- Expulsions, Suspensions Could Face More Scrutiny in D.C. Charters [Friendship PCS is mentioned]
- Photos Will Be Required for SAT, ACT Tests
Expulsions, Suspensions Could Face More Scrutiny in D.C. Charters [Friendship PCS is mentioned]
The Washington Examiner
By Lisa Gartner
March 27, 2012
D.C. charter schools could be shut down for failing to report student suspensions and expulsions each month to the D.C. Public Charter School Board, under a new policy being considered by the board.
Currently, the schools -- which serve 41 percent of the city's public school students and are growing rapidly -- generally only risk losing their charters if they're struggling academically or financially. Last spring, for example, Nia Community Public Charter School lost its charter because it never implemented its academic plan.
But during a D.C. Council hearing in February, charter school board leaders revealed that students younger than 8 years old were suspended 434 times from charters last year, marking a 78 percent increase in suspensions of preschool, kindergarten and first-grade students in just two years.
Charters also expelled four of these young students last year -- and 224 students total -- causing lawmakers to question whether charter schools dump difficult students back into D.C. Public Schools. DCPS is preparing a report on how many students enroll midyear after leaving charters.
The new policy would require the 53 public charter schools, across 98 campuses, to log each expulsion and suspension into the school board's computer database. Schools also would need to document attendance data and enrollment fluctuations.
Errant schools would receive "notices of concern" or be put on probation, which could lead to the school's closure.
"That would be an extreme situation of a school not working with us," said Naomi DeVeaux, deputy director of the charter board. "But at some point there has to be a consequence."
Suspension and expulsion data provided by the board show eye-opening anomalies among the schools. At Friendship Collegiate Academy, 8 percent of the 1,231 high school students were expelled last school year. The previous year, 35 percent of students at Friendship Technical Preparatory Academy were suspended for 10 days or more.
The charter school board has always collected this data, but is now preparing to analyze it, DeVeaux said.
David Pickens, executive director of DC School Reform Now, said he's eager to see the results of DCPS' report.
"The bigger issue is if these charter schools are somehow counting out the students they don't want, per se," Pickens said.
The Washington Times
By Frank Eltman
March 27, 2012
The millions of students who take the SAT or ACT each year will have to submit photos of themselves when they sign up for the college entrance exams, under a host of new security measures announced Tuesday in the aftermath of a major cheating scandal on Long Island.
The two companies that administer the tests, the College Board and ACT Inc., agreed to the precautions under public pressure brought to bear by Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, who is overseeing the investigation. The measures take effect in the fall.
Ms. Rice has charged 20 current or former students from a cluster of well-to-do, high-achieving suburbs on Long Island with participating in a scheme in which teenagers hired other people for as much as $3,500 each to take the exam for them. The five alleged ringers arrested in the case were accused of flashing phony IDs when they showed up for the tests. All 20 have pleaded not guilty.
Students have long been required to show identification when they arrive for one of the tests. Under the new rules, they will have to submit head shots of themselves in advance with their test application. A copy of the photo will be printed on the admission ticket mailed to each student, and will also appear on the test site roster.
School administrators are “going to be able to compare the photo and the person who showed up and say that’s either John Doe or that’s not John Doe. They didn’t have the ability to do that before,” the district attorney said.
Officials from the College Board and ACT Inc. said that any additional costs would be absorbed and not passed on to students. The College Board charges $49 for the SAT; ACT Inc. charges $34 for the basic test, $49.50 if it includes a writing exam.
“We believe these measures support both test integrity and access and equity for all students,” said Kathryn Juric, vice president of the SAT program for the College Board.
During the 2010-11 school year, nearly 3 million students worldwide took the SAT; 1.6 million students took the ACT in 2011.
In another key change, students will be required to identify on their application the high school they attend. In the Long Island scandal, the impostors often went to high schools in neighboring communities so they would not be recognized.
Bob Schaeffer, public education director of FairTest: National Center for Fair & Open Testing, a longtime critic of the SAT, said the new procedures would still not prevent cheating if a student submitted an impostor’s photograph.
“The image on the registration form will match up with that of the person taking the exam so long as an equally phony ID is used at the test site,” he said.
But Ms. Rice argued that the follow-up report to the student’s high school, with the photograph, should deter most cheating.
“Knowing that’s going to be going back to their high schools, specifically their guidance counselor, that’s the backup check that’s going to prevent it from happening,” the district attorney said.
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