GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

A Brooklyn charter school with a floundering English-language learner program and poor English marks had its charter renewed, but only on a probationary basis.

State charter authorizers who reviewed Achievement First Bushwick for its charter renewal found that the school had an inadequate ELL program, according to a renewal report earlier this year. The school also failed to meet English language arts test scores goals since it opened in 2006, which prompted the authorizers to decline the school’s request for a five-year renewal.

Last week, the state Board of Regents supported the report’s recommendations in an official vote at its monthly meeting. The school now has just three years to fix its problems — or close.

The school’s authorizer, SUNY Charter School Institute, recommended the short-term renewal only on the condition that the school address problems with its ELL instruction before this school year began. The main problem was that ELL students were getting services more appropriate for disabled students, on an ad hoc basis. The services were “ineffective given the absence of a formal ELL program for what is a sizable ELL population,” the authorizers found.

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