North Side school administrator Eric Mahmoud has another laurel wreath to add to his collection.
The Minnesota Business Partnership announced Tuesday that it is has recognized Mahmoud's Harvest Prep and Best Academy with its Minnesota's Future Award. The organization, which is comprised of the heads of the state's top employers, cited improved student performance and a closing of the achievement gap by the two charter schools.
The schools, which have student bodies that are mostly low-income and almost entirely black, consistently report scores on standardized state tests that are at or near the top of the state's high-poverty schools. The 2012 scores of 79 percent proficient in reading for Harvest Prep and 73 percent for Best Academy compared to 76 percent proficiency statewide. For math, the Harvest recorded 81 percent proficiency and Best 77 percent, compared to 62 percent statewide.
For science, no students were rated proficient at Harvest in 2011, the most recent results announced, and 14 percent were proficient at Best.
This year's metro award is the first to recognize a Minneapolis school. St Paul district or charter schools have been cited by the organization every year but 2011, when a Columbia Heights school was recognized.
Business Partnership Executive Director Charlie Weaver said that the results achieved by the two schools prove there's no reason that every student can't do math and read at grade level. He credited a no-excuses attitude by educators at the schools for their success. The academic honor comes as Mahmoud is facing detailed questions about school finances and governance from its authorizer, Audubon Center of the North Woods.
Ab alternate critique of the schools' success is available at: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2012083530/high-performing-charter-schools-beating-odds-or-beating-test
