Well put, Chris. In Boston, we deal with Seniors exiting charter schools by choice or otherwise. But the school the student finishes with is the one held accountable in terms of graduation rate. Full disclosure seems key in making those statistics useful at all:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/05/27/elite_charter_school_losing_students/
Does Urban Prep Charter admit students by lottery or do students have to apply based on an interview, portfolio, test scores, grades, etc.? This is also part of the full story for SLA.
To my knowledge, they are lottery. And yes, SLA is a magnet school... which we fully acknowledge. We're proud of the way we've crafted our admissions process, as our kids help us choose the next group of students. And I also think that magnet schools have a role to play in school reform. But I think we all have to be open about the roles we play.
As I wrote, I think Urban Prep should be incredibly proud of what it has accomplished. I think the truth of their story is compelling enough.
your article seems to suggest that the Urban Prep story seems to be carefully crafted to omit the the 70% while emphasizing the 100% because they want to sell an incomplete story that exaggerates their success. Is that right? Is that a common practice with schools these days? That's not mean rhetorically or sarcastically.
Sadly, that practice is becoming increasingly common. When you have a product to market, you have yo be new and improved. In a marketing climate, numbers are bendable and expandable. The much-reported 107 college-bound graduates certifies success as we've heard on any number of television shows. But it's but also questionable. There's not just the question of the missing students but also the question of how many of those 107 who will graduate were among those who began at Urban Prep. A percentage of them did not begin at UP but entered as juniors and seniors.
not everything is what it seems with them. If education reporters dug deeper, they would find the truth. There is a lot of dirt that no one is willing to dig up, and it is actually right out in the open most days.
i know for a fact it is not what it seems. one of my relatives attends this schools and it is so much that goes on there...
it kept hidden from the public though. its just alot of the things he tells us makes us want to transfer him immediately!