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Meeting of the Board of Regents | May 2009

Tuesday, May 5, 2009 - 8:30am

New York State Education Department

 

Summary of Charter School Renewal Information

 

Summary of Applicant Information

 

 

Name of Proposed Renewed Charter School: Opportunity Charter School (OCS or “the School”)

 

Address: 240 West 113th Street, New York, NY 10026

 

Board of Trustees President: Dr. Joseph P. Merlino

 

Renewal Period: May 18, 2009 – August 18, 2010

 

District of Location:  New York City Community School District 3, Manhattan

 

Charter Entity: Chancellor of the city school district of the City of New York

 

Institutional Partner(s): N/A

 

Management Partner(s): N/A

 

Grades Served per Year: 6 -12

 

Projected Enrollment per Year: 378

 

Renewal Application Highlights

 

Evidence of Educational Soundness/ Attainment of Educational Objectives

 

  • According to the 2007-2008 New York City Department of Education’s (NYCDOE) Progress Report, OCS serves the lowest performing middle school students of any school in New York City.  There is no other school in the city whose students’ average incoming performance is lower.  The student population includes both students with special needs and general education students.
  • The School serves 53 percent special education students.  Sixty-one percent of those students were previously placed in more restricted self-contained settings.
  • In 2007-2008, 89 percent of the student population was eligible for the Free Lunch Program and four percent were limited English proficient.
  • OCS received a grade of “C” on the 2007-2008 NYCDOE Progress Report.
  • The New York State Report Card found that OCS made Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2007-2008 and deemed the School to be in Good Standing.  This follows three consecutive years of OCS performing furthest from State standards.
  • NYCDOE reports that for the past three years, all 8th grade students at OCS moved on to high school. 
  • The student achievement results for OCS are shown in Tables 1 - 3.
  • The School scored lower than its district of location in the New York State ELA and mathematics assessments over the past two years (see Table 4).
  • Despite low incoming performance of students, the School has shown an ability to make significant progress with students who have special needs and students in the lowest third of performance, both at the middle and high school levels (see Table 5).
  • Eighty percent of special education students at the middle school level made at least one year of progress in ELA, and 60.5 percent of special education students made at least one year of progress in math (see Table 5).  The citywide figure in ELA of students with special needs making one year of progress is 78 percent.
  • Initial results of the School’s internal assessment, the Scantron Performance Series, indicate that the average gain in math and reading for students is 1.4 Grade Level Equivalents. 
  • Nineteen percent of OCS students were proficient on the 2008-2009 NYS ELA assessment.  This is more than twice the percentage of students found proficient on the previous year’s ELA assessment.  
  • In 2007-2008, OCS met five of nine charter goals in ELA and three of nine in mathematics.  In the two preceding years, OCS did not meet the majority of its goals in moving students to levels of proficiency (i.e. Levels 3 and 4).
  • NYCDOE has placed OCS on probation due to deficiencies in the delivery of services to special education students, non-compliance with teacher certification requirements, and low student performance.
  • While the School meets the requirement that at least 70 percent of its teachers be certified, some teachers are neither certified nor have a qualifying exemption.
  • The School has had the same two co-leaders since opening in 2004. 
  • The student attendance rate for 2007-2008 was 90 percent.
  • The teacher attrition rate for 2007-2008 was 43 percent, up from 15 percent in 2006-2007. 
  • OCS currently enrolls 326 students (see Table 7).  Due to an addition of a twelfth grade, the School proposes an increase of enrollment to 378 students in each of the two years of the proposed renewal (see Table 8).

Evidence of Fiscal Soundness/Projected Fiscal Impact

 

  • The School is located in a NYCDOE facility.
  • For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, OCS had total assets of $2,008,936 and total liabilities of $906,599. 
  • The School shows a positive change in its net assets for 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 (See Table 6).
  • The potential fiscal impact upon the District is represented below.  Please note that these projections are based upon several assumptions, which may or may not occur: that all existing charter schools will also exist in the next five years and serve the same grade levels as they do now; that the charter schools will be able to meet their projected maximum enrollment; that all students will come from New York City and no other districts; that all students will attend every day for a 1.0 FTE; that the District’s budget will increase at the projected rate; that the per pupil payment will increase (and not decrease); and that the per pupil payment will increase at the projected rate.

 

Projected Fiscal Impact of the

Opportunity Charter School

(New York City – CSD 3, Manhattan)

2009-2010 through 2010-2011

School Year

Number of Students

Projected Payment*

Projected Impact

2009-2010

378

 $ 4,550,134

0.0213

*Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the District’s budget from the base of $20.12 billion in 2007-2008; and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year from the 2007-2008 rate of $11,023.

Evidence of Parent and Student Satisfaction and Community Support

 

  • A public hearing to solicit comments from the community in connection with the charter school’s proposed renewal was conducted by the New York City Department of Education on January 20, 2009.  Comments in support of the School were made by five parents and Dr. Michael Carerra of the Children’s Aid Society Carerra Program.  One negative e-mail was received by NYCDOE.  
  • Eighty-eight percent of parents surveyed expressed satisfaction with the School in 2007-2008.  The response rate was 22 percent.
  • OCS has a relatively low student attrition rate: 11 percent in 2007-2008, and 10 percent in 2006-2007.

