Massachusetts Charter Public Schools: Best Practices Using Data to Improve Student Achievement in Springfield. White Paper No. 142

Recent studies continue to shine light on high-performing charter schools. While Boston-area charter schools--a concentrated group of high-performers--garner more attention than others, many excellent schools outside of Boston have been quietly chipping away at the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students. One of these schools is the SABIS International Charter School (SICS) in Springfield, MA, a school that has been named a "top high school". What makes SICS a "top school?" It prepares students to persist in college and enables it students, the vast majority of whom are economically disadvantaged, to "perform better than statistical expectations." That is, students at SICS not only outperform their peers in similar schools on standardized tests of achievement, they also embody the idea that "demography is not destiny." Founded in 1995, SICS was among the first charter schools established in Massachusetts. It serves students in grades K-12 and has a clear, two-pronged mission. The first part of the mission is academic: to prepare students for success in college and to be critical thinkers who are intellectually engaged and excited about life-long learning. The second part of the SICS mission is to produce ethical, responsible "citizens of the world"; people who care about their community and are engaged with social issues. To understand how SICS students defy "statistical expectations," it is necessary to understand the SABIS approach to curriculum, instruction, and assessment. This report provides their best practices by data-driven instruction, answers how they meet the demand for better school options, and offers recommendations for struggling schools.