GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

In a post last spring, Ken reviewed some philanthropy statistics for New York City charter schools. This post reviews the updated statistics based on the 2008-2009 audited financial statements for 77 charter schools and adds a new comparison: the difference in philanthropy for charters schools that have non-profit Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) versus those who don’t. In this analysis, we found that schools with CMOs take in at least $1,734 per pupil in philanthropic dollars, versus $994 per pupil in non-CMO schools — a $740 difference. We’ve summarized the rest of our results below, but you can see all of our calculations in this workbook.

The total amount of philanthropic contributions to the 77 schools was $31,302,550. The total enrollment was 23,715. (Enrollment information was taken from the 2008-2009 Learning Environment Survey data, which seems to have the most comprehensive information.) This comes out to a per pupil contribution of $1,320 — a 9 percent drop from the 2007-2008 audits, which showed a per pupil contribution of $1,443.

At the school level, the numbers were basically unchanged from last year. The average school philanthropy per pupil was $1,651 in 2007-2008 compared to $1,654 and the median school philanthropy per pupil was $1,092 compared to $1,081. (more…)

Kim Gittleson is a research assistant working with Ken Hirsh, a GothamSchools community writer and financial contributor.

The IRS recently posted the Form 990 filings for the 2007-2008 school year. This form is the required federal filing for tax-exempt organizations, which include charter schools, and contains data about fundraising, spending, and leadership compensation.

Since Form 990 filings are often difficult to find, I have compiled a database of the forms for 64 out of the 80 charter schools that were open in 2008. Of the 16 schools without Form 990s on record, fourteen are schools that opened in the fall of 2008 (and thus didn’t have a 2007-2008 report). One school, East New York Preparatory Charter School, was open during the 2007-2008 school year but had no form available as of this writing. You can view a spreadsheet of the schools, their grades, the years in which they opened, and whether or not they filed a Form 990 here. The full database of all of the Form 990s is located here.

Because these filings are often lengthy and complicated, I have attempted to analyze some of the information. (more…)

While the school system limps toward a new governance structure, we at GothamSchools are shaking things up, too. To mark our first anniversary, we’re adding new staff (have you noticed those shiny new bylines?), excessing old ones, paying the bills in a new way, and changing up our content delivery model. We also plan to throw a party, at which we hope you’ll help us celebrate our continued existence despite the tough times.

Finally — permit one more forced parallel? — this post marks a new era of transparency and reader input, because we are both telling you all about the changes and asking for your help in pulling them off.

Please begin by enjoying our revised design, in which we distinguish between shorter dispatches and full-blown, robustly reported daily news stories. The shorter dispatches are indented and touched off by arrows, as in the post below this one. The stories are in the same maroon-headed format that you’re used to seeing blog posts.

The goal is to hold ourselves to an even higher standard, truth-telling-wise, while still keeping you up to date on the minutiae of school news (who just went wild at a City Council hearing, what article we just read and recommend, a deep thought, a breaking news item). (more…)

Protestors at P.S. 123 yesterday applauded lawmakers pushing for limits on charter schools in Harlem. Eva Moskowitz, the C.E.O. of the Success Charter Network, was a particular target. (Photo screenshot from video below.)

The next front for the Harlem school wars could be Albany.

City Council member Inez Dickens yesterday proposed changing the state law to cap the number of charter schools that a single operator can open in a given school district.

She was speaking at a protest against the Success charter school network’s expansion into a traditional Harlem public school, P.S. 123.

Dickens said she had the support of state Sen. Bill Perkins, and Keith Wright, an Assemblyman representing Harlem, said he would introduce legislation to make that change on his side of the legislature.

A neighborhood- and operator-specific cap would add to what exists now, a cap on the number of charter schools across New York state at 200. There are 1,500 public schools in the city.

Such a cap would also squarely challenge the strategy the Success Charter Network has pursued of opening a large number of charter schools in a designated area; Eva Moskowitz, the network’s CEO, has said her goal is to open 40 Harlem charter schools in the next 10 years. (more…)

“Teaching to the Test” refers to the practice of teaching in a manner designed to improve test results at the expense of some superior form of learning.  Currently, the phrase is most commonly used as an attack on certain standardized tests.  In New York, for example, students take annual standardized tests in grades 3 through 8.

If the standardized tests are competency tests, which I think they should be, the risk of “teaching to the test” should be related to the treatment of slower students that are at risk of failing to reach measured competency unless the teaching methods are targeted to the particular testing content.  Then, for these students, the risk is that focusing on their ability to answer some form of basic competency questions is materially worse than educating them in some other manner that won’t allow them to best answer these same questions.  I have always been skeptical that the probability and cost of this scenario could outweigh the benefits of basic competency testing.

To better inform my opinion on this issue, I reviewed the New York 2008 math and ELA tests for grades 3 through 8.  I was surprised to learn that all of the recent tests are well-organized on the state website.  I randomly picked a few pages from each test and compiled them in two files (math and ELA).  To me, the questions seem to be fair and straightforward.  I have difficulty understanding what is meant by “teaching to the test” with these sorts of questions and how it could be damaging to the students.  So, I ask the reader: What are some examples of how someone might “teach to the test” with respect to these particular questions?  How would such a method be harmful to the student?  I would love to hear from teachers and school leaders in New York that are particularly concerned with the “teaching to the test” phenomenon.

As we debate the merits of charter schools, many of us have not had the time to visit one.  Many others have visited exactly one.  Although I have visited several charter schools in recent years, I decided that it would be worthwhile to visit every charter school in Manhattan.  To be more precise, I hope to visit every charter school in Manhattan that took the New York State exams last year.

Eighteen schools are on my list.

I hope to learn things that you can’t learn by reading their websites or reviewing their test scores.  So far I have visited five schools.  I have written about two schools (here and here) that really impressed me.

I also hope to visit many traditional public schools as well as some magnet schools, special education schools, and private schools. Of course, in all cases, the school has to let me visit.  In my experience, charter schools are generally happy to have visitors.

All suggestions for what I should be looking for on my visits are encouraged!

• JD2718 adds Bronx Science to his list of schools to which teachers should not apply.
• He also thinks that this blog gives excessive weight to prominent voices.
• Tim Daly of The New Teacher Project and his brother, a football coach, riff off Gladwell’s latest.
• Leonie Haimson posts full videos from Friday’s forum on mayoral control.
• Arne Duncan wrote his Harvard senior thesis about a South Side Chicago neighborhood.
• Some parents pushed for District 3 middle schools to become more diverse as MS 44 closes.
• At last week’s PEP meeting, Patrick Sullivan and others levied complaints about special education.
• Ken Hirsh sees a dilemma for charter school leaders here who oppose card-check but support Obama.
• NPR reports that museums are pitching field trips as test-prep.
• A teacher-blogger wants to start a conversation about why elementary school teachers have tenure.