Tag: Pencader

State Votes To Close Pencader Charter School

Pencader has struggled for quite a while. I’ve written about the school last July here, and last August here and here. I’ve watched all this come to a head, and held off calling for outright closure once the new Pencader Board came into being, but this passage from Nichole Dobo’s article had my eyebrows raising.

The new school leadership submitted plans for moving forward that contained errors and omissions, said John Carwell, director of the charter school office in the state Education Department.

For instance, Pencader’s leaders reported that the school outperformed the state average on student achievement tests, Carwell said. In reality, the school was below the state average on math and reading assessments, he said. This mistake, and others, showed the school’s leaders were “ill-prepared, at best,” he said. Subsequent reports did not convince state leaders otherwise, he said.

Ill-prepared, at best? At best?

If it’s true that the new school leadership reported false achievement test scores, as well as other errors and omissions then they should be investigated. Isn’t this sort of thing against the law?

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