The Academics Plus Charter School in Maumelle - one of the state’s oldest independently operated public charter schools - can expand its enrollment, the Arkansas Board of Education decided Thursday.
Two other Pulaski County area charter-school systems, Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School and Little Rock Preparatory Academy, are authorized to operate for three more years, also as a result of the board’s action Thursday.
The Education Board voted against further reviewing the requested charter amendments or charter renewals, accepting earlier decisions of the state Department of Education’s Charter Authorizing Panel on the schools.
The enrollment cap for Academics Plus will increase from the current 650 students in kindergarten through 12th grade to 750 for the coming 2014-15 school year and 850 in the 2015-16 school year.
The state-issued charter for Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School, which has four campuses serving up to 1,019 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, is renewed for three years.
Similarly, the charter for the Little Rock Preparatory Academy, which has two campuses serving up to 432 children in kindergarten through eighth grade, is renewed for three years.
Both Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School and Little Rock Preparatory Academy asked the Charter Authorizing Panel in February for longer renewal periods - 10 years for the Jacksonville system and five years for the Preparatory Academy’s two campuses.The authorizing panel, made up of Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell and top-level department staff members, recommended the three-year renewals in part because of concerns about math achievement at the schools.
Lenisha Broadway, regional vice president for Lighthouse Academies of Arkansas, told the board Thursday that an after-school program that is required for students who are struggling in math has been added this year. Additionally, remediation is also offered during the regular school day.
“We do plan to see a great gain in our math scores,” Broadway said.
The Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School system is made up of the Lower Academy for kindergarten through fourth grade; Upper Academy for grades five through eight; Flightline Upper Academy, also for grades five through eight; and College Prep Academy for grades nine through 12.
The campuses fell short of meeting state-set goals for student achievement in math in 2013, although the schools are among the highest-performing public schools in the Jacksonville area. The Flightline Upper Academy also is listed as needing improvement in literacy.
Little Rock Preparatory Academy includes a kindergarten-through-fourth-grade campus in former Cathedral School buildings at Trinity Episcopal Church and a fifth-through-eighth-grade campus on South University Avenue.
School operators sought a five-year renewal of the charter and an increase in the enrollment cap from 432 to 540 pupils. The enrollment increase would have enabled the school campuses to serve up to 60 pupils per grade, but the charter panel denied that request and approved a shorter renewal period.
Tina Long, the academy’s chief academic officer, told the Education Board on Thursday that the amount of time devoted to math instruction has been increased at the schools. Data from student testing and assessments are used weekly by the teachers to design instruction.
The school had missed its state-set achievement goals in math in 2012 and in 2013. The school did meet most goals in literacy on the state exams.
School leaders pointed out in documents submitted to the state that the longer pupils remain in the schools, the greater the likelihood that they reach proficient and advanced levels of achievement on state tests.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 03/21/2014