Extractions: OLYMPIA A landmark bill to give parents a new choice in education for their children passed the House of Representatives today. House Bill 2295 would allow a limited number of charter schools to be established in Washington. Charter schools are independent schools that receive public funding and are exempt from many of the regulations that traditional public schools adhere to. The bill approved by the House would authorize 45 charter schools to be created statewide, either through the creation of new schools or the conversion of an existing public school. Twentieth District Reps. Richard DeBolt and Gary Alexander say the measure would give a new lease on life to Packwood Elementary School, which is facing the prospect of closure or consolidation with a neighboring district. "I have assurance from state officials that Packwood would be at the top of the list for approval to convert to an independent charter school," said DeBolt, R-Chehalis. "The school is threatening to close, which would force students to travel 30 miles or more to attend class. The school is the heart of this community and this bill would give Packwood its school back. It would provide relief from many of the state regulations that add costs to operations and are making it difficult for them to keep their doors open. This is a perfect case to demonstrate the need for charter schools, to give parents and communities this choice to determine the best course of action for meeting the educational needs of their children."
Extractions: OLYMPIA Concerned that it may rob the state's existing public school system of funding and create a special education system that excludes students, Rep. Mary Skinner voted against legislation that would allow a limited number of charter schools in Washington. The measure, House Bill 2295 , passed the Senate, 51-46. Skinner, a former junior high school teacher who also attended public schools as she was growing up, said the Legislature needs to make sure existing public schools can provide the best education possible before experimenting in other areas. "The dollars are finite in our budget. Education dollars already make up 47 percent of our budget for K-12 education and 13 percent for higher education. That is more than 50 percent of our budget," said Skinner, R-Yakima. "If we carve out a pilot project for five charter schools, I worry that it will take money away from our existing public schools."
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS the District of Columbia have charter school laws are giving serious consideration passing charter laws this year including Maine, Maryland and washington. http://www.charterfriends.org/CSweek/additional_information_about_cha.htm
Extractions: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS Definition Charter schools are independent public schools, designed and operated by educators, parents, community leaders, educational entrepreneurs and others. They are sponsored by designated local or state educational organizations that monitor their quality, progress and operations. The charter establishing each school is a written performance contract detailing such items as school mission, program, goals and measures of success. Charter schools are accountable to state officials, their authorizers, parents and the public. Freed from bureaucracy often found elsewhere, charters design and deliver programs tailored to educational excellence and student and community needs. Frequently Asked Questions The following are brief answers to common questions about charter schools. Who attends charter schools? Nationwide, students in charter public schools have similar demographic characteristics to those in traditional public schools, although more than half of the charters report serving significant populations of minorities
Directory Of Charter School Contacts MICHIGAN. MICHIGAN ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC school ACADEMIES. Dan Quisenberry, Director 215 S. washington Sq. 135. MISSOURI. charter schoolS information CENTER. http://www.charterfriends.org/contacts.html
Extractions: THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND CANADA Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina Texas Tennessee Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Wisconsin Wyoming Alberta, Canada ALASKA ALASKA CHARTER SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
NCSC - National Charter School Clearinghouse People For People Parent information Resource Center. of Texas (ACE) charter school Resource Center of Department of Education, washington washington charter http://www.nationalcharterschoolclearinghouse.net/mod.php?mod=userpage&menu=911&
National Charter School Clearinghouse com More like this More info; washington charter Public schools school Focus The most comprehensive online resource for charter school information. http://www.babieca.com/cgi-bin/engine/smartsearch.cgi?keywords=National Charter
Welcome To DC Public Charter School Board org. charter school Advocacy group that supports charter schools in washington, DC and provides information to the public. US charter http://www.dcpubliccharter.com/forschool/technicalassist/providers.htm
