The John Locke Foundation’s Terry Stoops was featured in the North State Journal for comments on charter school reports. Charter schools are getting more A’s and B’s than traditional public schools, but also more F’s.
“There are a few common characteristics among the eight charter schools that received F grades,” Dr. Terry Stoops of the John Locke Foundation explained to North State Journal. “One low-performing school, Grandfather Academy, is part of a group home that serves victims of social, emotional, sexual or physical abuse. A handful of others are relatively new schools that serve predominantly disadvantaged populations. In many cases, these struggling schools enroll fewer than 250 students, which leaves little margin for error in terms of state testing.”
On the successful charters, Stoops said, “In terms of educational philosophy and student demographics, North Carolina’s most successful charter schools have little in common. The one attribute that they share is the prospect of charter revocation by the State Board of Education. If charter schools fail to meet the academic, financial and operational expectations set by the school leaders and reinforced by the parents, then closure is almost inevitable.”
You can read the entire article here, which features a report on traditional public school scores and comments from Representative Craig Horn, who serves on several House education committees.