Meeting of the Board of Regents | May 2008

THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:
FROM:	Johanna Duncan-Poitier
SUBJECT:	Charter Schools: Proposed Charter for the Achievement First North Crown Heights Charter School
DATE:	May 9, 2008
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1 and 2
AUTHORIZATION(S):

SUMMARY

 

Issue for Decision

 

Should the Regents approve the staff’s recommendations concerning the proposed charter for the Achievement First North Crown Heights Charter School (New York City) submitted by the Trustees of the State University of New York (“SUNY”)?

Reason(s) for Consideration

 

              Required by State statute, Education Law §2852.

 

Proposed Handling

 

This question will come before the EMSC Committee in May 2008 for action.  It will then come before the full Board for final action in May 2008.

 

Procedural History

 

The New York Charter Schools Act of 1998 requires the Board of Regents to review, in accordance with the standards set forth in Education Law §2852(2), proposed charters, renewal charters and revisions to charters and renewal charters that have been approved and submitted by other charter entities.  The Board of Regents may either approve and issue a charter, renewal charter and/or revision as proposed by the charter entity, or return the same to the charter entity for reconsideration with written comments and recommendations. 

 

Background Information

 

We received one proposed initial charter that will be presented to you at your May 2008 meeting.  The proposed charter is to establish the following:

 

•  Achievement First North Crown Heights Charter School

 

The Achievement First North Crown Heights Charter School (or “the School”), with Achievement First, Inc. as its Management Partner, would be located in the Weeksville/Crown Heights section of Brooklyn (Community School District 16).  The proposed charter school would initially take a planning year.  In Year Two, the School would serve 168 students in grades K-1.  The School would expand to serve 567 students in grades K-6 in the fifth year when it reaches full capacity. The School's mission is “Achievement First North Crown Heights Charter School is a public charter school focused on strengthening the academic and character skills needed for all students to excel in top tier colleges, to achieve success in a competitive world, and to serve as the next generation of leaders in our communities.”  Achievement First, Inc. currently manages five charter schools in the borough of Brooklyn.

 

Staff recommend that the Board of Regents approve the proposed charter.

 

Recommendation

 

VOTED:  That the Board of Regents approve and issue the charter of the Achievement First North Crown Heights Charter School as proposed by Trustees of the State University of New York, and issue a provisional charter to it for a term of five years, up through and including May 19, 2013.

 

Reason for Recommendation

 

(1) The charter school described in the proposed charter meets the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations; (2) the applicants can demonstrate the ability to operate the school in an educationally and fiscally sound manner; and (3) approving and issuing the proposed charter is likely to improve student learning and achievement and materially further the purposes set out in subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred fifty of Article 56 of the Education Law; and (4) approving and issuing the proposed charter will have a significant educational benefit to the students expected to attend the proposed charter school. 

 

Timetable for Implementation

 

The Regents action for the Achievement First North Crown Heights Charter School is effective immediately.

New York State Education Department

 

Summary of Proposed Charter

 

Name of Proposed Charter School: Achievement First North Crown Heights Charter School (AFNCHCS or “the School”)

 

Address:  TBD

 

Applicant(s):  Lesley Esters Redwine

 

Anticipated Opening Date: August 26, 2009

 

District of Location: New York City Community School District 16, Brooklyn

 

Charter Entity: SUNY Board of Trustees

 

Management Partner: Achievement First, Inc.

 

Grades Served:                      2008-2009: Planning Year

2009-2010: K-1

2010-2011: K-2

2011-2012: K-3, 5

2012-2013: K-6

 

Projected Enrollment:         2008-2009: Planning Year

2009-2010: 168

2010-2011: 249

2011-2012: 411

2012-2013: 567

 

Proposed Charter Highlights

 

Applicant

 

              The lead applicant is Lesley Esters Redwine.  The application describes Ms. Redwine as the Director of External Relations for Achievement First, Inc.  The applicant is the manager of new school development, philanthropy, governance, compliance, and community relations for the Brooklyn region.  Ms Redwide served previously as President and CEO of the New York Chapter of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO); Project Director for Agenda for Children Tomorrow (ACT), a multi-million dollar community-collaborative project in the Highbridge section of the Bronx; Policy Analyst at The After School Corporation; National Urban Fellows; Special Assistant to a NYC Board of Education member; Member, New York Bar Association; and as a member of Community Board 2, representing Brooklyn's downtown and historic neighborhoods.

