Charter Schools Today

SURVEY OF CHARTER SCHOOLS 1998-1999

Charter Schools' Plans for Expansion and Development: Selected Responses

Arizona School for the Arts, Phoenix, AZ: Build on success and involve parents more.
ATOP Academy - Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ: We are planning to build a new campus next year that will serve as an innovative model for charter schools.
Career Pathways, Glendale, AZ: Continue to develop new programs that work for students. Word of mouth works best for expansion.
Children's Academy of Arizona - Tucson, Tucson, AZ: Continue to improve programs and facilities, expand staff training, increase achievement.
Dragonfleye Charter School, Phoenix, AZ: Word of mouth is the best aid to our growth. Our methods are tried and true and will change little.
Intelli-School - Metro Center, Phoenix, AZ: School has grown from one site with 50 students and 13 staff to four sites with 400 students and 30 staff. Maintain wait list of 200 + at all times.
Kachina Country Day School, Scottsdale, AZ: The school plans to build a community cooperative media center and arts center, and junior high school classrooms.
Kingman Academy of Learning - Primary School, Kingman, AZ: Our school has grown steadily since our first year. We have doubled the size of our school each year for three years. At this time we do not have plans to expand further despite long waiting lists.
Life Enrichment Community School, Mesa, AZ: The school will double in size next year. At 200 students our school will close enrollment to assure a small, personal, safe campus where students and parents are valued. Developing a rural site.
Mountain School, Flagstaff, AZ: Own building, grow by 30 percent.
New School for the Arts, Scottsdale, AZ: New facility, expanded curriculum, expanded enrollment.
Northern AZ Academy for Career Development, Show Low, AZ: NAA has grown in rural Northeastern Arizona as needed, to five communities. We have been approached by several communities to add schools and feasibility studies are pending. Priority is the needs of students and quality of education provided. Addition of new schools will only occur if the above is met.
Northland Preparatory Academy, Flagstaff, AZ: In three years of operation the school has grown from 40 to 135 students. We plan to move into a larger building, grow to our maximum capacity of 250-300 students, and expand our fine arts and athletics program.
Payson Center for Success, Payson, AZ: Have a great school going and plan to fine tune it; no other changes needed.
PPEP TEC - High School, Tucson, AZ: To become more technology oriented.
Tolchll Kooh Charter School, Winslow, AZ: Reinstitute "Parent Program."
Triumphant Learning Center, Safford, AZ: Continue to fine tune our program. Expansion will be considered if the facility and land becomes available.
Tucson Urban League Education Center, Tucson, AZ: To have small, personalized classrooms/environment; plan to concentrate on younger students.
Vail Charter High School, Vail, AZ: In the future, this school plans to increase enrollment and revise its course selection.
Community Learning Center, Bakersfield, CA: We will be opening a site, moving to more of an academic model classroom, more classroom instruction, increased technology.
Darnall E-Campus, San Diego, CA: We are continuing to work on representational governance, better student assessment and use of data.
Elise P. Buckingham Charter School, Vacaville, CA: More choices, better facilities, more community outreach.
Escondido Charter High School , Escondido , CA: We are planning a new school facility that could house 1000 students. Our goal is to maintain quality, not quantity.
Excelsior Education Center , Victorville , CA: Moving to the local community college campus.
Home Tech Charter School, Paradise, CA: Loan computers to families. Add high school grades. Implement a distance learning system.
Horizon Instructional Systems, Lincoln, CA: We do what parents tell us to do.
Keyes to Learning Charter School, Keyes, CA: We want to develop a great home-study Core Knowledge program, and offer multiple challenges to students, families.
Learning Community Charter School, Oroville, CA: Establish and use student achievement data.
Mountain Home School Charter, Oakhurst, CA: We will be moving into a 7,500 sq. ft facility designed for the mountains and fitting the mountain motif. We will add teachers and curriculum as we grow. We have added five new PC computers and will be adding more. We as a staff will be revisiting our grade level objectives and comparing them to state standards to meet and exceed them. We will continue to educate our parents so they can be the best possible teachers for their children.
The Heritage School, Phelan, CA: New site funded by the sponsoring district.
Vivian Banks Charter School, Pala, CA: Little growth expected; expect to improve SAT scores.
Battle Rock Charter School, Cortez, CO: Growth involves formal collaboration with other rural charter schools in Colorado in fund raising activities. No growth by grade level is currently planned.
