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The much anticipated Sponsor Performance Review (SPR) results were released today and the Ohio Council of Community Schools (OCCS) received high marks in Quality Practices and Compliance. We are proud to have scored Effective for the 2014-2015 school year!
Sponsors are rated Exemplary, Effective, Ineffective, or Poor based on scores in three component areas: Quality Practices, Compliance, and Academics.
The Quality Practices component grades sponsors on internal expertise, capacity and various processes such as new school development, school closure and intervention strategies. The Compliance component grades sponsors on their oversight and monitoring of their schools’ compliance with their charter contract and state and federal laws. These are the hallmarks by which a sponsor should be measured.
OCCS was rated “F” in the Academic component for 2015-2016, which grades sponsors on the academic outcomes of their sponsored schools. That rating meant that OCCS would automatically be rated Ineffective overall in the SPR for the 2015-2016 year. This rating comes despite the fact that OCCS received 7 out of 8 points in Quality Practices and Compliance.
State Superintendent Paolo DeMaria cautioned, “This year’s report cards and the grades we’re seeing reflect a system in transition.”
Unfortunately, sponsors are the only educational group in Ohio not granted Safe Harbor from the consequences of the new AIR test. The rigor of the AIR tests was witnessed by all with the release of the 2015-2016 local report cards on Sept. 15th. OCCS is very proud of its schools and their performance on last year’s AIR test. In fact, 39 of 42 OCCS schools had achievement ratings that were better than or equal to their traditional district counterparts. Also, 31 of 42 schools showed higher growth in the value added metric.
OCCS supports accountability and believes a rigorous, robust, and fair SPR will improve public education in Ohio. However, we do not believe the current Academic component accurately reflects the quality of our schools or our system of oversight. We look forward to working with The Ohio Department of Education, key stakeholders, and legislators to improve and refine the current SPR so we are accurately measuring a sponsor’s performance.