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Final – Board approved January 14, 2020Renewal ReportWolfe Street Academy (23)Baltimore City Public SchoolsOffice of New Initiatives, Room 319BOffice of Achievement and Accountability, Room 201200 E. North AvenueBaltimore, MD 21202www.baltimorecityschools.orgWolfe Street Academy 23Page 1
Final – Board approved January 14, 2020REPORT INTRODUCTIONPurpose of the ReportThe renewal report is a summary of findings and a resulting recommendation regarding renewal ofthe charter or contract for an operator-run school. To inform this recommendation, Baltimore CityPublic Schools collects and analyzes documentation including the school’s renewal application, andan evaluation of the school’s performance based on the renewal rubric, the School EffectivenessReview (SER) performed on site at each school and consideration of all other relevant information.City Schools’ renewal criteria are based on state law (§ 9-101, et seq., MD. CODE ANN., EDUC.)and Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners’ policy IHBJ and associated administrativeregulations (IHBJ-RA and JFA-RA). The Board’s policy requires that schools up for renewal beevaluated on multiple measures including, but not limited to, the following: Student achievement, constituting at least 50 percent of the renewal score and includingmeasures such as schoolwide performance on state assessments, College and CareerReadiness (for schools with high school grades), academic programming for special studentpopulations, and a school’s fidelity to its charterSchool climate (chronic absence, suspensions, enrollment trends, school choice data, andschool survey results from parents, teachers, and students)Financial management and governance (annual audits, school budget submissions,grants management, board documentation; compliance/adherence with federal, state, andlocal laws, rules, and regulations)An overall finding of not effective in any of the key areas (Student Achievement, SchoolClimate, or Financial Management/Governance) may be the basis of a non-renewal decision.The renewal process is a component of City Schools’ annual review of its school portfolio, designedto ensure that students and families across the district have access to school options that meet theirinterests and needs. In 2011, City Schools formed the Renewal Stakeholders Working Group(composed of school operators from a range of school types, Supporting Public Schools of Choice,and the Maryland Charter School Network) to develop a methodology for evaluating theperformance of operator-run schools. The result: a fair, transparent, and rigorous renewalframework that reflects schools’ unique nature and innovative contributions to student achievement,used for the first time in the 2012-13 school year, and a process for reviewing and updating theframework each year.At the conclusion of each year’s renewal cycle, staff engages operators and other key stakeholders ina review of the process to identify areas for improvement that could be addressed while stillmaintaining a level of predictability for schools up for renewal in the following year. Key changesmade to the framework as a result of this most recent review include the following: For the PARCC Growth measure, schools’ growth was determined by using the state growthpercentile. In previous years, the Baltimore City’s growth percentile was used to determinegrowth rates. For rating purposes, schools’ growth rates continue to be compared only toother Baltimore City schools with the same tested grade bands.Wolfe Street Academy 23Page 2
Final – Board approved January 14, 2020 A new measure, Effective Programming for All Student Racial/Ethnic Groups, was addedto the renewal rubric for schools with sufficient diversity in their student bodies for ameaningful comparison. The measure considers whether schools are providing qualityprogramming for students in different student groups by examining instructional approachesand processes in place, schools’ use of data to identify differences in achievement amongstudent groups, and the success of schools in addressing these differences. Previously, thesefactors were considered as part of the Fidelity to Charter/Overall Application measure.Parent satisfaction survey ratings are based on an absolute scale. In previous years, schoolswere ranked against other schools in their grade band to determine parent satisfactionratings.Selective high schools that use PARCC scores as part of their entrance criteria are notincluded in comparison groups for the PARCC Absolute rubric measure.The ProcessThe review process has the following components: Renewal rubric (includes data from standardized assessments and school surveys)Application for renewalData tables prepared by City SchoolsSchool Effectiveness ReviewThe process starts with a review by the Charter and Operator-led Advisory Board, whose membersrepresent foundations, nonprofit organizations, school choice advocates, school operators, anddistrict representatives; and whose function is to provide advice to the CEO on renewal and otherissues as they relate to operator-led schools. In performing its review, the Advisory Board looks atall data and information, both quantitative and qualitative, to make sound recommendations to theCEO. After its review of the components above, the Advisory Board makes recommendations toCity Schools’ CEO on whether charters or contracts should be renewed. The CEO considers therecommendations and the quantitative and qualitative review, and then makes her ownrecommendation to the Board. In some instances, the nature or severity of an issue raised during therenewal process is serious enough to give it extra weight in formulating the renewalrecommendation and, ultimately, the renewal decision, especially in instances where the issue affectsthe wellbeing of students, staff, or the district as a whole. For the FinancialManagement/Governance section, a rating of not effective in any one of the three elements thatmake up that section results in a rating of not effective for the entire section.According to Board policy, City Schools may determine that a public charter school is eligible for aneight-year contract term, five-year contract term, three-year contract term, or nonrenewal. The eightyear renewal term is an option based on the updated Public Charter School Policy IHBJ, adopted bythe Board in September 2019. The policy allows the Board to consider an eight-year term forschools that have “two or more consecutive full renewals, including demonstrating qualityprogramming for all student groups” and that have met the standard for a five-year renewal in theyear of the latest review. The ultimate decision on all operator renewals rests with the Board, whichconsiders the recommendations and rationale of the CEO, the operator renewal report, testimonyWolfe Street Academy 23Page 3
