Jerry Brown’s Two Pet Charter Schools: Part Two

Read Part One HERE.

The Oakland Military Institute (OMI) enrolled 530 students in 2008-2009. Two hundred fifty-three were in grades 6-8 and 257 were in grades 9-12.

The Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) enrolled 408 students in 2008-2009. One hundred seventy-seven of those were in grades 6-8, 231 students were in grades 9-12.

The total enrollment at Jerry Brown’s two charter schools was 938 students, or 2% of the students enrolled in all of OUSD (46,516).

Oakland used to have six traditional, comprehensive public high schools (TCPHSs). Several years ago the Gates Foundation paid for the breakup of three of those high schools, although everyone still refers to those campuses by their traditional names: Fremont High (became the Fremont Federation), Castlemont High (became the Castlemont Community of Small Schools), and McClymonds High (became the McClymonds Complex). The three remaining TCPHSs are Skyline High (SHS), Oakland Technical High (OTHS), and Oakland High (OH).

1. Comparing demographics of Jerry’s charter schools with OUSD’s traditional, comprehensive public high schools

The schools have quite different demographics, especially in regard to Students with Disabilities, English Learners, and Average Parent Education Level.

• OSA has a lower percentage of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged students (Participants in Free or Reduced-Price) than the lowest percentage of any TCPHS (20% vs. 50%).
• OMI has a higher percentage of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged students than the highest percentage of any TCPHS (75% vs. 73%).
• OSA has a markedly higher Average Parent Education Level than the other four schools.
• OMI has the highest percentage of English Learners.

SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS 2008-2009
Percentages	SHS	OTHS	OHS	OSA	OMI
African American	37	50	28	57	29
Asian	22	19	48	4	26
Hispanic or Latino	25	16	19	11	36
White (not of Hispanic origin)	10	10	1	15	4
Participants in Free or Reduced-Price Lunch	50	57	73	20	75
English Learners	13	10	23	0	37
Students with Disabilities	12	11	11	0	5
Average Parent Education Level*	2.74	2.85	2.08	3.64	2.46

*Average Parent Education Level: This item is the average of all parent educational level responses for a school where the following scale is used: 1 = Not high school graduate, 2 = High school graduate, 3 = Some college, 4 = College graduate, and 5 = Graduate school.
Looking at the past four years:

• Both OSA and OMI manage to avoid teaching Students with Disabilities.
• OSA manages to avoid teaching English Learners.
  

% STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
	OMI	OSA	OUSD
2005-2006	4	7	10
2006-2007	6	1	10
2007-2008	4	3	10
2008-2009	5	0	10

% ENGLISH LEARNERS
	OMI	OSA	OUSD
2005-2006	32	0	26
2006-2007	36	0	26
2007-2008	40	0	30
2008-2009	37	0	29

2.Comparing the AYP of Jerry’s charter schools with OUSD’s traditional, comprehensive public high schools

The Annual Progress Reports for 2009 reveal that both schoolwide and for the typically lowest performing subgroups, Jerry’s schools aren’t generally doing that well compared to OUSD’s traditional, comprehensive public high schools. This is based on the AYP, the federal measure of student achievement using California High School Exit Exam scores of 10th grade students. Keep in mind that OSA has, by far, the most educated parent body.
On a schoolwide basis:

• OSA’s ELA score was higher than OUSD’s top performing TCPHS (58.6% vs. 50.7%).
• OMI’s ELA score was lower than OUSD’s lowest performing TCPHS (40.3% vs. 43.8%).
• OSA’s Math score was lower than OUSD’s lowest performing TCPHS (32.9% vs. 46.6%).
• OMI’s Math score was lower than OUSD’s lowest performing TCPHS (29.5% vs. 46.6%).

For African American students:

• OSA’s ELA score was higher than OUSD’s top performing TCPHS (54.0% vs. 38.0%).
• OMI’s ELA score was barely higher than OUSD’s lowest performing TCPHS (38.8% vs. 38.0%).
• OSA’s Math score was nearly identical to OUSD’s lowest performing TCPHS (23.6% vs. 23.5%).
• OMI’s Math score was lower than OUSD’s lowest performing TCPHS (18.8% vs. 23.5%).

For Hispanic/Latino students:

• OSA’s ELA score was higher than OUSD’s top performing TCPHS (65.0% vs. 46.0%).
• OMI’s ELA score was lower than OUSD’s lowest performing TCPHS (31.0% vs. 32.3%).
• OSA’s Math score was lower to OUSD’s lowest performing TCPHS (33.3% vs. 42.2%).
• OMI’s Math score was lower than OUSD’s lowest performing TCPHS (19.0% vs. 42.2%).

For Socioeconomically Disadvantaged students:

• OSA’s ELA score was below OUSD’s top performing TCPHS (42.9% vs. 46.0%) but above the middle performing TCPHS (42.9% vs. 40.9%).
• OMI’s ELA score was just barely higher than OUSD’s lowest performing TCPHS (38.5% vs. 38.0%).
• OSA’s Math score was lower than OUSD’s lowest performing TCPHS (27.5% vs. 37.6%).
• OMI’s Math score was lower than OUSD’s lowest performing TCPHS (28.0% vs. 37.6%).

You get the idea. 