 

Management Partner

              Achievement First, Inc. is described as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charter  school management organization, authorized to conduct business in New York and in Connecticut (founded in 2003).  Achievement First, Inc. was created to bring to scale the student achievement results of the nationally acclaimed Amistad Academy, founded in 1999, in New Haven, Connecticut.  Achievement First, Inc. will manage the School’s start-up process, training, principal and school evaluations, staff recruitment, curriculum development and assessment, marketing, advocacy, budget design, and private fundraising.  Currently, Achievement First, Inc. manages seven charter schools (for performance data, see Attachment 1), which are the following (name, date of approval, location):

Amistad Academy – April 1999 – New Haven, CT

Elm City College Preparatory School – April 2004 – New Haven, CT

Achievement First Crown Heights Charter School – March 2005 – Brooklyn, NY

Achievement First East New York Charter School – March 2005 – Brooklyn, NY

Achievement First Endeavor Charter School – January 2006 – Brooklyn, NY

Achievement First Bushwick Charter School – June 2006 – Brooklyn, NY

Achievement First Brownsville Charter School – January 2008 – Brooklyn, NY

 

Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction

 

• The School’s mission is: “Achievement First North Crown Heights Charter School is a public charter school focused on strengthening the academic and character skills needed for all students to excel in top tier colleges, to achieve success in a competitive world, and to serve as the next generation of leaders in our communities.”
• The educational philosophy of the School is to provide students with more time on task, character education, a focus on college admissions, a standards-based curriculum, ongoing assessments on academic performance and high-quality instruction.
• The curriculum is fully aligned with the New York State performance and learning standards. 
• The School will use the Achievement First model, and the Respect, Enthusiasm, Achievement, Citizenship, and Hardwork (REACH) Curriculum.
• In addition to Achievement First, Inc.'s own REACH Curriculum, the School will supplement its curriculum with educational programs such as Saxon Mathematics, Reading Mastery, Waterford Reading Program, Corrective Reading Decoding, Open Court, Reasoning and Writing, Full Option Science System (FOSS), and Core Knowledge. 
• Students will receive three hours of reading and writing instruction daily.  The School will provide individual tutoring during the school day, after school, and on Saturdays. 
• The School's approach to the education of English Language Learners (ELL) will be structored English language immersion. 
• In addition to New York State assessments, the School will administer interim standards-based assessments every six weeks in all the core subjects. 
• The School will use the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA), Terra Nova - Mathematics and Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) to refine assessments throught the year. 
• The School will use the Achievement First, Inc. model and resources for training staff and development of curriculum teams to further refine its standards. 
• During the school year, AFNCHCS will have 28 professional development days. 
• Each school day, students will receive the benefit of 2.2 additional hours of instructional time in comparison to students attending other New York City (NYC) public schools.  Over the course of one year, AFNCHCS students will have an estimated 315 additional school hours, which is nearly 45 additional school days.
• The School proposes a 201 instructional days, including Summer Academy; 28 days of paid professional development days for teachers before, during and after the school year including two hours every Friday and 15 full teacher-only days.
• The School’s instructional day will begin at 7:30 a.m. each day.  Students will be dismissed at 4:00 p.m. on Monday through Thursday.  Dismissal on Fridays will be at 1:50 p.m.    

 

Governance

 

• The Board of Trustees will have no less than seven (7) members (including a parent) and no more than fifteen (15) members to govern the School and be responsible for ensuring that the School fulfills its mission, is true to its charter, and remains financially viable. 
• The Board will have the following officers:  Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary.
• The Board will meet at least six times annually and each member will serve on one of the three standing committees:  Finance and Audit, Education and Accountability, and Charter Management Agreement.  The Trustees, collectively, will be required to demonstrate experience in education, law, community relations, finance, organizational governance, social services, fundraising, and advocacy. 
• School trustees will have substantial experience in finance, government, law, human resources, education. 
• Achievement First, Inc., or individuals affiliated with Achievement First, Inc., will hold seats on the Achievement First North Crown Heights Charter School Board of Trustees with no more than 40% of the charter school’s board affiliated with Achievement First, Inc. or any other single entity. 

