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December 02, 2010
THE ALGIERS CHARTER SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES THREE YEARS OF SUSTAINED STUDENT LEARNING GROWTH
ACSA Schools Have Achieved Significant Academic Growth Driven by the TAP System
New Orleans, LA—The Algiers Charter Schools Association (ACSA) and National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) today announced the charter school network had achieved a third year of significantly above average academic growth. ACSA uses TAP™: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement, a nationally proven model for increasing teacher effectiveness and student achievement in high-need schools. TAP is a comprehensive system of teacher and principal support and accountability that strives to draw more talented people to the teaching profession—and keep them there—by making it more attractive and rewarding to be a teacher.
ACSA CEO Dr. Andrea Thomas-Reynolds and NIET President and CEO Dr. Gary Stark
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In the 2009-2010 school year, eight-of-nine ACSA network schools achieved more than a year's academic growth compared to other similar Louisiana schools; the ninth school achieved a solid year's growth.
- Seven of the schools—Algiers Technology Academy, Alice M. Harte Charter School, Dwight D. Eisenhower Academy of Global Studies, Edna Karr Charter High School, McDonogh #32 Literacy Charter School, O. Perry Walker College and Career Preparatory High School and Community Center and William J. Fischer Accelerated Academy—each recorded a value-added student achievement growth score of five, the highest score possible and signifying "far above average" results.
- One school, Harriet Ross Tubman Charter School for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, recorded a value-added student achievement growth score of four, signifying "above average" results.
- One school, Martin Behrman Charter Academy for Creative Arts and Sciences, recorded a value-added student achievement growth score of three, signifying a solid year's growth.
"Three years of consistent growth in ACSA demonstrates the power of TAP," said Dr. Andrea Thomas-Reynolds, CEO of the Algiers Charter Schools Association. "It's a very rewarding process to see our teachers providing high-quality education and our students effectively closing the achievement gap."
"Having high-quality teachers in the classroom is the single most important school factor driving increased student achievement, according to research data," said Gary Stark, president of the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching. "We work very hard to recognize teachers for their continued efforts to learn along with their students."
During an event earlier today at Harriet Ross Tubman Charter, principals and teachers were honored and celebrated the release of value-added scores from the 2009-10 school year, where all ACSA schools demonstrated a least one year of solid academic growth.
"As a parent, I want to send my children to a school where students and learning are the priority," said Latoya Turner-Perez, parent of two students at Harriet Ross Tubman Charter School for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. "During the years my child has attended Tubman, I have seen the school increasingly focus on student achievement. It is clear that TAP and ACSA are behind the creation of an environment that attracts high-quality teachers and provides students with the skills to be successful."
TAP measures student performance based on value-added student achievement growth—gains a student makes during the school year. These gains are evaluated by a statistical technique that uses student achievement data over time to measure the learning gains that students make. This methodology offers a way to estimate the impact schools and teachers have on student learning isolated from other contributing factors, such as family characteristics and socioeconomic background.
ACSA's implementation of TAP is funded in part through a federal grant from the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF), a competitive funding program to support bold changes in the way that teachers and principals are supported, evaluated and compensated.
About TAP™: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement
Launched in 1999, the national TAP™ model offers powerful opportunities for teachers and principals to excel in order to improve student achievement: multiple career paths for teachers to pursue new roles and responsibilities with commensurate pay; ongoing applied professional growth to provide strong job-embedded development targeting individual student needs; instructionally focused accountability to ensure a fair, transparent system with observations several times a year; and performance-based compensation tied to responsibilities, instructional performance and student achievement growth. TAP now impacts 85,000 students and 7,500 teachers nationwide.
About The Algiers Charter Schools Association (ACSA)
The Algiers Charter Schools Association (ACSA) is a non-profit charter school management organization. In conjunction with the Orleans Parish School Board, the ACSA has elected to establish charter schools to address the needs of families living on the West Bank and East Bank of New Orleans. There are nine schools in the Algiers Charter Schools Association: six elementary schools and three high schools. The ACSA is led by a seven-member Board of Trustees and works to make the schools within the association free from the burdens of conventional education structures, and that each school is open by choice to all students without admissions tests, is not religiously affiliated, and has high accountability standards.
To learn more about TAP in the Algiers Charter Schools Association, visit www.algierscharterschools.org .
For information about TAP nationwide, visit www.tapsystem.org .
Susan Tave Zelman, Senior Vice President for Education, Public Broadcasting System, Former Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction
"...TAP seems to be creating a fair and credible way to evaluate teacher effectiveness."