Echo Park Charter School Ranked Top 10 By USC Report

Gabriella Charter was listed as the number two California elementary/middle charter school in a USC report released Thursday.

According to the press release, the list was developed to strengthen accountability among California’s charter schools.

The report uses data from 2005 to 2012 to rate charter schools in financial health and academic performance. Also included in the top 10 elementary/middle school list are Synergy Charter Academy in Los Angeles at number one,  KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy in San Francisco at number three and KIPP Los Angeles College Preparatory in Los Angeles at number four.

"This year's USC School Performance Dashboard drills further into the multiple dimensions of each California charter school, revealing not only the greater and lesser strengths of each, but also how each is performing relative to other charters and to other California public schools," said report co-author Guilbert C. Hentschke, professor with the USC Rossier School of Education, in a written statement. "The overall picture conveys more than extreme variation in charter school performance; it conveys extreme variation in the effectiveness of charter school oversight."

According to the release, in fall 2012 California opened 81 new charter schools, leading the nation with 1,065 charter campuses. Los Angeles County added 33 new charter schools.

Last year, Gabriella Charter School was also named Charter School of the Year by the California Charter Schools Association.