With a Harlem-based charter school facing the possibility of closing down because of low test scores, Luis Huerta pointed out the challenge of assessing these schools' intangible outcomes. When speaking about their nebulous benefits such as the safety and motivation they provide students, the professor of Organization and Leadership suggested, "These are important pieces that are part of these schools that perhaps can't be measured under traditional measures of accountability."

Supporters of John A. Reisenbach Charter School are upset that low eighth-grade state test scores resulted in a recommendation by state evaluators that the school be shut. While parents, teachers, and administrators stress some students only transferred to the school from failing neighborhood schools five months before testing occurred, they must wait to find out if the State University of New York (SUNY) Board of Trustees decides to allow Reisenbach, one of New York State's first charter schools, to remain open.

The article, entitled "Good Schools, Bad Scores," appeared in the February 24 edition of the Christian Science Monitor.

Published Monday, Mar. 15, 2004