2009 AYP ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS (Target 44.5%)
	SHS	OTHS	OHS	OSA	OMI
Schoolwide	50.7	47.7	43.8	58.6	40.3
African American	38.0	30.2	31.0	54.0	38.8
Asian	69.4	70.0	52.9	58.3	58.6
Hispanic/Latino	38.7	46.0	32.3	65.0	31.0
White	82.1	92.3	na	74.2	na
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged	40.9	38.0	46.0	42.9	38.5
English Learners	23.3	33.3	28.2	na	39.6
Students with Disabilities	21.6	22.0	26.2	na	na

2009 AYP MATH (Target 43.5%)
	SHS	OTHS	OHS	OSA	OMI
Schoolwide	50.3	46.6	52.2	32.9	29.5
African American	28.8	25.0	23.5	23.6	18.8
Asian	78.9	77.9	70.4	58.3	57.1
Hispanic/Latino	42.9	43.1	42.2	33.3	19.0
White	78.9	94.9	na	48.4	na
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged	43.9	37.6	55.9	27.5	28.0
English Learners	36.3	39.4	52.3	na	35.0
Students with Disabilities	29.2	13.5	23.8	na	na

2009 AYP REPORT GRADUATION RATE
SHS	OTHS	OHS	OSA	OMI
89.2	86.2	83.9	93.0	82.1

3. Comparing the API of Jerry’s charter schools with OUSD’s traditional, comprehensive public high schools

The Academic Performance Index (API), a figure derived from a calculation which incorporates the test scores of all students. The state uses this growth accountability model.

Comparative API figures are much better than the federal measure for Jerry Brown’s charter schools, with the exception of the fact that OSA lost 26 API points last year. That is a huge drop.

As far as these figures go, one must be aware that when a school has 10% of its population in a very low performing category (Students with Disabilities), this will affect the overall API, because those scores are included in API calculations of other subgroups. The only way that the API of schools can avoid being affected by this influence is by limiting the number of disabled students who enroll.

2009 API
	SHS	OTHS	OHS	OSA	OMI
2009 Growth (school wide)	667	643	633	723	708
2008 Base (school wide)	657	622	630	749	695
2008-09 Growth (school wide)	+10	+21	+3	-26	+13
African American API/growth	596/+15	532/-8	543/+23	692/-17	667/+40
Asian API/growth	790/-4	775/+10	710/-2	nss	797/-19
Hispanic/Latino API/growth	607/-1	653/+7	559/+9	nss	683/+22
White API/growth	791/-5	896/na	nss	nss	nss
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged API/growth	641/+17	606/+4	641/+6	660/nss	701/+9
English Learners API/growth	645/+47	668/na	632/+38	nss	718/-7
Students with Disabilities API/growth	484/+21	410/+38	427/+52	nss	nss

4. Comparing AP Exam results of Jerry’s charter schools with OUSD’s traditional, comprehensive public high schools

Apparently, OSA has not been offering AP exams to its students during the year which is most recently posted. I suspect the school doesn’t offer AP classes.


The AP exam pass rate for OMI is absolutely non-impressive. It’s lower than the pass rate of the lowest TCPHS, and even lower than the district’s pass rate. District-wide, 720 passed and 1,838 failed. The total number of tests taken was 2,558, so the pass rate was 28.2%.

AP EXAM RESULTS - Year 2007-08*
	SHS	OTHS	OHS	OSA	OMI
Grade 12 Enrollment	451	310	371	54	49
Grades 11 + 12 Enrollment	934	653	806	98	110
Number of test takers	369	207	291	0	45
Exam score = 1	217	83	332	-	53
Exam score = 2	227	77	143	-	25
Exam score = 3	157	67	66	-	10
Exam score = 4	77	69	31	-	4
Exam score = 5	33	64	7	-	2
Number of passed tests	267	200	104	No AP tests	16
Number of failed tests	444	160	475		78
Total number of tests taken	711	360	579		94
% of tests passed	37.6%	55.6%	18.0%		17.0%
Average number of tests taken/student	1.93	1.74	1.99		2.01

*The figures in italics are my calculations.

5. Comparing SAT scores of Jerry’s charter schools with OUSD’s traditional, comprehensive public high schools
As one would expect, average SAT scores for all five high schools correlate almost perfectly with their average income and parent education levels. And this is well into the years of NCLB.

SAT SCORES Year 2007-08*
	SHS	OTHS	OHS	JB’s OSA	JB’s OMI
Grade 12 Enrollment	451	310	371	54	49
Number tested	273	223	242	45	44
Percent tested	60.53	71.94	65.23	83.33	89.90
Critical reading average	477	454	405	512	415
Math average	499	459	452	464	450
Writing average	474	452	406	511	410
Total >= 1,500 Number	120	72	41	25	11
Total >= 1,500 Percent	44.0%	32.3%	16.9%	55.6%	25.0%
Total of average scores	1450	1365	1263	1487	1275

*The figures in italics are my calculations.
Ranking of average SAT scores (totaled)

1. OSA
2. SHS
3. OTHS
4. OMI
5. OH

Ranking of SAT scores >= 1,500 Percent

1. OSA
2. SHS
3. OTHS
4. OMI
5. OH

Ranking of Average Parent Education Level

1. OSA
2. OTHS
3. SHS
4. OMI
5. OH

Ranking of least number of low income students

1. OSA
2. SHS
3. OTHS
4. OH
5. OMI

Suffice it to say, despite all the money being poured into Jerry Brown’s charters, they aren’t producing an equivalent amount of stellar academic achievement by any measure. So, other than giving Jerry Brown's "friends" a vehicle to curry favor, what exactly was their point?

All figures were obtained on 10/23/09 at the CDE's DataQuest.