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THE STATE
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234 |
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TO: |
The Honorable the Members of
the Board of Regents |
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FROM: |
James A.
Kadamus |
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COMMITTEE: |
EMSC-VESID |
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TITLE OF ITEM: |
Charter School
Applications |
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DATE OF
SUBMISSION: |
November 22,
2004 |
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PROPOSED HANDLING: |
Approval |
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RATIONALE FOR
ITEM: |
Statutory Authority to
Act on Charter Schools Applications |
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STRATEGIC GOAL: |
Goals 1 and
2 |
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AUTHORIZATION(S): |
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SUMMARY:
Under the New York Charter Schools Act of 1998, the Board of Regents is authorized to approve or deny charter applications it receives directly as a charter entity. We have received two such applications that will be presented to you at your December meeting. The applications are for the following:
·
Niagara Charter School,
Niagara-Wheatfield CSD
·
Urban Choice Charter
School, Rochester
Complete copies of the applications are available for your review by contacting James R. Butterworth at 518-474-4817.
The following table summarizes the number of
new charters that may still be issued by charter entities in New
York:
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SUNY Trustees |
All Other Charter
Entities |
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12 |
20 |
VOTED: That the Board of Regents approve the proposed charters for the following charter schools based upon the information contained in the attachments and upon a finding by the Board of Regents that (1) the charter schools described in the proposed charters meet the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations; (2) the applicants can demonstrate the ability to operate the schools in an educationally and fiscally-sound manner; and (3) granting the proposed charters is likely to improve student learning and achievement and materially further the purposes set out in subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred fifty of Article 56 of the Education Law:
·
Niagara Charter School,
Niagara-Wheatfield CSD
·
Urban Choice Charter
School, Rochester
The Trustees of the State University of New York
resubmitted its proposed charter for the Albany Achievement Academy Charter
School, on November 5, 2004, without any changes from the previous version. The
Board of Regents voted at its September 2004 meeting to return the proposed
charter to the Trustees due to their unwillingness to respond to questions
raised by Department staff during the review process. As a result and pursuant to §2852(5-b)
of the Education Law, this proposed charter became effective via operation of
law on December 7, 2004.
New York
State Education Department
Summary of
Charter School Review
Summary of
Applicant Information
Name of Proposed Charter
School: Niagara Charter
School
Address: 6929 Williams Road, Wheatfield, New York
14304
Applicant(s): Richard D. Hague,
Jr.
Anticipated
Opening Date: August 15,
2005
District of
Location:
Niagara-Wheatfield Central School District
Charter
Entity: Board of Regents
Institutional
Partner(s): Expeditionary
Learning-Outward Bound
Boys and
Girls Clubs of Buffalo
Learning
Disabilities Association of Western New York
Management
Partner(s):
None
Grades
Served: K-4
(K-8)
Projected Enrollment: 240
(432)
Application
Highlights
Applicant
Rev. Hague is the pastor of the Mt. Erie Baptist Church in Niagara Falls,
New York.
Institutional/Management
Partner
Expeditionary Learning-Outward Bound (ELOB) is a comprehensive school reform model that stresses project-based learning, the application of theory in practical situations, character development, community, and stewardship. ELOB will provide on-site and on-going professional development, technical assistance, and materials and texts for the professional development.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Buffalo is interested in expanding its geographic reach by working with the Niagara Charter School (NCS) to offer services to children such as alcohol and drug prevention programs, the arts, health, the environment, and athletics.
The Learning Disabilities Association is a parent-sponsored, non-profit agency that will provide services such as recreation, latchkey programs, family support and parent training, information and referral services, and crisis intervention.
Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction
- Students will be offered academic, social, and life skills instruction through project-based learning using both traditional and non-traditional methodologies and technological enhancements.
- Multi-age classrooms (other than kindergarten) will be offered as follows: Level 1, grades 1 and 2; Level 2, grades 3 and 4; Level 3, grades 5 and 6; and Level 4, grades 7 and 8.
- The school will use the Expeditionary Learning-Outward Bound (ELOB) school design.
- ELOB has five “core practices” – learning expeditions, active pedagogy, school culture and character, leadership and school improvement, and structures, and 10 design principles. It employs cross-curricular, theme-based instruction, arts and technology integration, and also emphasizes reading and writing across the curriculum.
- The key features of this proposed charter school
include:
- a nationally-recognized, successful school
design;
- a small, K-8 community;
- a longer school day and year;
- more student time on task with expanded daily
instruction in English language arts and mathematics;
- character education;
- the creation of a dynamic and supportive
community of learners;
- parent and faculty participation in school
governance;
- the establishment of community partnerships;
and
- experienced, responsible
governance.