 

Students

 

• Achievement First North Crown Heights Charter School will use the first year as a planning year; the School intends to grow to serve students in grades K-6, adding grade(s) per year until the School reaches full capacity of 567 students. 
• Brooklyn's North Crown Heights neighborhood is traditionally served by the NYC DOE District 23 in Region 5.  Presently only 48.5 percent of the regions's student population graduates from high school. 95 percent of enrolled students are eligible for free lunch. 
• North Crown Heights is a high-risk community where many children and families live in poverty and have limited access to high-quality schools.  46.3 percent of families with children under 18 live below the poverty level.  27 percent of these children receive public assistance and 65.5 percent of the children of North Crown Heights receive emergency food assistance.  Population is 77.1 percent Aftican American, 18.7 percent Latino.
• Year 1 will be a planning year.  Beginning in 2009-2010, the School will admit 168 students in grades K-1.
• The School proposes to create a culture that is college-preparatory and focused on academic rigor and character development.  The recruitment plan will include strategies to advertise the School widely to families who live in CSD 16 and the surrounding zip codes of the school facility. 
• The School will conduct open house events.  Additional outreach and recruitment efforts will utilize parent networks, community partners, local media and local television, radio stations, and circulars. 
• The School may also conduct outreach to ELL parents through home visits by an AFNCHCS official and an interpreter.  The School will replace students from a waiting list up to grade six. 
• The School will be open to all students and it is specifically designed to meet the needs of at-risk students eligible for enrollment in grades to which the admissions process applies.
• The School will be open to all students and it is specifically designed to meet the needs of students at-risk of academic failure.
• Students with disabilities will be educated in the least restrictive environment.  The School will provide services required by student individualized education plans.  The School may reserve the right to contract services with external providers or the New York City Department of Education.

 

Budget/Facilities

 

• Achievement First North Crown Heights Charter School will seek space within an existing facility operated by the New York City Department of Education.  In the event that such a space is unavailable, the management company will build a facility to house the proposed charter school. 
• The anticipated budget for the first instructional year of the School (Year Two) will be $1,935,198.  This projection assumes a 4.5 percent increase in the average expense per pupil.  In Year Five, the projected payment to the School will be $7,453,290.
• The School has secured a $200,000 line of credit.
• The management company will charge the School a fee equal to 10 percent of the average expense per pupil per year. 
• The potential fiscal impact upon the District is represented below.  Please note that these projections are based upon several assumptions, which may or may not occur: that all existing charter schools will also exist in the next five years and serve the same grade levels as they do now; that the charter schools will be able to meet their projected maximum enrollment; that all students will come from NYC and no other districts; that all students will attend everyday for a 1.0 FTE; that the District’s budget will increase at the projected rate; that the per pupil payment will increase (and not decrease); and that the per pupil payment will increase at the projected rate.

 

Projected

Fiscal Impact of the

Achievement
First North Crown Heights Charter School

(New York City CSD 16– Brooklyn)

2008-09 through 2012-13

School Year	Number of Students	Projected Payment*	Projected Impact
2008-2009	NA	­---	---
2009-2010	168	$1,935,198	.0093%
2010-2011	249	$2,997,311	.0140%
2011-2012	411	$5,169,999	.0235%
2012-2013	567	$7,453,290	.0329%

* Assumes a 3 percent annual increase in the District’s budget from the base of $20.12 billion in 2007-2008; and a 4.5 percent annual increase in the average expense per pupil per year from the 2007-2008 rate of $11,023.

 

Personnel

 

• AFNCHCS will have three classes in grades K-2.  Two full-time teachers will be assigned to a class of no more than 28 students. 
• In Year Two, the School will retain 14 teachers; in Year Three, AFNCHCS will hire 22 teachers.  The elementary grade teaching staff will increase by five additional teachers in Year Four and Year Five.  In Year Four, the School will staff fifth grade with five teachers.  In Year Five, grades five and six will be taught by 12.5 teachers. 
• Beginning in grade three and four, students will only have one classroom teacher; however, there will be four sections of reading and math to allow for a lower average class size (19.5) for these core subjects. 
• AFNCHCS will recruit candidates through the Achievement First, Inc. recruitment Office iRecruiter system, Teach for America, New Leaders for New Schools, the NYC Teaching Fellows, and a variety of Colleges.

