SURVEY OF CHARTER SCHOOLS 1998-1999

Charter Schools' Academic and Other Program Offerings: Selected Responses

  • Academy Charter School, Palmer, AK: Block scheduling, extended days, use of specialists to teach science, art, geography, music, and technology. Team teaching, curriculum integration. Core knowledge sequence.
  • Chinook Charter School, Ft. Wainwright, AK: We're a multiage school serving-5 year olds to 14 year olds. We emphasize personal responsibility, student choice and community service.
  • American Heritage Academy, Clarkdale, AZ: Focus on great leaders, heroes, and constitutional founders. Focus on principles of freedom that made America great.
  • Arizona Agribusiness & Equine, Phoenix, AZ: Mastery of Knowledge and accelerated core classes.
  • Az-Tec High School, Yuma, AZ: Vocational training
  • Blackwater Community School, Coolidge, AZ: Provide an instructional program that reflects the culture and language of the community. The school also provides instruction for families of infants to four years through a center base and home base design. Parents are provided with opportunities to identify academic goals and achieve a GED.
  • Center for Academic Success, The #1, Sierra Vista, AZ: Work in small groups and one on one.
  • Crittenton Youth Academy, Phoenix, AZ: Children work on Pentium II computers. Treatment center.
  • Dragonfleye Charter School, Phoenix, AZ: Environmentally safe.
  • Educational Opportunity Center, Yuma, AZ: We offer self-paced and competency based curriculum. Low teacher/student ratio. On-site childcare. Flexible schedules. Positive reinforcement discipline. Four-hour days.
  • Edu-Prize, Gilbert, AZ: Alternative calendar (45 on, 15 off).
  • Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy, Flagstaff, AZ: Community partnerships.
  • Foothills Academy, Cave Creek, AZ: Strong emphasis on writing & critical thinking skills.
  • Kachina Country Day School #1, Paradise Valley, AZ: The school provides a neuro-learning, strategy-based program to increase student focus and attention and memory/higher level thinking skills.
  • Life Enrichment Community School, Mesa, AZ: Holds students and parent accountable for behavior and academic progress. The school also incorporated a true middle school and mental health models within the school curriculum and academic structure. We also provide family enrichment programs and summer youth camps.
  • Mingus Mountain Academy, Prescott Valley, AZ: Small classes, teachers cross-trained as behavioral health techs, development of special techniques for teaching troubled and disturbed children. Equestrian program.
  • Montessori Charter School of Flagstaff - Westside, Flagstaff, AZ: Montessori curriculum and trained certified Montessori teachers.
  • New West Charter School, Tucson, AZ: Small class size, 195 student school days, all day kindergarten.
  • Valley Academy, Phoenix, AZ: Direct teacher instruction, traditional, back to basics curriculum, K-12 on one campus, use of Spalding.
  • Ventana Academic School, Cave Creek, AZ: Community service oriented projects.
  • Villa Montessori - Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ: Villa is the oldest Montessori school in the state of AZ; we are also a training site for Montessori teachers.
  • Village, The High School for Pregnant & Parenting Teens, Phoenix, AZ: The Village provides comprehensive academic and support services for pregnant and parenting teens with an emphasis on computer technology skills/applications.
  • Challenge Charter High School, Oroville, CA: Changes to meet the needs of the community-all done by teacher control, parents, and students.
  • Excelsior Education Center, Victorville, CA: Students attend community college and the charter school.
  • Hart-Ransom Academic Charter School, Modesto, CA: We provide curriculum, classes, and support as any public school for families who choose to home-school their children.
  • Kingsburg Community Charter Extension, Kingsburg, CA: We have part time certified teachers for every 10 students enrolled. We also have a classroom offering one on one teachers and instruction. Ask 100 percent of all work be completed with high standards.
  • Learning Community Charter School, Oroville, CA: Umbrella for two programs.
  • Mid Valley Alternative Charter School, Hanford, CA: Home study with parents doing home teaching.
  • Nevada City School for Arts, Nevada City, CA: Began the first charter park in U.S.
  • Oakdale Charter School, Oakdale, CA: California Digital High School.
  • Options for Youth - Long Beach, Inc., Pasadena, CA: The school uses independent study as a basis; students work on one or two subjects at a time. All teacher contact is one-on-one.
  • San Jacinto Valley Academy, San Jacinto, CA: Our school is very responsive to parents and teachers. The focus is kept on the students and their classroom experience, and a close personal connection with students and families.
  • Santa Barbara Charter School, Goleta, CA: Governed as a parent-staff cooperative team. We're a K-8 school with an elementary program (K-5) and a middle school program (6-8). Our home based partnership program serves approx. 45 home-schooled students. We emphasize the arts, academics, etc.
  • Santiago Middle School, Orange, CA: Required enrollment contract: 12 hours of parent service per family annually.
  • School of Success Kindergarten Academy, San Diego, CA: Extended day including childcare.
  • The Heritage School, Phelan, CA: Parent contracts.
  • Vivian Banks Charter School, Pala, CA: Using a program to improve character/ethical behavior.
  • Westside Charter School, Rio Linda, CA: Mandatory parent involvement (30 hours/year). Small, student-focused, core blocks of independent projects. We don't plan any major changes -- parents love our school and staff.
  • Academy of Charter Schools, Denver, CO: Very similar to public schools of 40-50 years ago. ACS offers a back-to-basics curriculum based on the Core Knowledge sequence in the elementary grades and a college prep focus at the secondary grades. Conversational Spanish is taught beginning at first grade.
  • Alpine Charter School, Dillon, CO: Participating in Colorado League of Charter Schools pilot program to analyze ACS.
  • CIVA Charter School, Colorado Springs, CO: Character development emphasis.
