Monday, August 12, 2013

Democracy Prep, Harlem Village Charter Schools See Largest Drop in Test Scores

Math teacher Gary Rubenstein has taken a look at state test results and found some of the worst performance amongst those charter schools  most heavily promoted as being vastly superior to public schools.  Democracy Prep Charter School and Harlem Village Academy Charter School had some of the poorest results on 7th grade math.  Here's more detail from Rubenstein:
The most stunning example is the famed Harlem Village Academy which had 100% passing in 2012, but only 21% passing in 2013 for a 79% drop (you can see that sad dot all the way at the right of the scatter plot).  Democracy Prep Harlem Charter, run and staffed by many TFAers, dropped 84% in 2012 to 13% in 2013.  KIPP Amp dropped from 79% in 2012 to just 9% in 2013.  The Equity Project (TEP) which pays $125,000 for the best teachers had finally gotten some test scores they can brag about with 76% in 2012, but that has now sunk to just 20% in 2013.  The Bronx Charter School Of Excellence, which recently received money from a $4.5 million grant to help public schools emulate what they do, dropped from 96% in 2012 to 33% in 2013. 
The Democracy Prep results shouldn't be surprising to those who recall the earlier audit of Democracy Prep where DOE reviewers found “few lessons required higher-order thinking skills or deep analysis of concepts.” 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Like most "miracles" proferred by charlatans, this one didn't hold up, either.

Anonymous said...

You have confused Democracy Prep Charter School with Democracy Prep Harlem Charter School. These are different schools. Democracy Prep Charter School's results were closer to the state average.

Fed up with Democracy Prep's hypocrisy said...

There is no confusion. First, stop the hypocrisy and you can start off by identifying yourself and not hide as anonymous. It's funny how you post as anonymous on inside schools, also. If Democracy Prep is such a great school and the results are closer to the state average, as you say, then you would should be proud of DP. Cut the crap, you are in the same boat as any other under-performing school. They still teach with the teacher in front of the classroom and there is no differentiation for higher-performing and lower-performing students. Then you wonder why you have the problems you do. Then you blame the kids. Your scores are low. you're supposed to have a lottery then you had my daughter tested to get in. You said, "I'm gonna be honest with you, She has to score on the 9th grade level and we can't accept her. Thank God my daughter is smart and scored on 9th grade level. She had just finished 9th grade and you contacted us in late August. I had to go that night and look for uniform because we had not notice. She hated it at DP and only stayed for one year. She passed both her regents, but it wasn't because of you. She comes from a gifted family. I have a M.Ed. Don't play games. All that hype and no progress. Time is running out. We have a new mayor. Charter schools are a big money making business. Your time is running short, just like with the devil. you can't run for too long. It will all soon be over.

Anonymous said...

Why do people waste so much time harping on DP? If you're unhappy, just go to another school. Few people care about your spewing.

T Pickens said...

My son who will be entering Kindergarten has been accepted to Democracy Prep Chart School located at 2005 Madison AVe in New York. I* wanted to know how is the atmosphere in the school? How are the teachers? How are the academics?