FLORIDA – May 1, 2017 – The Florida Charter School Alliance (FCSA) will visit schools throughout Florida during National Charter Schools week – May 1-5 – to recognize the great work students and faculty are doing every day.
The visits are part of the FCSA’s 2nd annual Florida Honor Roll – a tour to highlight academic successes, and the charter schools that are raising student achievement and making a positive contribution to the communities they serve.
One such school is EdVentures, an alternative charter school with a culinary program, in Palm Beach County. Edventures has helped many students earn a high school diploma, but more importantly, it has helped students get on the road to success. When Micheal Lewis, 19, was on the brink of failing out of his assigned school, he transferred to EdVentures and has flourished.
“This school is better for me,” says Michael, who will graduate this June and has been accepted into a culinary program. “Teachers helped focus on my work and gave me one-on-one support when I needed it. Now I’ve got all As for the first time ever.”
The Florida Honor Roll will also recognize some of the state’s top performing schools and those that received an “A” on the 2015-2016 assessments – including Ben Gamla Charter School, a successful Hebrew/English language program in Broward County, BridgePrep InterAmerican and Somerset Academy Bay in Miami-Dade.
Above and beyond the school grades, Charter School Week is a good opportunity to highlight a recent report released by the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) that shows that charter schools are helping students succeed. Using 2015-2016 data, the report – Student Achievement in Florida’s Charter Schools: A Comparison of the Performance of Charter School Students with Traditional Public School Students – makes 195 comparisons in three areas: absolute achievement, learning gains and achievement gaps. In most of the comparisons, charter school students are outperforming peers attending district-run schools. For example, in 65 of the 77 comparisons, charter school students demonstrated higher rates of grade level performance – scoring a 3 or better on the state assessments; and the percentage of students making learning gains was higher in charter schools in 82 of the 96 comparisons.
“During National Charter Schools week, we wanted to celebrate student achievement and highlight how parental choice has helped improve the education landscape in our state,” said Lynn Norman-Teck, executive director, FC
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About Charter Schools in Florida – More than 270,000 students in Florida attend a tuition-free public charter school. Charter school growth has been driven by parental demand for quality public school options. Enrollment has grown by more than 200% over the last decade. The first charter school opened in Florida in 1997.
About FCSA – Formed in 2010 by a group of educators, community leaders, and philanthropists, the Florida Charter School Alliance is a non-profit member-driven support and advocacy organization whose mission is to improve student achievement, promote parental choice by advocating for and collaborating with high-quality public charter schools.