater classroom environment. There were no teachers listed in the ODE database as employed under the designation “Special Education Teaching”.
What about students with limited English proficiency?
Only one of the 3,682 students enrolled during the 2006-2007 school year was listed as Limited English Proficient (LEP), amounting to less than one hundredth of one percent of total student enrollment. Neighboring CMSD’s LEP students represented 5.2% of its enrollment during the same period. The Ohio average for 2006-2007 was approximately 1.6% of all students statewide were classified as LEP.
2 Responses to 'More on “White Hat” Ohio charter scam.'
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One thing about charters is that they claim to be absolutely fair, choosing students by lottery. That may be true (or it may not, as far as I know).
Assuming it is true, charter kids still have concerned parents who take the time not only to research the schools, but to fill out applications. Thus, it’s unlikely that, for example, people who don’t speak English would do this, let alone even know it’s an option.
Public schools then serve even a higher percentage of kids with uninvolved parents. I think the best predictor of academic success (or lack thereof) is the level of parent involvement. The lottery system, obviously, leaves them with a lower percentage of high needs kids and us with a higher one.
I’d be very surprised if White Hat’s situation were not absolutely typical.
Common. Perhaps. Typical. I don’t think so. That is why they are under investigation by the ODE.