A charter school operator named in a report from The Education Trust-Midwest as running underperforming schools has fired back, accusing the advocacy group of misrepresenting test scores.
The Leona Group, which operates 25 charter schools in Michigan, has been approved to add an additional K-5 campus to its Cesar Chavez Academy in Detroit this fall, operating under authorization from Saginaw Valley State University. The report from The Education Trust-Midwest criticized the addition, citing poor performance on the 2012 MEAP compared to Detroit Public Schools students, especially among Hispanic pupils.
Madalyn Kaltz, a spokesperson with The Leona Group, issued a statement Friday calling the report from The Education Trust-Midwest “grossly irresponsible and slanted” and questioning the report’s use of statistics from the MEAP.