Pushing the boundaries of virtual teaching and learning at Myron B. Thompson Academy

NAPCS is using the Charter Blog to feature public charter schools that prepare students for college using a range of instructional strategies. NAPCS asked school leaders to tell us in their own words how they use different instructional methods to create a “college-prep” focus. By combining data on instructional strategies from a national survey with on the ground stories of the work of charter schools, NAPCS wants to show the scope of possibilities in how charter schools can provide great learning environments for students.

Myron B. Thompson Academy (MBTA) recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. The school, which began as an idea in a white paper on virtual learning back in the early 1990s, has blossomed into the oldest online school in Hawaii. Test scores are stellar, the curriculum is rigorous, teachers and students are thriving, and dynamic change is always in the air.

At Thompson Academy, grade 7-12 CORE courses are taught online, while many electives are face-to-face. Five years ago, the school realized that “canned” courses, with computer-graded quizzes were not adequately preparing students. The redesign of curriculum began with grade 7. Select teachers and the curriculum director spent a year researching and developing meaningful content, interactive teaching strategies, and quality assessments. The first group to complete the redesigned curriculum is currently in the tenth grade. These students have provided input on the degree of challenge in their classes, requested the development of specific course offerings, and provided the impetus for continued curricular redesign. Most courses are now developed and field-tested by teachers with assistance from the curriculum office. Professional development is ongoing, primarily in small groups, and courses are continuously updated, using data from assessments and student comments.

A week in the life of MBTA students begins on Monday morning, with a log-in to courses and a check of the weekly plan for each class. Students work in depth and at an accelerated pace. There will be content to read, Google Docs “discussions”, WebEx sessions, homework, projects and tests. All teachers offer one-on-one live or virtual tutoring. Students may contact their teachers via e-mail, instant message, telephone, or in person. Many teachers keep the lines of communication open in the evening. The Academy has students on the four major Hawaiian Islands, so working across distances on collaborative projects is the norm.

MBTA is currently at work on the design of two Institutes for 11th and 12th graders: one in STEM, with initial courses focused on the operations of a smart grid for electrical systems, and one in humanities, offering AP courses and interdisciplinary competitions in International Extemporaneous Speaking, Debate, and History Day projects. Institutes will be both virtual and face to face. In the near future, students at Myron B. Thompson Academy will complete all required courses by the end of junior year, allowing for specialization in the senior year.

Students feed into the online secondary program from Thompson’s elementary division, which is a combination of at-home and at-school instruction. Parents and teachers work together to deliver approved curriculum to K-6 students. While the elementary is primarily “high touch” instead of “high tech”, teachers also offer virtual lessons. Students are issued iPads and use these to document their learning.

MBTA strives to be an incubator of ideas, to push the boundaries of virtual education, and to truly teach our students. We have had many successes and look forward to many more.

Sharon Abrigo, Director of Curriculum

Find Myron B. Thompson Academy on the Public Charter School Dashboard

Sheridan Japanese School: A Focus on Culture and Community

Jan Smith, Sheridan Japanese School Foundation Board Member (Secretary); Kathryn Bervin-Mueller, Executive Director
www.sheridanjapaneseschool.com

Find Sheridan Japanese School on the Public Charter School Dashboard

From Kindergarten to College: What it Takes

At DREAM Charter School, my expectation as school principal, and the expectation of everyone who works in this building is that each and every one of our students is going to college. High academic achievement will get our kids ready, but that's not the only critical piece of setting our scholars up for success. We add to high academic expectations three things: health and wellness, family engagement, and full inclusion. It takes all of these elements working together to truly develop young learners and get them ready for life in the 21st century. At DREAM, we make no argument that academics reign supreme. But we also want to create a healthy environment of support so that our scholars can successfully brave the rigors of academic excellence. 

At DREAM, health and wellness includes character development. We tell students to never give up; mistakes are how we learn; when something is hard, that just means we're learning. We let our scholars know from the very beginning – as early as kindergarten – that this work is really hard, but we are going to push them, and they can take the challenge. We let them know that if the work is easy, they’re probably not learning; and if it’s hard, they can’t opt out.

