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.