continuing coverage dayton schools

Eight of city’s top 10 schools are charters

Students line up and give a raised-hand sign of full attention as they stand single-file Tuesday morning, Sept. 7, in a hallway at Richard Allen Academy II. The charter school recently moved into a bigger downtown campus in the former United Way building, 184 Salem Ave.

Jim Witmer/Staff Students line up and give a raised-hand sign of full attention as they stand single-file Tuesday morning, Sept. 7, in a hallway at Richard Allen Academy II. The charter school recently moved into a bigger downtown campus in the former United Way building, 184 Salem Ave.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Margo Rutledge Kissell, Staff Writer Updated 12:28 AM Sunday, September 12, 2010

DAYTON — Eight of the 10 best performing schools in the city of Dayton are now charter schools, according to 2009-10 state Report Card data.

Stivers School for the Arts and Dayton Boys Preparatory Academy were the only Dayton Public schools that made the ranking, based on Performance Index score. In past years, the top 10 was split between charter schools and city schools.

Dayton is no longer the nation’s charter school king, having been surpassed years ago by New Orleans and a handful of other cities. But while fewer students are attending Dayton’s charter schools — enrollment dropped from 6,403 in 2006 to 5,228 in 2009 — their overall academic performance has improved. Charter advocates say one of the reasons is the worst schools are no longer operating.

“The charters left standing are increasingly higher performing,” said Terry Ryan, vice president for Ohio Programs and Policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in Dayton.

The Ohio Department of Education continues to act against poor performing charter schools. Four Dayton charter schools closed this year, and two others are at risk of closing.

Meanwhile, three Richard Allen Academy schools, charters sponsored by Kids Count of Dayton Inc., ranked in the top 10.

Last week, Richard Allen moved one of its schools, Richard Allen Academy II, into a bigger downtown campus.

CEO Jeanette Harris said parents receive report cards just like students.

“They don’t want to receive anything less than a C,” she said. “You can’t ask a child to bring home A’s and B’s, and you’re getting D’s and F’s.”

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