Summary of Charter Entity’s Findings and Recommendations

              The charter entity’s approval in 2004 of the initial charter was made based on a proposed model that would extend an inclusive educational environment to a large group of students that would otherwise be served in self-contained classrooms, district 75, or residential treatment centers.  NYCDOE reports that at the time of approval, and still today, there are no other programs that have successfully demonstrated an ability to effectively serve the most struggling students, particularly those with severe special needs.

In its renewal visit of October 2008, NYCDOE found that the School has noteworthy accomplishments in terms of school culture, behavior management and support programs for students; however, the level of instruction lags, and a clear sense of urgency to improve instruction and student academic performance was not readily evident.  Classroom management was weak in many classes that were observed and there was little to no evidence of differentiated instruction.  NYCDOE concluded that a considerable amount of work lies ahead to improve the quality of teaching and learning at the School, particularly in designing lessons and units that meet the needs of all learners, despite incoming proficiency levels. 

 

              Notwithstanding these deficiencies, OCS met AYP for the first time in 2007-2008 and was deemed to be in Good Standing for that year.  The School was able to make significant progress with students who have special needs and students in the lowest third of performance.  The School has initiated a recruitment search for a new director of instruction and also made a commitment to revamp its teaching staff to include only teachers with valid teaching certification.  

 

              At its renewal visit, NYCDOE found the School’s environment to be safe and calm, conducive to learning, and exuding a positive and respectful culture, despite the challenging nature of the student population.  The use of special reward cards as positive reinforcement for acceptable behaviors has made a marked impact on the quality of student conduct.

 

              NYCDOE found that the School is fiscally strong and takes corrective action quickly once a problem is identified by the independent financial audit.   The Board of Trustees was found to be committed and passionate about the mission of the School.  Symptomatic of many charter schools, the OCS Board of Trustees would benefit from further board development. 

NYCDOE found that the School has begun to show that its model can be successful in promoting achievement and accountability for some of the city’s most challenging students.  Therefore, in the interest of special education in New York City, NYCDOE approved a continuation to the program for at least one more year to demonstrate its ability to effectively impact student achievement. 

 

 

 

 


Attachment 1

 

TABLE 1*

Percent of OCS Students Scoring At or Above 65 Percent

On NYS Regents Exams

 

 

Percent Scoring 65 Percent or Above

Math A

14

Global History

3

Living Environment

13

Earth Science

3

Integrated Algebra

7

Science (RCT)

0

* Comparison to CSD 3 scores is not provided because OCS had only two years in which to take the exams whereas the local public schools had four years in which to take the exams.

 

 

Table 2*

2007-2008

Grades 6-8 State ELA and Math Assessments

Percent of OCS Students at Levels 1 – 4

6-8 ELA

6-8 Math

%L1

%L2

%L3

%L4

Proficiency

 

%L1

%L2

%L3

%L4

Proficiency

15

75

9

0

9

 

30

56

14

0

14

* Due to statistical rounding, percentages may not equal 100.

 

Table 3

2006-2007

Grades 6-8 State ELA and Math Assessments

Percent of OCS Students at Levels 1 – 4

6-8 ELA

6-8 Math

%L1

%L2

%L3

%L4

Proficiency

 

%L1

%L2

%L3

%L4

Proficiency

29

65

6

0

6

 

25

51

25

0

25

 

Table 4

2006-2007 and 2007-2008

Grades 6-8 State ELA and Math Assessments

Percent of OCS and District 3 Students at Proficiency Level

ELA

Math

 

2006-2007

2007-2008

 

 

2006-2007

2007-2008

OCS

6

9

 

OCS

25

14

District

53

57

 

District

62

69

 

 

 


Table 5

2006-2007 through 2007-2008

Percent of Students at OCS Making One Year of Progress in ELA and Math

by Subgroup

 

ELA

Math

Top 2/3

56.5

42.8

Bottom 1/3

73.2

58.8

General Education

50.7

39.4

Special Education

80.1

60.5

All

62.6

48.0

 

Table 6

Opportunity Charter School

Change in Net Assets for 2006-2007 through 2007-2008*

Year

Change in Net Assets

2006-07

$79,614

2007-08

$470,339

*Source: Audited Financial Statements provided as a part of each Annual Report.

 

Table 7

 Current Enrollment

Opportunity Charter School

2008-2009

GRADE

2008-09

Sixth

56

Seventh

56

Eighth

58

Ninth

53

Tenth

55

Eleventh

48

Total

326

 

Table 8

Projected Enrollment

Opportunity Charter School

2009-2010 through 2010-2011

GRADE

2009-10

2010-11

Sixth

54

54

Seventh

54

54

Eighth

54

54

Ninth

54

54

Tenth

54

54

Eleventh

54

54

Twelfth

54

54

Total

378

378