Academy
Our reasons for starting a charter school
Laveen Elementary School District is the traditional public school system serving grades K-8 in Laveen. Laveen Elementary School District’s public school report card shows a massive 24 percentage point achievement gap between White and African American students. This major achievement gap has lifelong implications for students. The data shows an 8% achievement gap between male and female students, with males scoring 36% proficiency and females scoring 44% proficiency. The historical data suggests that female students’ academic proficiency remains relatively stable over time while males’ academic proficiency decline with each successive grade level. For example, male students’ proficiency of 41% in third grade dropped to 30% in seventh grade, consistently declining with each successive grade level. In the 2021-2022 school year, African American students English Language Arts (ELA) scores overall was 33% proficient, while Hispanic students was 37%, White students was 57%, and Asian students was overall 70% proficient. By grade five, African American students’ proficiency was 23% while White students’ proficiency rose to 63% proficiency.
The data shows an unmistakable disproportionately adverse impact upon African American students in general and African American males students in particular. This alarming data signals a need for immediate action to identify the cause of the disparities and remediate the same. Our team has identified the creation of a public charter school as a viable solution to improve the quality of education for all students in Laveen, Avondale, and Tolleson.
The data suggests that African American males start school on par with other students but experience a rapid decline in academic achievement with each successive grade level. By the time students reach high school, African American students drop out rate is 5.85% as compared to 3.92% for White students, and 4.34% for the overall district. While most of Laveen Elementary School District schools have “A” or “B” public school report card grades, behind the data the school system is failing African American males and African American students in general. The districts two highest performing schools served double the proportion of White students represented in the district student population with one of those schools per pupil expenditures at 1.5 times that of other schools in the district.
Avondale Elementary School District and Tolleson Elementary School District exhibit similar deficiencies as Laveen Elementary School District when it comes to equitably serving a diverse student population. The research literature shows that African American and Hispanic students life chances are diminished by not receiving a high-quality education in grades K-5. (“What Works Clearing House,” 2022). The foundation for future academic success is built in grade K-5 reading, math, and science. Id.
In 2022, the average Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score for Arizona high school students was 1,181 out of 1,600. Arizona’s high school students English, Reading, and Writing (ERW) average score was 592, and the score is math of 589. The top score range for the University of Arizona is 680 for ERW, and 690 for math. Arizona high school graduates are only marginally prepared for admission to the State’s main University system. Non-White and Asian students low SAT scores make their admissions to the University of Arizona problematic. All Arizona students are virtually excluded from the top colleges and universities like California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Yale University, Brown University, Stanford University, and Mass Institute of Technology which require minimum SAT scores of 1530, 1460, 1460, 1440, 1420, and 1510 respectively. Arizona high school students are generally excluded from the top colleges and universities in the world. The data shows that African American and Hispanic students are disproportionately excluded from University of Arizona as well as the top colleges and universities in the world. This disparity in educational opportunity begins in grades K-5 in Arizona’s traditional public schools.
After the 1983 National Commission on Excellence in Education Report entitled “A Nation At-Risk,” the public education system in the United States has worked to find solutions to the United States’ declining global competitiveness in student academic performance. At the beginning of the 20th Century only about 3% of American jobs were “cognitively demanding.” In 2022, the number of “cognitively demanding” jobs have increased to nearly 40 percent. The United States is in a crisis and has failed to successfully educate its diverse student population.
The organizers of the proposed Vanguard Academy have identified public charter school models that have successfully and equitably educated a diverse student body. Charter schools’ operating using “Intelligent Academic Rigor” (IAR) are defying the achievement gaps in the United States by producing greater than 95th percentile student achievement among African American males, Hispanic students, the economic disadvantaged, and other historically underperforming student groups.