Extractions: List of Technical Assistance Providers The Center for Education Equity and Excellence Region III Comprehensive Technical Assistance Center George Washington University 1730 North Lynn Street Suite 401 Arlington, Virginia 22209 Contact: Judith Gonzalez Mid-South Regional Resource Center (Special Education) Interdisciplinary Human Development Institute University of Kentucky 126 Mineral Industries Building Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0051 Mid-Atlantic Laboratory for Student Success Temple University Center for Research in Human Development and Education 933 Ritter Annex 1301 Cecil B. Moore Avenue Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122 Contact: Margaret Wang Mid-Atlantic Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education 444 North Third Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19123-4107
Extractions: Seattle Times staff reporter E-mail this article Print this article Search archive The Federal Way School District is so open to the idea of charter schools, it's already out courting them. Superintendent Tom Murphy plans to meet today with the Knowledge Is Power Program, or KIPP, a national network of 31 charter schools serving largely low-income minority students. Some Federal Way School Board members plan to attend a charter-school conference in Seattle tomorrow to talk with other charter-school groups as well. "I don't think it's wise or prudent to put your head in the sand," Murphy said. "Charter schools are here, so we might as well take a look at them and see if they can help our kids." Yesterday also marked the official kickoff of an effort to repeal this state's new charter-school law, passed by the Legislature this spring. Conference information
Friends Of Choice In Urban Schools FOCUS promotes public charter schools in washington, DC. Includes a directory of charter schools, guidance on starting a charter school, background information and current news. http://www.focus-dccharter.org/
Washington State School Directors' Association charter schools What school New publication explores small schools strengths, challenges. washington State information and Services, Superintendent of Public http://www.wssda.org/
Washingtonpost.com Location Metro DC Region News DC Moves to Close charter school Board Votes will find information about school requirements and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/metro/schools/
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What's New! page for an application and more information. Upcoming Workshops. charter school Design Thursday, May 13, 2004 at the University of washington, Seattle (This http://www.cacharterschools.org/whatsnew.html
Extractions: What's New: Note: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view our documents. Click on Mac or PC to go to Adobe's website to download the respective version. This is a free download. Approximately 50 participants will be joining CSDC and other charter school experts from around the country for a six-day intensive leadership "boot camp" at Lake Tahoe from June 25-30 . Topics covered include charter school finance, law, personnel, facilities, student performance, special education, governance, and conflict resolution. Please visit our Leadership Institute page for more information. The National Council of La Raza will be hosting the Leadership Institute for Latino Literacy on July 25-30 that the Kellogg Conference Hotel at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. This institute is for teachers, leaders, and coaches to gain further knowledge on how they can improve curriculum, instruction, and assessment as it relates to literacy for all-especially Latino and English language learners. Please click here to view their flyer for additional information.
CSDC Workshops Prices for Noninformation Services Subscribers Unless otherwise indicated, single-day workshops cost Targeted for washington charter school developers , but http://www.cacharterschools.org/workshops.html
Extractions: 2004 Workshops CSDC has an exciting list of workshop offerings for 2004. All of our most popular workshops and "boot camps" will be presented again, as well as some critical new topics. To assist you in selecting the most appropriate workshops for your individual needs, we have outlined a suggested workshop series for charter school developers, operators, and charter-granting agencies. For the suggested workshop series, click here For a list of upcoming workshops, click here COSTS Those that subscribe to CSDC's Information Services receive significant discounts to our workshops (see below). To subscribe to CSDC's Information Services, click here . If you are unsure if you or your organization is subscribed, please call our office at 916-278-6069. Prices for Information Services Subscribers: Unless otherwise indicated, single-day workshops cost $125 per person; $100 each for groups registering four or more. Two-day workshops cost $250 per person; $200 each for groups registering four or more.
