Milwaukee Charter Schools Data Discussed

There is no accurate data for standardized tests in Milwaukee Charter schools because of the lack of students taking them from COVID-19. 

Ald. Michael J. Murphy, at the meeting in City Hall 200 East Wells Street, says he is concerned and feels that children are falling behind in education. The students who graduate from high school are not prepared for college education.  

He gives an example that when students go to college, students take two years of general knowledge that could have been gained in high school. The example continues with then, the two years already racked up huge loans for the students and they will drop out. 

Dr. Desiree Pointer-Mace says, “this is very much representing the exact challenges, flexibility, and resilience that have been shown by all of the leaders, faculty, students and families.” She also says, “the order of the day is basically flexibility and change.” 

Murphy says that if the Charter system is not able to give children proper education, then it should be passed to other people who could give them better education. He says that it is hard to come up with a decision because there is never a good report on standardized test data. 

Mace is from the Charter school review committee and Janith Ereth is the data collector for the Charter schools. The schools they data collect from are Central City Cyberschool, Darrell Lynn Hines College Preparatory Academy of Excellence (DLHA), Downtown Montessori Academy (DMA), Escuela Verde (EV), Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy (HFCA), Milwaukee Academy of Science (MAS), and the Milwaukee Math and Science Academy (MMSA). 

Mace says the data shown in the report are only the years of 2020 to 2021. It will only have data for the schools that belong within the Charter schools. 

Mace says the standardized tests that students originally are required to take in the year 2020 were given permission for parents to opt their children out of. The students who took the standardized tests only took them with the permission of their parents allowing them in the school building.  

Mace and Ereth both say that the data had a large gap and is incomplete and inaccurate. Ereth says that the year 2020 data should not be compared to the new years and previous years.  

Murphy had previously asked for data about how low the percentage had fallen for student data. There were previous times that Mace and Ereth had reported to him, and there is never an answer for it. 

Mace and Ereth say they do not have data for that, and it is hard to determine it. Ereth says that it varied on schools, and it is as much as 70%.  

Murphy questions that are Charter schools treating the students fairly and preparing them for a future that will guarantee them a job.  

“The reason why I ask these questions is to simply that, you know, if you’re trying to measure performance and your testing keeps changing,” Murphy says. “It’s difficult for parents to make education decisions about whether or not they should enroll their child in that school.” 

Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic asked if Mace and Ereth hade the data percentage of students and staffs were vaccinated and if they require COVID-19 vaccine mandates. She also asks how the school will handle the situation of if there needs to be a shutdown if there is ever a COVID-19 outbreak. 

Mace and Ereth both say that there is no data for the number of vaccinated students and staffs recorded for last year. Ereth says it depends on individual schools if they require a vaccine mandate. 

Mace says that to her understanding, all schools interact with their health department and come up with a plan. When the school’s health department agrees with what they have planned, they will follow it.  

Mace says there were a lot of examples of schools adapting to rules and guidelines in the pandemic. She shares a picture as seen below, of two children with their own materials in bags.  

Mace says in the Charter schools, the students were not allowed to share each other’s materials. Mace says the teachers and students did well to still have a school setting and safety cautions of COVID-19.  

Mace showed a picture of the enrollment of the schools. She says the enrollment of students ranged from EV, which had 118 student enrollment and the MAS had 1,206 student enrollments. 

The attendance data chart shown by Mace and Ereth shows that DMA had the highest attendance with a 96.8%. The rest of the Charter schools were in the 80%.  

The student return ranged from 83.3% to 91.8%, DMA the highest. The teacher return ranged from 70.6% to 96.9%, MMSA the highest.  

The students and teacher’s retention rate were 90% and above. The only one with a 89.7% retention rate was the teachers at Central City Cyberschool. 

“Other than that, though, the information that had been provided in terms of attendance, the return and retention of students and teachers is quite impressive,” Ald. Cavalier Johnson says. “So we thank you for that.”