Successful Charter School Fights Off Anonymous Cheating Allegations

Near-perfect test scores determined to be legit

Oxford Preparatory Academy, a K-8 charter school in Mission Viejo, Calif., has been a smashing success in just a single year of existence. It received the highest score in its school district in academic performance scores.

It's reward? Anonymously being accused of cheating and having to deal with an investigation. As we noted earlier today on Reason 24/7, the independent investigation concluded that there's no evidence any cheating took place. The school is just that awesome. From the Orange County Register:

An independently run Capistrano Unified school being investigated for possible misconduct during state standardized testing in the spring has been exonerated of wrongdoing, the school district has announced.

Oxford Preparatory Academy, a K-8 public charter school in Mission Viejo, was cleared following an independent, two-month investigation, the district said Wednesday – a tacit admission that Oxford did, in fact, earn a near-perfect Academic Performance Index score of 993 out of 1,000 in its first year of operation

"Capistrano Unified is pleased with the exceptionally high API scores of CUSD students attending Oxford Preparatory Academy and other CUSD schools," district spokeswoman Beverly de Nicola said in a statement.

For once I recommend scrolling down and reading the comments at the end of the story.

Only one school in all of Orange County performed better, by two whole points (and that school also has a competitive application process).

So, since Oxford Preparatory Academy's teaching methods seem to be so successful, it should be easier to let them start more charter schools elsewhere, right? No, of course not. Don't be silly. Trustees at Carlsbad Unified School District unanimously rejected a proposal by Oxford Preparatory Academy Wednesday to start a charter school there, claiming "major deficiencies" in its plans. Carlsbad Unified School District currently has no charter schools.

Also of note: Oxford's Preparatory Academy's API scores beat every single school's scores in Carlsbad Unified School District.