Are the privately-operated
charter high schools in Oakland
doing a better job than Oakland Unified School District's high schools with holding onto their freshman students
until the twelfth grade?
One way to explore the answer is by comparing the enrollment at the different schools using figures posted by the California
Department of Education’s DataQuest. This was done for the two cohorts at charter high schools and OUSD high schools who entered Grade 9 in 2007-08 and 2008-09, and arrived at Grade 12 for the school years 2010-11 and 2011-12.*
Comparison of Grade 9>12: 2010-11
·
OUSD
high schools had a higher student retention rate than Oakland’s charter high schools, by 7.2% points.
·
At
OUSD high schools (11 schools this year), the Grade 12 enrollment was 69.1% of
the enrollment when that cohort was in Grade 9 (2007-08).
·
At
Oakland charter
high schools (11 schools this year), the Grade 12 enrollment was 61.9% of their Grade 9 enrollment (2007-08).
·
The
retention of students at OUSD high schools ranged from 34% to 100%.
·
The
retention of students at Oakland
charter schools ranged from 42% to 100%.
Comparison of Grade 9>12: 2011-12
·
Oakland’s charter high schools had a higher
student retention rate than OUSD high schools, by 6.7% points.
·
At
Oakland charter
high schools (13 schools this year), the Grade 12 enrollment was 68.6% of the enrollment when that cohort was in Grade 9 (2008-09).
·
At
OUSD high schools (12 schools this year), the Grade 12 enrollment was 61.9% of
their Grade 9 enrollment (2008-09).
·
The
retention of students at OUSD high schools ranged from 51% to 100%.
·
The
retention of students at Oakland
charter schools ranged from 48% to 100%.
Most notable is that the charter school results are not that all impressive, especially considering the self-selection aspect that is an unequivocal characteristic of all charter school families. The
figures likely demonstrate that Oakland’s
charter schools do not necessarily provide immunity against students dropping
out. No surprise there.
In addition, it is likely that the high attrition seen at the charter schools known for demanding high levels of compliance -- such as American Indian
Public High
School and Oakland Military Institute -- are the result of lower performing and/or non-compliant students being pressured (or greatly desiring) to escape leave. There have been reports from other states about students
with disciplinary issues being advised by charter school administrators to withdraw from the school in
exchange for having their records cleaned.
Special kudos to Life Academy, a small OUSD school that is retaining its students year after year; it is definitely doing something right.
And stay tuned for more results at the end of the 2012-13 school year.
* Excluding alternative OUSD and charter high schools.
Enrollment Grade 9 > Grade 12, with percentage
Charter schools in blue; OUSD schools in black
|
2011-12
|
2010-11
|
2009-10
|
American Indian
Public High
School
|
37 >21
57%
|
34>19
56%
|
52>29
56%
|
ARISE High School
|
62>33
53%
|
63>32
51%
|
n/a
|
Bay Area
Technology School
|
36>18
50%
|
38>16
42%
|
n/a
|
Business Information
& Technology High School (Castlemont)
|
116>64
55%
|
112>71
63%
|
153>80
52%
|
Coliseum College
Prep Academy
|
60>52
60%
|
na
|
na
|
College Prep & Architecture
Academy (Fremont)
|
144>80
56%
|
110>67
61%
|
129>92
71%
|
East Oakland
Leadership Academy High
|
21>15
71%
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
East Oakland
School of the Arts (Castlemont)
|
107>58
54%
|
105>51
49%
|
85>45
53%
|
Envision Academy of Arts & Technology
|
72>59
82%
|
60>38
53%
|
62>32
52%
|
Golden State College Preparatory
Academy
|
29>15
52%
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
Leadership
Preparatory High School (Castlemont)
|
126>64
51%
|
130>114
88%
|
116>92
79%
|
Life Academy
|
63>62
100%
|
60>64
100%
|
65>60
92%
|
Lighthouse Community
Charter High
School
|
60>29
48%
|
65>31
48%
|
48>30
63%
|
Lionel Wilson
College Preparatory Academy
|
106>52
49%
|
90>81
90%
|
165>101
61%
|
LPS College Park
|
70>63
90%
|
110>57
52%
|
104>63
61%
|
Mandela High School
(Fremont)
|
136>78
57%
|
122>74
61%
|
108>60
56%
|
McClymonds High
School (EXCEL 2009-10, and prior)
|
111>58
52%
|
84>79
94%
|
72>54
75%
|
Media College
Preparatory High School (Fremont)
|
110>61
56%
|
152>51
34%
|
120>71
59%
|
Oakland Charter
High School
|
29>32
100%
|
30>16
53%
|
n/a
|
Oakland High
School
|
599>389
65%**
|
508>387
76%
|
576>391
68%
|
Oakland Military Institute
|
94>51
54%
|
76>38
50%
|
86>57
66%
|
Oakland School for the Arts
|
77>74
96%
|
26>47
100%
|
58>48
83%
|
Oakland Technical
High School
|
606>401
66%
|
597>371
62%
|
563>346
61%
|
Oakland Unity
High School
|
53>56
100%
|
49>43
88%
|
46>51
100%
|
Skyline High
School
|
709>419
59%
|
565>429
76%
|
625>426
68%
|
**Recalculated since original posting
###
1 comment:
I don't know if there is any tracking done to see what the overall graduation rate is - obviously some of these kids drop out of one high school and graduate from another.
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