Charter schools got letter grades, too. Did they outperform CMS?

Even though all the attention was on Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools when letter grades were handed out to each campus in North Carolina last week, charter schools got letter grades, too.

The results? It's very close (and probably debatable), but CMS appears to have done better than the county's charters.

(Go ahead and scroll to the bottom of this post if you want to look up your Mecklenburg County charter school's grade. Look up any school in the state here.)

Here's the grade distribution for Mecklenburg County charter schools:

• Four schools earned an A (27 percent)
• Two schools earned a B (13 percent)
• Three schools earned a C (20 percent)
• Four schools earned a D (27 percent)
• Two schools earned an F (13 percent)

CMS had 41 percent of its schools earn grades of A or B. That's one percentage point higher than the county's charter schools. A larger percentage of the county's charters also earned failing grades (7 percent in CMS).

Of course, there's a much larger percentage of "A" charter schools in the county than in CMS (27 percent versus 11 percent). Another caveat: Since there are a lot fewer charter schools in the county, that also can throw off the percentages.

Here's the grade distribution for charter schools statewide:

• 13 schools earned an A (10 percent)
• 37 schools earned a B (30 percent)
• 35 schools earned a C (28 percent)
• 22 schools earned a D (18 percent)
• 17 schools earned an F (14 percent)

Charter schools did much better than the state as a whole. Statewide, only 29 percent earned an A or a B.

I haven't heard much about this yet, but these figures are sure to reinflame debate on whether this charter school boom in the state is serving students well.

Here's the grade for every Mecklenburg County charter school. New schools don't have grades because they're based on last year's end-of-grade test scores.

School Name	Overall grade	Overall score	Reading grade	Math grade	Growth targets
Aristotle Preparatory Academy	D	50	C	F	Met
Charlotte Choice Charter	F	34	F	F	Met
Charlotte Secondary	C	63	C	C	Met
Community School of Davidson	A	87	B	B	Exceeded
Corvian Community School	B	78	B	B	Met
Crossroads Charter High	F	35			NotMet
Invest Collegiate	C	63	B	D	Met
Kennedy Charter	D	45	D	F	Exceeded
KIPP Charlotte	D	54	D	D	Exceeded
Lake Norman Charter	A	88	B	B	Exceeded
Metrolina Reg Scholars Academy	A	94	A	A	Met
Queen's Grant Community School	B	75	B	B	Exceeded
Socrates Academy	A	85	B	B	Met
Sugar Creek Charter	C	60	C	C	Exceeded
The Community Charter School	D	40	D	F	NotMet

School letter grades will have to wait

Apparently this new state budget does a lot more to North Carolina education than anybody thought.

This year was supposed to be the first time the state Department of Public Instruction issued letter grades, A-F, for each school in North Carolina. The grades would be determined by how well students did on standardized tests for math, reading and science.

The system was created in 2012 by the state legislature, and it's been somewhat controversial. Organizations like the North Carolina School Boards Association have said they're worried because the grades don't take into account student improvement.

The first grades were due out in October, along with the rest of the state's school report cards, with information like average class size and test score data.

But page 41 of the budget pushes that back. Now, they can come out no earlier than Jan. 15, 2015.

This appears to be news to DPI. Spokeswoman Vanessa Jeter said they're now trying to figure out if they should hold off on just the letter grades or on this year's school report card in general.

Grading N.C. schools: A preview

As the state of North Carolina gears up to issue letter grades to schools based on student test scores, the advocacy group CarolinaCAN is rolling out its own version today. The group's report cards label each public school  (including charters)  and school district on an A-F scale,  based on 2012 performance on state exams.

Kowal

As I told Executive Director Julie Kowal after previewing the report,  people are going to love this or hate it.  It's hard not to have a visceral reaction to seeing big red Fs  (for neighborhood schools serving the most impoverished areas and charters serving at-risk students, on my spot check)  and big green As  (often for low-poverty suburban schools and selective magnets).

Spoiler alert:  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools rated Cs and Ds as a district,  while its individual schools rate among the best and the worst.  Ditto for charters in this area.

CarolinaCAN is an offshoot of the Connecticut-based 50CAN, created to promote choice,  accountability and flexibility.  Kowal said the N.C. grades promote transparency while giving parents access to important data in an easy-to-grasp format.  "We designed these for the general public in North Carolina,"  she said, acknowledging that the grades and the data points don't give the full picture of school quality,  let alone a district's performance.

She said the grades highlight overall performance,  achievement gaps and performance of low-income,  African American and Hispanic students,  who tend to lag behind peers.  There are Top 10 lists recognizing schools with the biggest gains and the best performance in those groups.  Morehead STEM Academy, Piedmont Middle and Irwin Academic Center,  CMS magnets with admission requirements, and Sugar Creek Charter,  a Charlotte school serving a high-poverty population,  stand out on those lists.

Time for all the caution flags.  First,  the numbers are stale.  It wasn't a typo to say the grades are based on 2012 exams.  The 2013 results that would give us a snapshot of the most recent school year won't be released until November,  as state officials figure out how to deal with new exams.  The state's school report cards,  which give a more comprehensive set of school data,  won't be updated until January.  For consistency,  CarolinaCAN used 2012 graduation rates,  though you can get 2013 rates online.

Second, the grades and lists don't just compare apples and oranges,  they pretty much throw in the whole produce section.  There are neighborhood schools,  magnets,  charters and alternative schools;  rural districts, urban districts and everything in between.  Schools that serve the most disadvantaged kids are graded on the same curve as those where most kids have college-educated parents who send them in prepared and motivated to learn.

Third,  the report cards are a work in progress.  When I first looked at the lists last week I was befuddled.  CMS' Metro School,  which serves severely disabled students ages 3-23, was listed as one of the best elementary schools based on performance gains.  There were numerous errors linked to the school closings and other changes CMS made in 2011-12.  Kowal rechecked after I raised those questions and found ways to fix most of the problems.  She's asking anyone who uses the ratings to email her (julie.kowal@carolinacan.org) with questions and issues.

To trot out one of my favorite sayings,  crunching school data doesn't provide answers, but it helps you ask better questions.  One of the biggest questions may be:  Can the state create a grading system that benefits students, educators, voters and taxpayers?