PA. Changed Test Rules to Make It Look Like Charters Doing Better Than Public Schools - W/o Fed OK

http://articles.mcall.com/2012-10-05/news/mc-pa-charter-tomalis-ayp-20121005_1_public-charter-schools-bob-fayfich-test-participation-rates

Excerpt:

"State changed PSSA testing rules for charter schools without federal approval

Rules change appears to have inflated success rate of some charter schools.

October 05, 2012|By Steve Esack and Eugene Tauber, Of The Morning Call

Gov. Tom Corbett's education chief changed the PSSA testing rules in a way that makes it easier for charter schools to meet federal benchmarks than traditional public schools.

Education Secretary Ron Tomalis' change, made without federal approval, might have skewed the results of the 2011-12 PSSA scores to make it appear charter schools were outperforming traditional public schools, according to a Morning Call review of publicly available test score data.

...Bob Fayfich, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, said his organization had been lobbying for the change since last year. He said the coalition estimated it would increase charter success rate by 30 percent."