- a nationally-recognized, successful school
design;
- The school will also provide a mandatory end-of-day
period for tutoring or enrichment.
The school building will also be kept open later to give students the
option of remaining for additional tutoring and progress on homework
assignments.
- The school will teach both reading and writing K-8
across the disciplines, and will teach inquiry-based math, science, and social
studies.
- The model of arts integration to be used will help
to increase student achievement allowing students to learn difficult concepts
through arts-based activities and express their understanding in
non-traditional ways.
- Assessments will be of multiple types and will
include holistic assessments, reflection and critique, portfolios, and
standardized tests.
- All State assessments will be
given.
- The TerraNovas will be administered to all students
in grades 2 – 8. .
- The student achievement goal for the school is that
a minimum of 75 percent of the student cohort K-4 and 5-8 will attain Level 3
or higher on the State’s grades 4 and 8 ELA and math exams, respectively.
- The school proposes that by the fourth year of the
charter, the school’s percentage of students achieving at Level 3 or above on
the State’s grades 4 and 8 ELA and math exams will exceed the respective
percentages in the Niagara Falls City School District, the district from which
the school expects to draw most of its student population.
- Relevant district assessment results are provided
in the attachment.
Governance
- The initial Board of Trustees will be comprised of five persons with expertise in finances and accounting, facilities, and education.
- The Board will expand to include two parent representatives and two faculty representatives.
- The number of Trustees will never be fewer than 5 nor more than 15.
- The term of each Trustee shall be for three years, except that the term of any Trustee who is a parent of a child enrolled in the charter school or a faculty representative shall have a term of one year.
- Trustees will be selected by a majority vote of the trustees then in office.
- The Board will appoint a director, an assistant director, and a business manager.
- The school will establish a Parent Association, which will be involved in a variety of activities such as fundraising, and will also interact regularly with the Director and the Trustees on matters relating to policies and practices.
Students
- The school
will open with 240 students in grades K-4 and expand to 432 students in grades
K-8 by year five.
- Specifically,
by year, the school will serve:
Year 1: K-4,
240 students
Year 2: K-5,
288 students
Year 3: K-6,
336 students
Year 4: K-7,
384 students
Year 5: K-8,
432 students
- The school
will provide an enrollment preference for students who are considered to be
at-risk of academic failure based upon poverty, which is defined as
eligibility for federal free- and reduced-price lunch programs.
- It is
expected that most of the students will come from the neighboring Niagara
Falls City School District, since it has the highest percentage (62 percent)
of students qualifying for the free- or reduced-price lunch program of the
districts in the surrounding area.
- Students
will wear uniforms.
- The school
anticipates hiring one teacher in each K-8 multiage
classroom.
- In Year 1
(2005-06), there will be a total of 15 teachers and five teacher aides,
expanding to 28 teachers and seven teacher aides in Year 5
(2009-10).
- Full-time
substitute teachers will also be employed on a daily basis.
- Staff will
be appropriately certified or be eligible for exemption pursuant to
§2854(3)(a-1) of the Education Law.
- All
special education staff will be appropriately certified.
Recommendation
Approve the
application.
Reason for
Recommendation
1) The charter school
described in the application meets the requirements set out in Article 56 of the
Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations; (2) the
applicants can demonstrate the ability to operate the school in an educationally
and fiscally sound manner; and (3) granting the application is likely to improve
student learning and achievement and materially further the purposes set out in
subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred fifty of Article 56 of the
Education Law.
New York
State Education Department
Summary of
Charter School Review
Summary of
Applicant Information
Name of Proposed Charter School: Urban Choice Charter School
Address: TBD
Applicant(s): John Bliss, Richard Grybos, and Brandan
Keavney
Anticipated
Opening Date: September
7, 2005
District of
Location: Rochester
City School District
Charter
Entity: Board of Regents
Institutional
Partner(s): The
University of Rochester
Management
Partner(s): None
Grades
Served:
K-4
(K-8)
Projected Enrollment: 220
(404)
Application
Highlights
Applicants
Mr. Bliss is a former teacher in the Rochester City School District and
is a director of after-school programs, a summer camp director, and an adult
education instructor.
Mr. Grybos is the former Director of Special Education Services for the
Rochester City School District.
Mr. Keaveny is an elementary special education teacher in the Rochester
City School District.
