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The parents of the McKinley Parent Trigger Campaign have reason to celebrate, as the fruits of their labor can now be publicly recognized. The 2012 STAR test results show that Celerity Sirius Charter School, which the parents fought so hard to bring to the community, outperformed McKinley in all tested subject areas. Celerity Sirius achieved 9% higher proficiency scores in ELA, 7% higher in math, and 34% higher in science.

During the McKinley campaign, the parents faced a laundry list of illegal and inappropriate tactics employed by the district in an effort to disenfranchise them and derail their efforts to improve McKinley. In the end, the parent’s petitions were denied based on a technicality, but their hard work was not in vain. Their collective voice demanding a better education for their children was heard, and as a result, Celerity Sirius, a high performing charter operator, opened a school in the neighborhood, offering an alternative to the chronically failing McKinley Elementary.

With the release of the 2012 STAR test results, it is clear that the alternative outperformed the status quo. The percentage of students on grade level in English Language Arts or math was significantly higher at Celerity than at McKinley. There was a substantial difference between the two schools in their 2nd and 3rd grade ELA scores. Nearly half of 2nd and 3rd grade students are on grade level in ELA at Celerity compared to less than one third of 2nd and 3rd grade students at McKinley. Additionally, 5th grade students at Celerity were more than twice as likely to score proficient or advanced in science than those at McKinley. These results serve to validate all of those parents who worked so hard to improve the educational opportunities for children in their community. Unfortunately, McKinley did not see significant overall growth from 2011 test scores.

Click here to see McKinley’s STAR 2012 results.

Click here to see Celerity’s STAR 2012 results.

The success of Celerity Sirius serves as confirmation that empowered, organized parents can profoundly impact their child’s education and their community. When parents have a voice, and advocate for kids-first reforms, educational outcomes improve.