Angie Sullivan, second grade teacher in Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada, sent our her bulletin to legislators and journalists:
As far as I discern from the data available on the Nevada Report Card:
Nevada has 22 charter providing services to High School Seniors.
Five charters did not report data in 2015-2016:
Founders Academy (State Charter)
American Prep Academy (State Charter)
Global Community (CCSD)
Leadership Academy of Nevada (State Charter)
SSCS – Silver State High School (State Charter)
Leaving 17 Nevada charters which reported graduation data.
This is how many seniors failed to graduate in these charters:
Innovations Charter (WCSD) – 1554 Seniors; 1262 failed to graduate.
Nevada Connections (State Charter) – 1923 Seniors; 1238 failed to graduate
Delta Charter (CCSD) – 826 Seniors; 684 failed to graduate
Nevada Virtual Academy (State Charter) – 1127 Seniors; 411 failed to graduate
I Can Do Anything High School (WCSD) – 560 Seniors; 400 failed to graduate
Beacon Academy of Nevada (State Charter) – 803 Seniors; 380 failed to graduate
Odyssey Charter ( CCSD) – 792 Seniors; 376 failed to graduate
Rainshadow HS (WCSD) – 188 Seniors; 141 failed to graduate
Quest Academy (State Charter) – 42 Seniors; 8 failed to graduate
Coral Academy Reno (State Charter) – 34 Seniors; 8 failed to graduate
Andre Agassi (CCSD) – 34 Seniors; 7 failed to graduate
Explore Knowledge (CCSD) – 29 Seniors; 7 failed to graduate
Academy for Career Education (WCSD) – 59 Seniors; 2 failed to graduate
Coral Academy Vegas (State Charter) – 42 Seniors; 2 failed to graduate
Nevada State High School (State Charter) – 181 Seniors; 2 failed to graduate.
Alpine Academy (State Charter) – 21 Seniors; all graduated.
Overall Nevada Charters provided services for 9015 Seniors and 4928 failed to graduate. Perhaps more – since 5 charters did not provide data.
Tell me now why we are in a rush to turn our public schools into charters?
Aren’t charters supposed to be the experiment and competition for public schools? You would expect the graduation rate to be at least as high as a neighborhood public schools correct.
What is being done about these failing charters?
If CCSD and WCSD took out their failing charter data – their graduation rates would greatly improve.
Charters are worse than the regular neighborhood public schools. Legislation needs to get this mess under control. Failing charters have to be closed. This is ridiculous.
This is expensive and a scam.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Keep up the media blasts in tandem with your research. I don’t know how you manage to do this and also teach full time. That is no small accomplishment.
Agree with Laura!
Thank you, Diane.
And they failed graduation because….?
There are too many unknowns in this commentary to teach any conclusion.
1. Were these kids a charter product from first grade on?
2. Which subjects did they fail?
These are just the first two. It’s easy to say the schools failed – but maybe, just maybe these kids should not have graduated for a reason – other than: well of course they failed. It was a charter schools. What else did you expect?
From reputable sources I know that too many high school kids are not ready or at a level to be successful freshmen at any college. And that as graduates from public schools!
Only you would think a 55% failure to graduate rate was anything but abysmal. Yes, there is a story behind each student’s “failure,” but if they can do no better than a “failing” public school, why are we funding them? We do not have the money for a dual school system especially one that chooses who they will “educate.”
But we do not know the story, do we? A larger percentage than that drops out of the SEAL programs, but there we know the reason: Could not keep up with the requirements. Nothing bad, evil about that. I would ring that bell after the first 30 minutes – but everyone would know what caused it.
The rate is abysmal, I agree. But before cutting in to the charter schools, maybe, just maybe, it could be that the kids were not ready to graduate. Maybe, just maybe, the teachers did the smart thing, something that may have needed to be done years earlier, and told the kids: You are just not ready yet to graduate.
As a teacher, I would feel the responsibility to make that decision if a student really does not meet the requirements (Whatever requirements were set).
So, before any conclusions are jumped to, I would like to see the reasons why they did not graduate.
We were listed for a while as a district with bad graduation rates. Found out why. The State, in all their…, well, all their whatever, decided to look at kids that graduated with their original group they started high school with. Unfortunately, things happen why kids do not graduate after 4 years, but maybe take 4.5.