Institutional/Management
Partner
The University of Rochester will provide pediatricians affiliated with the Department of Family Medicine as volunteers at the proposed charter school. Also, the University’s Pediatric/Family Medicine Links to the Community program requires pediatricians to do a two-week rotation in a variety of community organizations; they are also required to engage in a two-year, community-based longitudinal project during their residency. The proposed charter school will be a destination for these pediatricians.
Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction
- The proposed charter school has adopted an
integrated knowledge-centered philosophy. Core subjects will be given their own
block of instructional time but teachers will be encouraged to integrate
subjects.
- There will be an academic focus on traditional
content but the student and teacher will have choices in the way they connect
with the material. The
content itself will be clearly defined but individual teachers will select the
methods and strategies that work best for the student.
- The focus of the curriculum is to ensure that all
students meet or exceed the State’s learning standards by closely aligning
instruction to standards, routinely reviewing and improving instruction as
needed, and providing both student and teacher with the support they need to
reach and exceed performance benchmarks.
- The school will primarily use Houghton Mifflin for
its Language Arts program, and
Core Knowledge and MacMillan/McGraw Hill for other content areas. Other curricular series
will be used as well.
- A Teacher Support Coordinator will work with a
diverse team of instructional specialists to provide classroom teachers with
the guidance and resources they need to increase student performance. He will be in the classrooms daily to
provide such support and guidance.
- Learning and teaching will be a collaborative
effort.
- Teachers at the same grade level will have parallel
schedules so they can team-teach.
They will also be able to utilize flexible groupings and differentiated
instruction.
- Projects and service learning, peer- and cross-age
tutoring will be used.
- Professional development will be
on-going.
- A small school will be developed to provide greater
continuity to both students and teachers.
- The school day will be extended to 4:40 p.m.
- Engaging classroom environments will be maintained
by implementing five key elements: practical home communication, useful
classroom assessment, functional technology, effective learning centers, and a
student accountability system.
- Tutors will be recruited and trained to assist the
students in collaboration with the classroom teacher.
- Assessments will occur at regular intervals and the
results of these assessments will be used to shape future
instruction.
- The reading specialist and assessment coordinator
will work closely with classroom teachers to increase early literacy
competency.
- English Language arts instruction will be
integrated throughout the curriculum.
- Technology will also be integrated.
- The instructional design allows for flexibility in
meeting individual student needs.
- A staff person will make home visits when
necessary. The Teacher Support
Coordinator will work with the school’s parent representative and other school
personnel to ensure that communication between the school and home is
consistent, honest, and constructive.
- The school will hold a community forum one Saturday
morning per month to initiate and strengthen the bond between the schools and
its families.
- In its first year of instruction, the school’s
student achievement goals are for 53 percent of the students to achieve at
Level 3 or higher on the State's grade 4 ELA exam and 67 percent on the
State's grade 4 Math exam.
- After five years, the school’s student achievement
goals are for 73 percent of the students to achievement at or above Level 3 on
the State's grade 8 ELA exam and 87 percent on the State's grade 8 math exam.
- All State assessments will be given as well as
other on-going assessments such as running records, portfolios, and Core
Knowledge assessments.
- Comparative scores on the State English language
arts and mathematics exams for grades 4 and 8 are provided in tables
below.
Governance
- The initial Board of Trustees will consist of seven
members, one of which will be a parent of student attending the proposed
charter school.
- The initial Board will serve one- to three-year
staggered terms, with a term of three years for each subsequent
member.
- Members shall be elected by a majority of the
Trustees then in office.
- The School Administrator and the Teacher Support
Coordinator will work as partners managing the school.
- School Leadership meetings will be open to the
entire staff, which may address the group.
Students
- The school will start with 220 students in grades
K-4 the first year.
- After five years, the school will serve 404
students in grades K-8.
- Specifically, by year, the school will
serve:
Year 1: K-4, 220 students
Year 2: K-5, 266 students
Year 3: K-6, 312 students
Year 4: K-7, 358 students
Year 5: K-8, 404 students
- It is expected that most of the students will be
“at risk” for education failure based upon poverty levels, although the school
is not targeting such a population.
- A minimum
of 10 teachers will be hired.
- All
teachers will be certified except as provided for by §2854(3)(a-1) of the
Education Law.
Recommendation
Approve the
application.
Reason for
Recommendation
1) The charter school
described in the application meets the requirements set out in Article 56 of the
Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations; (2) the
applicants can demonstrate the ability to operate the school in an educationally
and fiscally sound manner; and (3) granting the application is likely to improve
student learning and achievement and materially further the purposes set out in
subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred fifty of Article 56 of the
Education Law.