With state testing testing complete, Collegiate Academies’ CEO Ben Marcovitz briefed board members on May 15 about how students did on a series of interim tests.
Marcovitz said the tests were made available through the New Schools for New Orleans charter school support organization. They were delivered to students at several local charter schools to sample students’ growth throughout the year.
The results showed 54 percent of eleventh-grade and 43 percent of ninth-grade Sci Academy students scored proficient of above average in biology. Forty-nine percent of the school’s juniors scored proficient or above average in English.
These results fell above the network average of charter schools tested by New Schools for New Orleans, he said.
Board treasurer Doug Finegan said the school still predicts a $133,000 surplus this school year, despite the lower-than-expected funds from the state. The school has also renewed its $250,000 line of credit with IberiaBank.
Finegan also announced the organization’s proposed $10.7 million budget for 2013-14. He said they plan to hold a public meeting to review the budget at next month’s regularly scheduled board meeting on June 19.
All board members were present except Dana Henry, Bill Langenstein, and Lisa Daggs. The only vote approved the previous meeting’s minutes. The meeting lasted an hour and a half, concluding around 7 p.m.
Reading between the lines of Mr. Marcovitz’ report to the Board of Collegiate Academies is the acknowledgment that around half of Sci Academy’s students failed to achieve proficiency in biology as measured by standardized tests administered by New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO), and that 51% of the school’s juniors failed to achieve proficiency in English.
According to Mr. Marcovitz, this performance is superior to that turned in by all the students at all the schools which took the same tests administered by NSNO.
It would be helpful to know which tests were used, and also what other schools were administered the same tests.
Since we don’t have that information, as a starting point here is a link to the NSNO page which shows all of that organization’s charter school partnerships in New Orleans;
http://www.newschoolsforneworleans.org/charter-school-investments