Oakland Press, MI
May 23 2005

Two area charter schools get high marks

Web-posted May 23, 2005

By DAVE GROVES
Of The Oakland Press

Jennifer Muller with her fourth grade class at Holly Academy.
Purchase a copy of this photo. -Vaughn Gurganian/The Oakland Press

While standardized test scores in a majority of Oakland County
charter schools have lagged behind those of their traditional public
school counterparts, two local charters continue to buck the trend.
The recent release of 2005 Michigan Educational Assessment Program
test scores for elementary and middle schools indicates Holly Academy
and A.G.B.U. Alex and Marie Manoogian School in Southfield not only
strongly outpace other area charter schools, but rank among the
county’s top-performing traditional public school districts.

“Our motto at Holly Academy is inspiring excellence,” said Tina
Craven, deputy director of the school.

“We usually attract families who are interested in having their
children see (academic) challenges at the next level.”

This year, an average of 73 percent of academy students were found to
be proficient in math, reading, writing, science and social studies
portions of the MEAP test.

That average compares with roughly 81 percent proficiency rates in
the Rochester and Troy school districts and tops the proficiency
rates of 21 other county districts.

This success, Craven said, is largely a result of teacher and
administrator efforts to align curriculum with state learning
benchmarks, ramp up instruction in curriculum areas where students
have shown weaknesses and encourage parents to play an active role in
the education process.

“Schoolwide, I think our teachers have really honed in on how they
can help students be successful,” Craven said.

The Manoogian School – a long-established, private Armenian school
that became a public charter school in 1995 – has seen similar
success.

It posted an overall test proficiency rate of about 76 percent and
topped all but five traditional public school districts in the
county.

Principal Nadya Sarafian attributed much of the success to dedicated,
veteran teachers who are fortunate to work with students in small
class sizes.

“We try to keep the best teachers,” she said. “We try to encourage
them to do the best they can with each student.”

Sarafian was hesitant to compare the academy’s scores with those of
traditional public school districts because year-to-year fluctuations
in test results for the few hundred students at Manoogian will be
more dramatic than those of a school district with several thousand
students.

She also acknowledged that Manoogian had the advantage of a running
start over other charter schools when publicly funded academies were
authorized in Michigan roughly a decade ago. A tested curriculum,
teaching staff and school philosophy were already in place.

“It takes time to develop all those things,” Sarafian said.

While charter schools are sometimes seen as competing with
traditional public schools for limited state public education
funding, this appears not to be the case for Manoogian.

Ken Siver, deputy superintendent for the Southfield school district
and a vocal opponent of charter schools, said he does not take issue
with the academy operating as a charter.

“It’s an extremely well-run school,” he said.

Because Manoogian tends to draw students from around the metropolitan
Detroit area rather than just from Southfield, it does not draw
significantly from state funding Southfield receives, Siver said.

“It is not one of those schools I would be critical of,” he said. “My
concern is more with the charter schools that are run by businesses.
In my view, some of those businesses are not particularly qualified
to provide education.”

Dan Quisenberry, executive director of the Michigan Association of
Public School Academies, said Manoogian and Holly academies are
shining examples that charter school students can achieve as well as
any others.

He added that this year’s MEAP scores indicate students in charter
schools across the state are making considerable gains in achievement
levels.

“When you compare them to their peers … they’re meeting and
exceeding those scores,” he said.

Still, most local charter schools have substantial ground to cover
before keeping pace with student test scores in the area’s
traditional public schools.

Newly released MEAP scores show that 10 of 17 Oakland County charter
academies posted average student proficiency rates below that of all
28 local traditional school districts. Five remaining academies had
average student proficiency rates on par with the county’s four most
challenged school districts.