CIVA Charter School, Colorado Springs, CO: Our plan is to stay focused on our vision, and use a strong core group of parents and students to foster growth.
Crestone Charter School, Crestone, CO: We are dictated to by the district. They usually allow us to grow by two FTE's a year.
Littleton Charter Academy, Littleton, CO: We are looking at the future and have established committees for this purpose: a strategic issues committee and a facilities committee.
Side by Side Community School, South Norwalk, CT: We will add a 7th grade next year, 8th the year after. Growth approved by the state. Will reapply for charter in 2001. Hope this will open door to mortgage etc.
Chance Charter School Project, Alachua, FL: Would like to see focus with special education change to provide services in classroom as much as possible.
Sarasota School of Arts and Sciences, Sarasota, FL: Hiring competent staff and seeking community support.
Cartersville Primary School, Cartersville, GA: Testing, evaluation of teachers, pilot projects.
Chicago International Charter School, Chicago, IL: We are hiring a not-for-profit educational management next year to better serve our teachers and students.
Jefferson Community School, Jefferson, LA: Plan to improve funding, add to student population.
Boston University Residential Charter, Granby, MA: Legislative change to make school a "pilot."
Somerville International Charter School, Somerville, MA: We will increase admissions and are currently planning for advanced placement course.
Academy of Detroit West, Westland, MI: Our enrollment will grow through word of mouth and publicity. We plan to expand our use of Direct Instruction.
Benito Juarez Academy, Saginaw, MI: Provide GED, add grades 7 and 8.
Central Academy, Ann Arbor, MI: Maintain low student-teacher ratio, class size will never be more than 20 students.
Concord Academy, Petoskey, MI: We plan to stay at 230 believing that the intimacy of the program is a strength.
Eagle's Crest Charter Academy, Holland, MI: Parent satisfaction drives our enrollment growth.
Elbert T. Clark Academy, Detroit, MI: As far as school improvement, we are giving surveys to determine what direction to go.
Horizons Community High School, Wyoming, MI: New and improved computer classroom, new kitchen, new roof.
Morey Charter School, Shepherd , MI: Building a new high school this spring with focus on voc/tech.
Saginaw County Transitional Academ y, Saginaw, MI: Provide more specific specialists for special education. Expand classrooms.
Sunrise Educational Center, Tawas, MI: More one on one.
E.C.H.O. Charter School, Echo, MN: Parents contact us often to ask about enrollment, have grown from 44 to 56 and are now in the process of adding new students.
Eci' Nompa Woonspe' Charter School, Morton, MN: We will build a new building and mark student achievement.
New Visions School, Minneapolis, MN: Moving to extended year schedule.
Arapahoe Charter School, Arapahoe, NC: We plan to grow no larger than two classes of 20 or less in each grade K-8.
Grandfather Academy, Banner Elk, NC: No planned growth; must remain small. Always looking for better ways to serve the education needs of our children
John HAaker Junior High School, Raleigh, NC: We are inside a county jail, so growth is a negative thing.
Orange Charter School, Hillsborough, NC: We expand via word of mouth referrals from pleased parents.
Summit Charter School, Cashiers, NC: We plan to remain same size, but strive to improve programs and content.
The Learning Center, Murphy, NC: There has been a school-wide commitment to train for the Foxfire Approach which will serve as a basis for our school improvement plan.
Galloway Kindergarten Charter School, Absecon, NJ: Applied for a K-8 charter due to parent demand.
Turquoise Trail Elementary, Sante Fe, NM: Continue to improve children's learning.
Education Redirection, Charleston, SC: Establish learning lab to train teachers to teach. Share behavior model with public schools.
Blessed Sacrament Academy Charter High School, San Antonio, TX: Expand Interdisciplinary thematic themes.
Appleton Central Alternative School, Appleton, WI: After school programming for all secondary at risk students in fall of 99' (if grant dollars are obtained). Middle school charter is in planning stages.
McKinley Charter School, Eau Claire, WI: Increase enrollment and add a summer component.

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Survey of Charter Schools 1998-1999 is part of Charter Schools Today: Changing the Face of American Education. The entire report is available for $19.95 + $3.00 shipping and handling. Order your copy on our publications page, or by calling CER at (202) 822-9000.

Charter Schools Today: Changing the Face of American Education is published by The Center for Education Reform [CER] a national, independent, non-profit advocacy organization that provides support and guidance to those working to bring fundamental reforms to their schools. For more information on charter school efforts, call CER at (202) 822-9000, or visit our Charter School Library.