Final – Board approved January 14, 2020given at public Board meetings and work sessions, the contents of the official record and the factorslisted in policy IHBJ and administrative regulation IHBJ-RA for charter schools, and policy FCAand administrative regulation FCA-RA for non-charter schools.ActionsTimelineSchools submit renewal applicationsSeptember 5, 2019Charter and Operator-led Advisory Board reviews renewalapplications and makes recommendations to the CEOSeptember to October 2019District presents recommendations to Board at public meetingNovember 12, 2019Opportunity for operator to provide oral testimony to Board in ameeting open to the publicDecember 5, 2019Board votes on renewal recommendationsJanuary 14, 2020Wolfe Street Academy 23Page 4
Final – Board approved January 14, 2020Wolfe Street Academy (23)Operator: Baltimore Curriculum Project, Inc.Configuration: ElementaryType: Charter (conversion)Enrollment: 2371Recommendation8-year renewalRenewal summaryCategoryIs the school an academic success? (min. 50% weight)FindingHighly EffectiveDoes the school have a strong school climate?Highly EffectiveHas the school followed sufficient financial managementpractices? 2Has the school followed sufficient governance practices?MeetsExpectationsEffectiveDiscussionOn January 14, 2020, the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners voted to renew thecontract with Baltimore Curriculum Project, Inc. to operate Wolfe Street Academy an eight-yearterm to run from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2028. Wolfe Street Academy becomes the first school toreceive an eight-year renewal, the district’s maximum renewal term, adopted in 2019.The school was rated highly effective in Academics and Climate, and Meets Expectations/Effectivein Financial Management/Governance. The school meets the criteria for a full renewal andpreviously had “two or more consecutive full renewals, including demonstrating qualityprogramming for all student groups,3” a requirement to receive an eight-year renewal.The school was rated highly effective in PARCC achievement growth, a measure which assesseschanges in individual student growth over time compared to other students who started with asimilar scale score, in math 3-5 (100th percentile overall) and ELA 3-5 (96th percentile). This measurehas the most weight of the PARCC measures in the renewal rubric. For PARCC absoluteperformance, schools are compared to a Poverty Index (PI) group, made up of schools with similarTotal enrollment counts reflect the MSDE official enrollment file for grades k-12, which includes students enrolled onSeptember 30 each year. This file is verified by MSDE prior to becoming the official enrollment count for the year.2Financial management considers a review of the operator’s audits over the contract term. “Meets expectations” is thehighest rating available, followed by “Developing” and “Does not meet expectations”.3District Policy IHBJ – Public Charter Schools III.K.51Wolfe Street Academy 23Page 5
Final – Board approved January 14, 2020levels of annual household income within the same grade band because absolute performance ishighly correlated with household income. The school was rated highly effective in PARCC absoluteperformance in both math 3-5 (85th percentile in its PI group with a mean scale score of 731) andELA 3-5 (85th percentile in its PI group, with a mean scale score of 726). The school was ratedeffective in Effective Programming for All Student Racial/Ethnic Groups, a new measure added tothe renewal rubric in 2019-20 which used to be considered as part of the Fidelity to Charter/OverallApplication measure. This measure considers whether a school has “provided high qualityprogramming for students in all racial groups and is aware of its performance data for all groups.The school has a myriad of instructional approaches, processes, and practices in place that seek toensure that all student groups achieve and to prevent gaps between student groups from appearing.If gaps are present for student groups of 10 or more, the gaps are minimal and the school hasimplemented effective strategies that have kept the lower performing groups’ performance high,being in the 80th percentile or higher in the district.” The school has a predominantly Latino studentpopulation with smaller numbers of White and Black students4. Evidence shows positive practices atthe school, including direct instruction tailored to each student’s needs, bilingual materials and afocus on recruiting bilingual teachers and knowledge of the school’s student body. However, inorder to continue to be considered effective in this new measure, the school must work on furtherdevelopment of strategies and practices for its smaller student populations, as well as continue todeepen its practices for delivery of quality instruction to Latino students.The school was rated highly effective in Vision and Engagement, a measure from the SchoolEffectiveness Review that indicates the extent to which the school provides a safe and supportivelearning environment, cultivates open communication and decision-making with the schoolcommunity, and establishes a school culture that embraces community diversity. The school wasrated effective in staff and student satisfaction, and highly effective in parent satisfaction.In the Financial Management/Governance section of the rubric, the school was rated highlyeffective in Operator Capacity, indicating that “in each year of the charter term, the school hasoperated effectively and the operator has consistently met all state and federal reportingrequirements [and] critical district or federal obligations [and] has effectively managed grants.”This measure in part considers PARCC data with 10 or more students in any given year; this school had sufficientdiversity in PARCC test-takers for the 2018-19 school year.4Wolfe Street Academy 23Page 6