Extractions: Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education Champaign IL. Perspectives on Charter Schools: A Review for Parents. ERIC Digest. In recent years, many parents, educators, students, researchers, and observers have reached the same conclusion: Traditional schools do not work for all students (Finn et al., 2000; B. Nelson et al., 2000). As a result, many states have passed laws enabling the development of charter schools as an attempt to better meet the needs of those students who are not being adequately served by traditional schools. Although the number of charter schools has grown in the last few years, it still is sometimes unclear what they have to offer students, parents, and educators that more traditional schools do not already provide. This Digest offers some general information on charter schools, discusses how they have been perceived, and summarizes the results of research on them. WHAT IS A CHARTER SCHOOL?
Charter Schools: An Approach For Rural Education? ERIC Digest. ADE information. State Policy Boards State Board of Education/charter schools. charter school highlights and statistics ata-glance. washington, DC Author. http://www.ericdigests.org/1999-3/charter.htm
Extractions: Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Charleston WV. Charter Schools: An Approach for Rural Education? ERIC Digest. Charter schools have emerged in the 1990s as a prominent and controversial school reform idea. This Digest describes characteristics of charter schools, outlines some tentative research findings, discusses advantages and shortcomings, and summarizes challenges rural communities might face in starting such a school. WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED ABOUT CHARTER SCHOOLS In some ways, charter schools are traditional and tap historic rural roots of public education. They give parents, students, and educators public school alternatives based on the idea that competition will bring educational innovations (Thomas, 1996). But there is potential for controversy, especially in poor rural communities with limited financial and educational resources to support additional schools. Since Minnesota passed the first charter school law in 1991, 32 other states and the District of Columbia have passed similar legislation (Hirsch, 1998). The Center for Education Reform (1998) estimated 1,129 charter schools existed nationwide in September 1998. Most schools were in the South and West. Half were in three states: Arizona, California, and Michigan. Almost another quarter were in four other states: Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas. While the number of charter schools has increased rapidly since 1991, these schools represented only about 0.5% of public school students in charter states during the 1996-1997 school year (RPP International, 1998). It is unclear how many were in rural areas.
Extractions: Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools of choice that operate with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. The "charter" establishing each such school is a performance contract detailing the school's mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success. The length of time for which charters are granted varies, but most are granted for 3-5 years. A charter school is accountable to its sponsor—usually a state or local school board, or in some cases municipal government or a college or university—to produce positive academic results and adhere to the charter contract. At the end of the contract term, the sponsor may renew the school's contract. Generally, states apply fewer regulations to charter schools and demand a higher level of accountability for results. If charter schools fail to produce the results outlined in their contract with the state or other authorizer, the school can be closed. Moreover, as schools of choice (i.e., parents voluntarily enroll their children there), charter schools are held accountable to the public because if they cannot attract students, the schools cannot survive.
Extractions: [Print Friendly Version] This paper contains a listing of public school options in the Washington, DC area. For comprehensive and current information on schools and programs , please contact the school district directly. International Baccalaureate (IB) programs in Washington, DC area public schools are listed below under Choices for High School. Non-public school links are also listed below. In some districts, all students coming from foreign areas are referred from the neighborhood school to a central registration office. To avoid this confusion, Foreign Service families returning from overseas should tell schools they are U.S. citizens. For statistical information on schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia, visit the Virginia Department of Education's School Report Card . This web page provides individual school report cards by pulling down the list of counties, then schools. A variety of demographic and statistical information helps to paint a portrait of a school, including programs within that school. It is worth noting that not all of Virginia's excellent schools have a highly-recognizable name. Therefore, when looking for a home, ask your realtor for a printout of the multiple listings, which list the neighborhood schools. The School Report Card will allow you to compare information about schools. There are many excellent public and private schools in the greater Washington metropolitan area, but what makes the choice of schools difficult is the price of real estate. In many cases, the better the reputation of the local public schools, the higher the real estate cost! A general rule of thumb is, the closer to the city you are, the smaller, older, and more expensive the home will be. The further out you go, the more likely one will be able to find newer, more spacious homes. By doing your homework first, the good news is that BOTH scenarios can land your children in a good local public school.