 

Community Support

 

• The School collected 270 signatures from parents on the Parent Petition of Interest/Support indicating that it has an adequate number of children eligible to enroll in the school beginning in August 2009. 
• The SUNY Board of Trustees has deemed waiting lists for schools managed by the institutional partner to constitute sufficient evidence of commmunity support. 
• Waiting lists, in grades K-1, for other schools under management by Achievement First, Inc. are 508 (Achievement First Crown Heights); 422 (Achievement First East New York) and 326 (Achievment First Bushwick).
• The following individual and/or organization have provided letters of support for AFNCHCS: 

Karim Camara, Member of the Assembly, New York State; Deborah Shanley, Lead Applicant, Achievement First Bushwick Charter School; John Flateau, Board Chair, Achievement First Endeavor Charter School; Carol Sterling, Director of Arts and Education, Brooklyn Arts Council; Eric Adams, State Senator – District 20, New York State; Rosalyn A. Smith, Interim Director of Education, Brooklyn Children’s Museum; Michael M. Weinstein, Chief Program Officer, Robin Hood Foundation; Robert Matthews, Chairperson, Community Board 8; and Yvette Clarke, Member of Congress, United States House of Representatives, 11th District

 

Public Opinion

 

              A public hearing for the proposed charter school was held on October 17, 2007.  No comments from the public were made.

ATTACHMENT I

 

Performance on State ELA and Math State Assessments by charter schools in New York State managed by Achievement First, Inc.

 

Achievement First Crown Heights Charter School (AFCHCS) and Achievement First Endeavor Charter School (AFECS) are the only charter schools managed by Achievement First, Inc. with assessment data on New York State Performance Assessments for grades 3 through 8.  No other charter schools managed by Achievement First, Inc. enrolled students in grades 3 through 8 during the 2005-2006 or 2006-2007 school years.  

 

Table 1

2006-2007

Grades 5-6 State ELA and Math Assessments

Percent of AFCHCS students at Levels 1-4

Grade 5-6 ELA						Grade 5-6 Math
%L1	%L2	%L3	%L4	Proficiency		%L1	%L2	%L3	%L4	Proficiency
4.64	42.4	48.3	4.64	53.0		5.33	25.3	55.3	14	69.3

 

Table 2

2006-2007

Grades 5-6 State ELA and Math Assessments

Percent of AFECS students at Levels 1-4

Grade 5 ELA						Grade 5 Math
%L1	%L2	%L3	%L4	Proficiency		%L1	%L2	%L3	%L4	Proficiency
9.5	38.1	52.4	0	52.4		2.4	37.3	56.6	3.6	60.2

 

Table 3

2005-2006

Grade 5 State ELA and Math Assessments

Percent of AFCHCS students at Levels 1-4

Grade 5 ELA						Grade 5 Math
%L1	%L2	%L3	%L4	Proficiency		%L1	%L2	%L3	%L4	Proficiency
4.3	26.1	56.5	13	69.6		7.2	30.4	55.1	7.2	62.3

 

Table 4

2005-2006 and 2006-2007

Grade 5 (2005-2006), 5-6 (2006-2007) State ELA and Math Assessments

Proficiency of AFCHCS and District 17 Students at Proficiency Level

Grade 5, 5-6 ELA				Grade 5, 5-6 Math
	2005-2006	2006-2007			2005-2006	2006-2007
AFCHCS	69.6	53.0		AFCHCS	62.3	69.3
District 17	45	42.8		District 17	46	52.9

 

 

Table 5

2006-2007

Grade 5 State ELA and Math Assessments

Proficiency of AFECS and District 14 Students at Proficiency Level

Grade 5 ELA			Grade 5 Math
	2006-2007			2006-2007
AFECS	52.4		AFECS	60.2
District 14	56.5		District 14	72.2