  • Lake George-Guffey Charter School, Lake George, CO: We are a combination of rigorous academics and expeditionary, place based instruction. We may end up becoming our own district. Part of Colorado Rural Charter Schools Network.
  • Platte River Academy, Littleton, CO: Core Knowledge, traditional calendar, uniforms.
  • Union Colony Charter School, Greeley, CO: Daily homeroom and advisors, smaller class size, no retakes on tests or late homework for credit, A, B, C, D, F grading system.
  • Integrated Day Charter School, Norwich, CT: Multi-age grouping, site board management, narrative report cards, peer supervision, individual instruction, student research projects.
  • Side by Side Community School, South Norwalk, CT: Family Services Center.
  • Village Academy, New Haven, CT: We hold everyone accountable!
  • The SEED Public Charter School, Washington, DC: We're the District of Columbia's first public charter boarding school. We're a college and career preparatory school for inner-city children who desire to meet high academic standards and who believe that a change in their environment could help them.
  • Chance Charter School Project, Alachua, FL: Focus with special education to provide services in class.
  • Summit Charter School of Orange County, Maitland, FL: We offer self-contained SLD classes while the system has gone to inclusion. We are using sensory motor development programs as well as using sensory developmental programs for our children.
  • Sedalia Park Elementary School, Marietta, GA: We don't look very different, but with the waivers we have, we have more flexibility with budget and are making time to be more reflective practitioners. Still shaping the course of our charter school.
  • Greenlawn Charter School, Columbus, KS: Focuses on the three critical basic skills: reading, writing, and arithmetic. Also character education, integrity, perseverance, caring, etc. No sex education is taught.
  • Lawrence Family Development Charter School, Lawrence, MA: Summer school.
  • Lynn Community Charter School, Lynn, MA: We are the only school we know about that is training all staff, interested parents and many students in reevaluation counseling or co-counseling, a form of peer counseling. We are an affiliate of the National Coalition Building Institute and have a strong focus on welcoming and celebrating diversity, as well as teaching conflict resolution skills school-wide.
  • Academy of Detroit West, Westland, MI: Our global themes provide a monthly infusion of cultural literacy from each continent to the classroom. Separate district.
  • Creative Learning Academy of Science, Mathematics and Humanities, Beaverton, MI: Plan to incorporate more tangible proof of student progress through technology. Students learn keyboarding, sign language. Presentation stations aid in instructional delivery.
  • Dearborn Academy, Dearborn, MI: Offers one hour of Arabic instruction per day.
  • Elbert T. Clark Academy, Detroit, MI: Computer lab, business program, Junior Achievement, banking and checking program.
  • Excel Charter Academy, Grand Rapids, MI: Character education curriculum.
  • Livingston Developmental Academy, Howell, MI: LDA is managed by Smart Schools Inc.
  • Morey Charter School, Shepherd, MI: Before and after school enrichment program.
  • Northwest Academy, Charlevoix, MI: Small class size (1/12 teacher student ratio) - Individualized learning plan, NWA plans on having a computer/technology led high school.
  • Warwick Pointe Academy, Grand Blanc, MI: All day/every day kindergarten. We take the children as far as they will go in all subjects; fine arts assemblies every month; focus on education and character building; we teach etiquette.
  • Bluffview Montessori School, Winona, MN: Pre-school from 33 months up.
  • Cyber Village Academy, Minneapolis, MN: On-site and distance learning. Distance education serving homebound and underserved children.
  • Eci' Nompa Woonspe' Charter School, Morton, MN: Curriculum is student oriented around their interests.
  • Metro Deaf School, St. Paul, MN: 80 percent of staff is deaf. Provide a visual environment: everyone signs, accessible to both deaf/hearing.
  • Skills for Tomorrow High School, Minneapolis, MN: We are strictly a school to work program.
  • Downtown Middle School, Winston Salem, NC: Thematic, parent participation, direct community involvement, standard-based grading. Small class size. All students take band, Spanish, and P.E everyday. Suites of 60 students are responsible to three core teachers.
  • Grandfather Academy, Banner Elk, NC: We serve children who are estranged from their families, who have no sense of safety, no trust of adults. To them we offer small self-contained classrooms.
  • Healthy Start Academy, Durham, NC: Staff development, student uniforms, strict discipline, high academic expectations for all.
  • The Community Charter School, Charlotte, NC: We use lower ratios (15 to 1), multiage classes with a project-based, inquiry approach. Connections are made between classroom learning and the larger community. We are establishing on-going community service relationships in the city.
  • Village Charter School, Chapel Hilll, NC: Part of a five charter school league.
  • Galloway Kindergarten Charter School, Absecon, NJ: Full day kindergarten.
  • LEAP Academy Charter School, Camden, NJ: 11 month school year, 8-5 school day.
  • Soaring Heights Charter School, Jersey City, NJ: Teachers study their own class, communicate and observe each other weekly.
  • Keystone Education Center Charter School, Greenville, PA: Smaller class size, behavior modification, unique programs (night school, work study program).
  • Textron Chamber of Commerce Academy, Providence, RI: 18 member board of directors: six parents, six teachers, six business mentors. School year is 210 days. Peer review teacher evaluation.
  • Appleton Central Alternative School, Appleton, WI: After school program.
  • New Century School, Verona, WI: Strong home to school connection; individualized curriculum approaches.
  • Paideia Charter School Academy, Kenosha, WI: Work with local universities; community involvement; gym from the local youth foundation.

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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.