So there are logical explanations.
If Ohio is anything like my state, the low graduation rates are because the kids in online “schools” are already at risk anyway. They often have many absences, or struggle in school, and parents think that someone doing online “school” will “fix” their child.
And as far as being prepared for college, charters, especially online charters, are FAR worse preparation than regular public schools. I get students coming back from charters all the time. They are ALWAYS behind, particularly if they come from online charters which only require that students log in one minute per day to count them as “attending.” They have also lost any work skills they had, because they are NOT actually taking the classes.
Wouldn’t it be easier to list the states where charter schools outperform public schools?
We treat each of the ed reform “failure” states as “outliers” but there are quite a few of them.
It’s becoming this vast swathe of the country. Probably why the charter cheerleaders focus almost exclusively on Boston and NYC. It’s a big country. It’s not just Boston and NYC.
It is simply AMAZING how little interest in PUBLIC schools there is in DC.
This is yet another piece about “Trump and public education” that COMPLETELY omits PUBLIC schools:
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/education/307872-education-could-become-a-unifying-force-after-divisive-election
Wow. Public school parents better get loud. Your representatives have absolutely NO interest in your child’s school, if it’s a PUBLIC school.
We have a federal government and “expert” structure that somehow evolved to completely disregard 90% of schools! Talk about “out of touch”. They’re irrelevant to 90% of parents and kids and there are THOUSANDS of them.
I’ll keep looking for the report on DeVos or Trump that MENTIONS public schools but I’m not gonna find one! Incredibly.
Also, I warned you-all that the next market area for ed reform was replacing teachers with cheap, garbage online ed in poor and middle class schools.
They’re revving up the marketing engine right now:
“A responsible national school-choice initiative should be aimed at reaching suburban and rural areas, too. It should be combined with a focus on expanding online schools and course choice programs, as well. Digital learning actually expands the geographic reach of school choice in ways that traditional charter schools cannot.
Rather than transporting a student to a school every day, thereby dramatically increasing the overhead for education outcomes in an era of budget pressures, online learning delivers school to the student — wherever they live. This gives families in the often-overlooked, flyover parts of America access to education choice.”
Allow me to translate for you. Online classes are cheap and that’s good enough for poor and middle class children. Also profitable, so VERY good for certain adults, like the author of this piece.
Too much like reading headlines where, after employees at fast food restaurants fight for a decent wage, the fast food companies simply bring in no-employee-needed computers. Kids now being seen as profitable products, but with no actual power or individual importance…
Soooo….who will be staying home with the children while they are doing their work online???
Marnie,
The students will be put in a sterile and dank warehouse-kind of ticky tacky buildings with cameras on them. Someone far away will monitor the students strapped in an uncomfortable seat, and if need be the overseer will zap those who aren’t gritty enough to withstand this jailed environment. After all, compliance is mandatory or death.
Hunger Games.
Orwellian.
I especially love this school….AND….I went to their website and noticed that most of their teachers DO NOT have a masters degree in any subject….most teachers have bachelor degrees as this is fregan hysterical and such blatent in your face bull shit from the reformies who would see their own mother up the road for a buck..
I Can Do Anything High School (WCSD) – 560 Seniors; 400 failed to graduate
This cannot be true: in some of these schools, only 18% of the seniors graduated.
HOW is it not true? In Utah’s online charters, very few graduate. Both charters are among the lowest in the state.
https://datagateway.schools.utah.gov/Accountability/SchoolGrades/2016?leanum=2H&schNum=101&schoolGradeType=H
https://datagateway.schools.utah.gov/Accountability/SchoolGrades/2016?leaNum=5F&schNum=700&schoolGradeType=H
I think perhaps Máté should have put an exclamation point after his comment if I am reading him correctly. I guessing he was astonished or flabbergasted rather than disbelieving.
Is there a state wide graduation exam in Nevada like the regents in NY? Why weren’t the charter schools able to fudge the results? If these results are correct why would anyone want to send their kids to a charter school in order to fail?
One reason: HEAVY advertising. In Utah, the commercials are ubiquitous from April until October.
They must not be using their graduate statistics as a marketing tool. 🙂
Rod, there are proficiency exam requirements. Students may take the math exam as sophomores and have through their senior year to pass it. A writing, reading, and science exam are also required.