There were some comments the other day about charter schools not hiring certified teachers and paying those that they do hire less money than tax supported school districts do.
I decided to look into the relative performance of a local charter school compared to schools across the state and in our city.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) publishes an “Accountability Summary” for each school and school district. They rate each in four areas, 1) student achievement, 2) student progress, 3) closing performance gaps, and 4) postsecondary readiness.
Student progress and closing performance gaps are important but they are not measures of final results.
The report for all schools in the state shows:
Student achievement statewide was rated at 77 and statewide postsecondary readiness was at 69.
The El Paso Independent School District and the Ysleta Independent School District rated pretty much the way the rest of the state did.
Achievement: State 77, EPISD 77, YISD 79
Postsecondary readiness: State 69, EPISD 72, YISD 66
The Burnham Wood Charter School District suffered some disparaging remarks on the blog so I looked into their rating.
The TEA rated them at 87 in student achievement and 79 in postsecondary readiness.
We don’t know about the salaries they pay their teachers. As for teacher certification the following was on the TEA web site:
To fulfill the No Child Left Behind federal requirement to be highly qualified, charter school teachers must demonstrate content mastery in their assignment. Charter school teachers must demonstrate competency in the same manner as teachers in public schools.
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Real facts.
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thanks for the smackdown on episd. guess its a good argument for not paying Ysleta starting teachers 47k plus.
thanks again.
what a shitty truth
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I was wondering why the El Paso Times is not keeping us up to date on the many issues regarding Burnham Wood Charter Schools. Could it be because of the lawsuit between the El Paso Times and Burnham Wood Charter Schools.
TEXAS-NEW MEXICO NEWSPAPERS PARTNERSHIP Doing Business As EL PASO TIMES J L JAY
Retained
915-545-4908(W)
Plaintiff BURNHAM, IRIS DENNIS RICHARD
Retained
915-533-2211(W)
Plaintiff EL PASO EDUCATION INITIATIVE INC Doing Business As BURNHAM WOOD CHARTER SCHOOL DISTRICT
Plaintiff FURRER, ESTHER
Is El Paso Inc. also intimidated by lawsuits?
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