Physical well-being includes active recess even in the cold of winter, a full curriculum of physical education, and healthy meals that are modeled by every adult working here. Emotional and mental well-being is supported by a robust social work department that brings social workers into the classroom, lunchroom and school yard – our social workers don’t just show up when a student is in trouble. And they’re not only committed to the student, they’re committed to their families.

Which brings us to our families. Our Director of Family Engagement makes sure our students’ families feel welcome at DREAM. We recognize that parents are our students’ first teachers, and by doing so, we need to hear their voice when it comes to educating their child. Because what happens at home is just as important as what happens at school, we provide monthly family events that support our parents, such as legal clinics, reading and math workshops and nutrition classes. Beyond these formal gatherings, our families know they’re welcome at DREAM any day of the week.

Finally, DREAM values diversity – we are a full inclusion school where special education and ELL students learn side by side with general education students. We believe that all students have something to learn from students who are different from them. By having diverse students learning together, we are cultivating a generation of compassionate, rounded adults. This is supported by two teachers in each classroom – one general education teacher and one ELL or special education teacher – who partner to individualize each scholar's education in a shared learning environment.

This all sounds great, right? Well, we’re proud to say that it works. This year the New York City Department of Education gave us an A on our Progress Report. And our recent state test scores ranks DREAM out of 90 NYC Charter Schools second highest in improvement in ELA and sixth highest in improvement in Math. At DREAM, academic excellence does not come at the cost of recess, physical education, family programs and diversity – it comes through them. 

As far as I’m concerned, college is on the horizon for all students at DREAM Charter School. Making that a reality is my job.



Eve Colavito, Principal, DREAM Charter School
www.dreamschoolnyc.org

Find DREAM Charter School on the Public Charter School Dashboard

The Intergenerational School: Connecting Generations, Building Relationships

The mission of The Intergenerational School (TIS) is to connect, create and guide a multi-generational community of lifelong learners and spirited citizens. To teach and live out the concepts of lifelong learning and spirited citizenship, we surround our young students with opportunities to engage with the broader community and to learn with and from individuals of all ages who exemplify this ideal. TIS is located in Cleveland, Ohio, one of the poorest cities in the nation. Over the 12 years that TIS has been operating, we have developed the intergenerational learning model from a seed of an idea into a vibrant and successful school with not only 224 “young” learners (grades K-8) but approximately 300 adults and older adults who participate in a wide range of intergenerational programs each year.

A “walk through” at TIS demonstrates the ways in which we operationalize this mission. Walking into one primary classroom, it is reading workshop. Students are scattered throughout the room; some are engrossed in reading his or her own self-selected book, others are reading with a partner, a few are working with the teacher. Looking more closely, you will see that the class includes students of a variety of ages and some of the older students are reading with and helping some of the younger students. This is the first step toward instilling an inclination of “community service” in the children: if you know how to do something and someone younger does not, you have the opportunity to teach what you know. Hence at TIS a fundamental belief is that everyone is at once a teacher and a learner at all times.

Meanwhile in the hallway, ensconced in comfortable sofas and chairs are some of our oldest participants, senior citizens who have been trained to mentor our young readers. Together one elder and one child explore the wonderful world of books, which prompts discussion and the sharing of life stories between the two. Over the course of weeks, months, and even years, the elders notice the growth of their mentees as readers, and as poised and thoughtful partners in increasingly rich conversations. Further on, area college students are tutoring math students and developing relationships that will inspire TIS students to see college as a part of their own future.

Yet another class is preparing to leave to visit their nursing home partners. That day they will be deepening their own understanding of the civil rights movement by collecting the stories of those residents who were a part of it. These stories will be rewritten into picture book format to be shared with their primary cluster reading partners later on.

These are just a few examples of intergenerational learning activities that take place on a daily basis. Intergenerational experiences not only deepen and personalize learning, but have spillover effects on overall school culture and outcomes. From the academic perspective, TIS students consistently post some of the highest test scores in the state of Ohio. The school has had 6 years of Excellent ratings, and 2 years of achieving Excellent with Distinction status out of 9 years of being rated. But test scores do not tell the full story. TIS students develop a profound respect for their elders and benefit from the patience, caring, and consistency that characterize these relationships. The come to value people of all ages and from all walks of life. The presence of older adults contributes to a calm and respectful school climate. Meanwhile the older adults, including some with memory loss, know that they are making a profound contribution to the next generation and leaving a true living legacy.

