Kathleen Gibbons, a Rocklin parent whose child attends a public virtual school, is a board member of California Parents for Public Virtual Education. She is responding to the Jan. 2 editorial "Charter schools should embrace accountability," which stated: "The California Charter Schools Association, in setting its own higher standard for measuring charter schools, has started a lively dialogue centered on the right thing – student performance and how to measure it."

Last month, the California Charter Schools Association announced an initiative that would have tragic ramifications for some public charter schools. Under this proposal, any charter school failing to meet the association's arbitrary standards would not be permitted to renew its charter. After close examination, though, the educational community may want to rethink CCSA's assessment and its effort to limit parental choice under the guise of accountability.

As parents, we want to give our children a chance at a bright future. However, it seems that even those with the best of intentions can sometimes stray from their original goals and neglect the interests they originally sought to serve.

While the association's plan appears sensible and straightforward, the devil is in the details: It unfairly casts negative evaluations on certain charter schools. A recent CCSA study fails in its assessment of non-classroom-based schools by utilizing methods that reach a flawed conclusion. Under the methodology, entire schools and grades are lumped together statistically; this doesn't allow for a more thoughtful look at the actual academic growth of individual students. A significant number of students are already behind the curve and are working hard to catch up with their peers. This reality can lead to skewed results, even when non-classroom-based charter schools are making substantial progress.

CCSA also fails to take into account the reasons why parents enroll their children in a public charter school – important dynamics that cannot be measured by the Academic Performance Index. How do we tell parents that school safety is now not a factor? How do we tell parents that a broader academic curriculum such as performing arts or advanced science and math can no longer be options for students? Without taking these factors into account, CCSA's flawed academic measurements are prone to understating the benefits of attending charter schools.

There's no denying that accountability is essential. However, we cannot turn our backs on those schools that are utilizing creative and groundbreaking ideas to help some of the most underserved and academically challenged students. If a charter school is having difficulty demonstrating student achievement, it is the responsibility of parents, teachers, school administrators and the school district to look for innovative solutions to get the school back on track. Simply revoking charters using unfair and biased standards is not the answer. Charter schools are far too important to our children's future.

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Kathleen Gibbons, a Rocklin parent whose child attends a public virtual school, is a board member of California Parents for Public Virtual Education. She is responding to the Jan. 2 editorial "Charter schools should embrace accountability," which stated: "The California Charter Schools Association, in setting its own higher standard for measuring charter schools, has started a lively dialogue centered on the right thing – student performance and how to measure it."

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