By Jennifer Mrozowski
The Cincinnati Enquirer

More than half of Greater Cincinnati's charter schools have flunked their state report cards.

An analysis of the recently released 2002-03 ratings shows that of the 17 charter schools operating in Greater Cincinnati, nine were rated in academic emergency, the lowest of five categories. Six schools weren't rated.

Two schools were ranked in the No. 3 category, "continuous improvement," which indicates the school is showing enough improvement toward meeting state academic goals, while none received either of the top two ratings.

The report cards measure attendance, graduation rates and student performance on Ohio proficiency tests.

"Very often their population is students who have not had success in traditional classrooms," said J.C. Benton, an Education Department spokesman, in explaining the low rankings.

"We recognize that many children enter community (charter) schools two to three years behind their peers in traditional schools or districts so there's a steeper learning curve that needs to take place."

Statewide, about two of three charter schools that received an academic rating from the state ranked at the bottom of those ratings, according to the Department of Education. That's compared with 338 of 3,718 schools - or about one in 10 - of all state public schools receiving an academic emergency rating.

Charter schools are publicly funded, tuition-free schools that are run by parents, nonprofit agencies, for-profit companies or other community groups. They first opened in Ohio in 1998 as an alternative to traditional public schools.

Of 58 state charter schools that received a ranking, 36 - or about 61 percent - were in academic emergency. Only three received the highest ranking of excellent.

Opponents of charter schools say the schools aren't living up to their promise to provide a competitive alternative to traditional schools.

"I'll grant they've got kids mostly not doing well and struggling," said Tom Mooney, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, a union that claims in a lawsuit that charter schools violate the Ohio constitution. "We should expect to see improvement, and we're not seeing it."

Of the 11 state charter schools still in existence after five years, six were in academic emergency. None ranked either excellent or effective, the top two rankings.

Some charter school directors say the schools have not had enough time to show results because many of the students coming in have already fallen behind at other schools.

The state report card for Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy in the West End, which opened in 1999, shows that just 13 percent of fourth-graders passed reading and math tests last year compared with 66 percent statewide in reading and 59 percent in math.

Superintendent Lisa Hamm said she believes there's a discrepancy between the percentage of her students who actually passed and the percentage the state has for her school, although she acknowledged that the passing rates at the K-8 school aren't good enough.

"We have good results and then poor results and then good results and then poor results. I think it has to do with being a new program," she said. "But we will make sure those are not the results that continue."

East End Community Heritage School, a pre-K-12 school in its fourth year, also rated in academic emergency, with 17 percent of fourth-graders passing reading. But school officials say they are working to improve.

"We have hired all new teachers in areas where we had low scores because we hold our teachers accountable," said Bonnie Kroeger, a founding mother and board secretary. The school also hired three academic deans to work with teachers to increase proficiency test scores and the quality of education.

"We feel really good about two things - the fact that (students) come in so far behind and we are able to move them up, and that 25 percent of graduates go on to post-secondary," Kroeger said. "That beats an awful lot of places. We're looking at a neighborhood where you've got four generations of families not making it past eighth grade."

Kroeger said the high school results are promising. The state report card shows 87 percent of students passing the ninth-grade reading test.

Sherry Bloomfield, an East End parent, said the school has been great for her son and daughter. Her son, who has cerebral palsy, graduated from East End Community Heritage last year. Her daughter, who is pregnant with her third child, returned to school this year.

"I think it's wonderful. They've helped my son accomplish his diploma, which we never thought he'd get. And now my daughter is going back to school.

"That school has done wonders and has been a terrific start for kids down here."

Thirty charter schools did not get any ranking on their report cards.

Some received no rating because they have too few students in the grades the state tests.

Other schools that weren't rated don't serve students in the grades tested. Still, other schools may have improperly submitted passing rate data for children tested in March and October, Benton said.

More training will be offered to the schools on how to submit data, but the ratings won't be changed, Benton said.

"It's the school's responsibility to enter the data correctly," he said. "We are working with the community schools to iron out the issue of data submission."

Ratings for area charter schools

Butler County

Summit Academy-Middletown - Academic emergency

Life Skills Center-Butler County, Middletown - Academy emergency

Hamilton County

Dohn Community, Avondale - No rating

T.C.P. World Academy, Pleasant Ridge - Continuous improvement

A.B. Miree Fundamental Academy, Bond Hill - Academic emergency

Lighthouse Community School, Madisonville - No rating

W.E.B. DuBois, Over-the-Rhine - Continuous improvement

ISUS Trade and Tech Prep-Cincinnati, West End - No rating

Phoenix Community Learning Center, Bond Hill - Academic emergency

Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy, West End - Academic emergency

Riverside Academy, Riverside - Academic emergency

Life Skills Center of Cincinnati, Walnut Hills - Academic emergency

Greater Cincinnati Community Academy, Northside - Academic emergency

Oak Tree Montessori, Over-the-Rhine - No rating

Harmony Community School, Roselawn - No rating

East End Community Heritage School - Academic emergency

Hamilton County Math and Science, Mount Healthy - No rating

*Community schools receive report cards only after being in operation two years. Some schools with no rating did not have enough students in the grades tested or had no students in grades tested.

The Associated Press contributed. E-mail jmrozowski@enquirer.com