We have coined the term “intergenerativity” to denote the powerful synergy that emerges when the generations learn together. To us, this represents community service at its most profound and personal level.


Cathy Whitehouse, Founder, Principal and Chief-Educator, The Intergenerational School www.tisonline.org

Find The Intergenerational School on the Public Charter School Dashboard

Paulo Freire Freedom School: Where Real Learning Matters

At Paulo Freire Freedom School (“PFFS”), a middle school charter in Tucson, Arizona, we believe that real knowledge comes from experiences that are authentic and engaging.  Young people learn when learning is connected to the real world they live in and to the issues they care about. 

Across the country, students and parents, principals and teachers alike, express growing concern that public schools are narrowing their curricula to only those bodies of content and skills that can be measured effectively through standardized testing. They worry that this narrowing of focus at the expense of powerful teaching and learning puts students at risk of not understanding deeply the 'big ideas' in science, math, and social studies, or critical 21st century skills, such as collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical thinking that are needed in today’s workplace.

At PFFS we have adopted Project-Based Learning (PBL) as our pedagogical and curricular focus.  PBL is “an instructional approach built upon authentic learning activities that engage student interest and motivation.  These activities are designed to answer a question or solve a problem and generally reflect the types of learning and work people do in the everyday world outside the classroom.”  (http://pbl-online.org/) The term PBL can be used to describe a variety of experiences, including problem solving, group work, service learning and expeditionary learning.  At PFFS we use PBL in two different ways: as an integral part of the regular classroom curriculum and as experiential learning experiences outside the classroom walls.

In the classroom, our students are regularly asked to work in teams to solve a problem or investigate an issue. These projects involve real world situations that quickly engage students because the relevance of their work is immediately apparent.  For example, in our 8th grade Humanities curriculum, a final project asked students to work with a partner to create their own Political Party addressing critical topics studied throughout the year such as the role of government, civil rights, and economic policy. After detailing their Party Platform, students then had to try to “sell” their party to other students by using political ads and slogans. An election was held that demonstrated how effective their marketing had been.

Many of the projects at PFFS are interdisciplinary, such as our “Barbie Bungee” exhibition. Students are first asked to recreate life-size Barbies using the same scale as the Barbie doll. Then they researched and reported out on a social justice issue connected to the doll (i.e. the manufacturing practices at maquiladores along the Mexican border with the United States, or the impact of unattainable images of beauty on adolescent self-worth). The project ended with students 'bungee jumping' Barbies from a balcony to estimate, measure, and analyze velocity.

Sometimes our projects take on a life of their own as happened last year when the entire school was transformed into eight different biomes. In small groups, our entire student body researched biomes on the planet to get a real sense of each biomes' ecosystem. Students then recreated an ecosystem (minus humans) to scale in different parts of the school building with charts and posters explaining their pristine dioramas. On the third day we introduced humans.  Students had to return to their research, assess the impact humans have had historically on different biomes, and then create governments and economic systems to meet the respective needs of their biome civilizations.

While we fully embrace the concept of PBL, we know and have seen that too often what is called project-based learning is little more than students doing prolonged group work.  Sometimes these projects include extended periods of “art time” (e.g. hours spent decorating dioramas). While perhaps enjoyable, these activities might not push students into higher levels of learning. Thus, any PBL at PFFS must be designed with an eye to what are the desired student learning outcomes and how effectively and efficiently the project supports those outcomes.

The other area where PBL is used is outside the classroom through experiential learning. These experiences are not necessarily about working on solving or analyzing real life issues in an extended project that culminates in a student created demonstration.  Experiential learning at PFFS consists of students being exposed to a panoply of outside environments aimed at building their background knowledge and establishing relevancy and motivation.

We create a special week of Intersession programming two times during the year, when teachers work exclusively with approximately a dozen students to explore an area of passion in depth. Teachers propose topics based on their passions/expertise and students then rank their choices.  In the past we have offered a diverse mix of experiences including Space Exploration, Backpacking in the Rincons, The Story Behind Stuff, Upcyling, Circus School, Let Freedom Sing (the use of freedom songs as part of civil rights movements), Love Not Borders (border study), Move It (dance and political expression), Building with a Conscious, and Political Musical Theater.

