LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The Columbus Dispatch
November 7, 2005 — In its Oct. 31 editorial, the Dispatch
states that LifeSkills Centers schools have not complied with state
testing requirements.
Unfortunately, the Dispatch relied on incomplete data and data
manipulated by a teachers' union that has consistently attacked charter
schools.
LifeSkills Centers have always held students to higher graduation standards than traditional public schools. Our students must pass all state mandated tests and complete all required credits, and in addition must be employed to earn their high school diploma. In the last five years, more than 6,000 students have done just that.
The implication that LifeSkills Center students are not being tested is patently false. During the 2004-05 school year, 5,214 students out of our total enrollment of 7,411 took the Ohio Proficiency Test covering 13,235 subject areas. In regard to the Ohio Graduation Test, 18.7 percent of our students were required to be tested, a figure very much in line with the typical public high school for sophomore-level students.
More important, if not for our ability to engage students who would otherwise continue as dropouts from traditional public schools, these students would never have been tested at all.
LifeSkills Centers are among the most successful dropout recovery programs in the nation. Our schools must meet the rigorous demands of the Ohio Department of Education and, more importantly, of our students and their parents. Ours is a program that Ohioans should be proud to raise up as a standard for other urban educational systems to emulate.
Mark F Thimmig
President, LifeSkills Centers