Final – Board approved January 14, 2020Findings (elementary school rubric)Category 1, Academics: Is the school an academic success?Sub-CategoryRenewal MetricAverage Mean Scale Score PARCC Math (grades 35)Average Mean Scale Score PARCC ELA (grades 35)Trend in Average Mean Scale Score PARCC Math(grades 3-5)Trend in Average Mean Scale Score PARCC ELA(grades 3-5)Growth in Average Mean Scale Score PARCC Math(grades 3-5)Growth in Average Mean Scale Score PARCC ELA(grades 3-5)1.1 Absolute StudentAchievement1.2 StudentAchievement Trend1.3 StudentAchievement GrowthCity Schools RatingHighly EffectiveHighly EffectiveEffectiveEffectiveHighly EffectiveHighly Effective1.4 Fidelity toCharter/ApplicationOverallThe extent to which the school has fullyimplemented the mission expressed in its charterapplication and this mission is clear to allstakeholders. The extent to which the school hasdelivered high quality programming for all studentsubgroups. The extent to which the school isgathering data to assess its efficacy and haseffectively addressed any challenges evident in thedata, particularly in the areas of subgroupperformance, enrollment, student attendance,dropout rates, attrition and student choicedata/school demand.Highly Effective1.5 EffectiveProgramming for AllStudentRacial/EthnicGroupsThe extent to which the school has provided highquality programming for students in all racial/ethnicgroups. The extent to which the school hasinstructional approaches, processes and practices inplace that seek to ensure students in all groupsachieve and to address gaps in achievementbetween student groups.EffectiveAcademics Overall RatingWolfe Street Academy 23Highly EffectivePage 7
Final – Board approved January 14, 2020Category 2, Climate: Does the school have a strong climate?Sub-Category2.1 SER, HighlyEffective Instruction2.2 SER, TalentedPeople2.3 SER, Vision andEngagementRenewal MetricSchool Effectiveness Review Score - HighlyEffective InstructionSchool Effectiveness Review Score - TalentedPeopleSchool Effectiveness Review Score - Vision andEngagementStaff: School Survey Staff RatingStudents: School Survey Student RatingParents: School Survey Parent RatingCohort Retention RatingThe extent to which the school is aware of itschronic absence data, has strong processes in placeto identify root causes and provide supports tofamilies, and has implemented effective strategiesthat have kept chronic absence low over the courseof the contract or have made significant reductionsin chronic absence rates over time.The extent to which the school is aware of itssuspension data, has positive behaviorinterventions in place, and has implementedeffective strategies that have kept suspensions lowover the course of the contract or have resulted insignificant decreases over time.2.4 Parent, Staff andStudent Satisfaction2.5 Cohort Retention2.6 StudentAttendance, ChronicAbsence2.7 SuspensionsThe extent to which the school has demonstrated astrong trajectory of growth, is aware of its data andresponsibilities to students with disabilities, doesnot have any gaps or has decreased gaps in the dataas it relates to performance and climate metrics forstudents with disabilities over time, and haseffectively and consistently implementedprocesses, interventions and strategies to supportstudent outcomes over the course of the contract.2.8 EffectiveProgramming forStudents withDisabilitiesClimate Overall RatingWolfe Street Academy 23City Schools RatingHighly EffectiveHighly EffectiveHighly EffectiveEffectiveEffectiveHighly EffectiveHighly EffectiveHighly EffectiveHighly EffectiveEffectiveHighly EffectivePage 8
Final – Board approved January 14, 2020Category 3, Finance and Governance: Has the school followed sufficient financial management andgovernance practices?Sub-Category3.1 Audit Content, InternalControlsRenewal MetricThe extent to which the school’s IndependentAuditor’s Reports offer unqualified opinionsand no management points in each of theyears of the charter term. The extent to whichstatements of cash flow and ratio of assets toliabilities indicate that the operator has strongperformance on their short-term liquiditymeasure.Financial Management Overall Rating3.2 Operator Capacity3.3 SER, StrategicLeadership/GovernanceThe extent to which the school has operatedeffectively and the operator has consistentlymet all state, federal reporting requirements,critical District or federal obligations and hasnot received any Notices of Concern orNotices of Reprimand during the contractperiod. (Evidence that may be consideredinclude compliance with critical District, stateor federal reporting requirements, timely auditand budget submissions, monitoring reports,quarterly reports; whether school has beenable to meet financial obligations or neededloans/advances from the district to meetobligations, and the relative number,frequency and severity of Notices of Concernor Notices of Reprimand.)School Effectiveness Review Score - StrategicLeadershipGovernance Overall RatingWolfe Street Academy 23City Schools RatingMeets ExpectationsMeets ExpectationsHighly EffectiveEffectiveEffectivePage 9
Wolfe Street Academy (23) Baltimore City Public Schools Office of New Initiatives, Room 319B Office of Achievement and Accountability, Room 201 200 E. North Avenue Baltimore, MD 21202 www.baltimorecityschools.org . Final - Board approved January 14, 2020 Wolfe Street Academy 23 Page 2 REPORT INTRODUCTION