Expeditions, which take place every Friday for a third of the school, are one day field experiences. These range from going to the University Arizona medical school to conduct sunscreen experiments, to volunteering at a homeless shelter, to attending student matinee performances put on by the Arizona Theater Company.

The rationale for exposing students to learning outside the classroom walls lies in research showing that building background knowledge significantly helps students in their academic studies and helps students make connections between what they are learning in classroom with the larger world to motivate students to learn.

Our students perform well on their standardized tests, but we believe this provides only a limited snapshot of what they know and can do.  We look forward to the new performance based-assessments that will be coming soon with the Common Core which promise to measure a larger part of student achievement.  Arguably, our most important performance metric is that our students are excited about coming to school and they love learning. In a survey given to our 6th and 7th graders at the end of last year, 100% said they enjoyed coming to school. We believe that this evidence is at least as significant as making AYP on our annual report card.

JoAnn Groh, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Paulo Freire Freedom School
www.paulofreireschool.org

Find Paulo Freire Freedom School on the Public Charter Schools Dashboard.

Learn. Serve. Change the World: One Student at a Time

NAPCS is using the Charter Blog to feature public charter schools that prepare students for college using a range of instructional strategies. NAPCS asked school leaders to tell us in their own words how they use different instructional methods to create a “college-prep” focus. By combining data on instructional strategies from a national survey with on the ground stories of the work of charter schools, NAPCS wants to show the scope of possibilities in how charter schools can provide great learning environments for students.

At New Foundations Charter School (NFCS) we believe that all students can be lifelong learners and stewards of their communities. It is this belief that pushes our students, families and staff to strive for the highest levels of success in academics and beyond. The “beyond” in our school community is what sets us apart from other public schools, giving every student a chance become part of a caring community and to serve in a variety of ways.

At NFCS, kindergarten students have taken on the issue of pollution in our oceans by collecting plastic caps to be made into cosmetic bottles. Fifth grade students partner with the Fairmount Park Commission to maintain and rehab Pennypack Park next to their school. Tenth grade students spend two days shadowing a career of interest and then take action on a career related issue of their choice. These are just a few examples of how NFCS uses the teaching and learning strategy of service-learning to enhance our curriculum and give students an opportunity to develop important life skills while impacting their community.

All members of our school community have seen the impact of service-learning on our students’ academic, social, and emotional growth. We have watched shy students gain a voice, low performing students improve academic skills, classes work through the decision making process, and families find new ways to spend time together. The positive outcomes of service-learning go well beyond our academics, although it’s definitely worth mentioning that NFCS’ PSSA (Pennsylvania’s standardized tests) scores soar beyond the School District of Philadelphia and the school has made AYP for the past 4 years.

With the addition of our new high school in 2010, NFCS was able to develop a program that integrated service-learning into our focus of developing students that are college and career ready. We take a unique approach to college and career readiness by engaging students in a variety of activities that expose them to The 16  Career Clusters, allow them to explore careers of interest, create a sense of personal responsibility to their community, and prepare them for a successful life post-graduation. Through a comprehensive career development curriculum, students not only learn about their interest and skills, but they also have a chance to work with professionals from a variety of fields to give back to their community through service-learning.

Service-learning is not a one man (or woman) job. Teachers and specialists work together to plan units that meet academic standards and promote social and emotional growth. Support staff and AmeriCorps VISTA members provide resources on social issues and outreach to build partnerships.  Our administration and Board of Trustees are supportive and understand the importance of service-learning in the development of a whole child. Most of our families understand the purpose and see the benefits of this approach on their child(ren), providing additional hands as needed.

At NFCS, service-learning is not an extracurricular activity, an after school club, or something extra that teachers take on. It is part of what we do. It is the way we teach. It is our method of instruction. It is the way that we ensure that our students learn to be responsible adults in their communities.

Shira Woolf Cohen, Vice Principal, New Foundations Charter School
www.nfcsonline.org

Find New Foundations Charter School on the Public Charter Schools Dashboard.

Professional Development Center Benefits Charter School and Greater Community

In 2010, Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, Colorado, launched its Center for Professional Development (CPD), an office dedicated to creating collaborative educational partnerships designed to maximize student achievement. As a nationally recognized charter school (the high school is consistently ranked among the top 100 high schools by Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report), Peak to Peak regularly receives requests for advice, support, or resources from other schools and educational institutions. Because the school recognizes its responsibility as an educational leader, the CPD was designed to respond to those requests. 

The CPD’s purpose is basically two-fold. First, it provides professional development to Peak to Peak faculty and operational staff by creating opportunities to serve as consultants, mentors, workshop leaders, and instructional coaches. Second, it facilitates partnerships to provide collaborative, research-based professional development services to other schools and institutions (schools, districts, universities, etc.). Partnerships are custom-tailored to the needs of each partner institution, and are designed to be relevant and transformative for educators in all stages of their careers. 

CPD partnerships take on a variety of forms, from providing curriculum consultants to offering workshops in best practices to providing state-approved induction services. For example, the CPD’s free Wednesday Workshop series attracts a diverse audience made up of Peak to Peak teachers, district teachers, pre-service teaching candidates, graduate students from university education programs, university professors, and faculty and staff from neighboring schools (charter and traditional public). CPD consultants collaborate with partners across the state of Colorado, whether partnering with the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) to provide pre-AP training to BVSD middle school teachers, leading workshops on student engagement at an alternative high school in the Denver Public School District, exploring pedagogical best practices with the Health Professions faculty at Metro State University, or providing induction programs for initially-licensed teachers in rural charter schools. 

When the CPD brings education professionals together to improve organizations through authentic needs assessments and systematic implementation of best practices, schools get better and students get smarter. What’s more, it’s not just the partner school that sees improvement. As a result of the leadership and consulting opportunities provided by CPD external partnerships, Peak to Peak teachers and administrators become inspired by new insights and valuable experiences, which they then use as a lens through which to reflect upon and improve Peak to Peak’s own internal programs and practices.   

For more information about the Center for Professional Development at Peak to Peak Charter School, please visit www.cpdcolorado.org. 



The Center for Professional Development will be a featured collaborative practice at the upcoming national Best Cooperative Practices for Charter & Traditional Public Schools Conference. Click to learn more and register for the conference.

Author Megan Freeman is the Director of Professional Development at Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, Colorado.

Education Entrepreneurs Fellowship Gives School Leaders Resources to Innovate

Charter school leaders have always functioned more like entrepreneurs than traditional principals. As the primary drivers of their schools’ missions, they manage the academic program, finance and operational systems, strategic planning and development, external relations and any other domains that impact their “bottom line”: the academic success of every one of their students. Over the past two decades, this entrepreneurial spirit has created numerous high-performing schools from the ground up – schools that have defied expectations and impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of children. 

Today, the demands on school leadership are changing as the charter school movement seeks to respond to new challenges: the turnaround of failing district schools, the demand to scale up effective school models and the need to introduce new ones. When faced with such challenges, there is often discussion within the movement about the need to recruit new talent; but we also must create avenues for existing leaders to continue to develop the skills needed to tackle these new frontiers in education reform. Our charter school leaders have been doing this work for years across the country in schools they have built from scratch. It’s time for some of these school leaders to return to their entrepreneurial roots to develop innovative solutions to these new challenges.
 
Last week, we created an avenue at the Tennessee Charter School Incubator through our new Education Entrepreneurs Fellowship. This national program will give up to eight fellows the chance to expand on the best possible models across the country, design their own schools and/or management organizations, and launch them with financial and operational support, not as fresh-start charters, but as replacements for some of the lowest-performing public schools in Tennessee and, by extension, the country.

The opportunity and resources available to leaders who endeavor to do this work in Tennessee have never been greater. But this work requires time, targeted training, and personal and professional resources that go beyond those typically offered in some of our movement’s best training programs. Leaders need to master executive, political and turnaround competencies at levels few have had the opportunity to develop until now. The Education Entrepreneurs Fellowship is committed to providing these necessary tools and resources to exceptional leaders ready to transform education for our neediest students in Memphis and Nashville. It provides recipients more than three years of continuous and personalized support, from training to incubation to early launch services, as well as a competitive salary and benefits package. 

We believe the talent to overcome our most pressing challenges already exists in our movement. It just needs programs like the Education Entrepreneurs Fellowship to provide the time, resources and space needed to develop.

Greg Thompson is the chief executive officer for the Tennessee Charter School Incubator. See information about the Education Entrepreneurs Fellowship at http://www.charterexcellence.org.