FRANKLIN CHARTER SCHOOL ACADEMIC REPORT FOR 2004-2005 November 16, 2005 A chartered public school operates according to its approved charter. The charter document contains a mission, philosophy, and goals that guide charter school operations. At year's end, a charter school must account for outcomes related to those initial stated goals. So during each year, these chartered public schools know they must perform, no matter how difficult the circumstances. Franklin’s charter was designed to provide a college-readiness education for all students. The school hoped to draw in at-risk students and inspire them to achieve. The design in reading and math was diagnostic-prescriptive with continual efforts to assess and adjust curriculum so as to advance students. Student performance levels were assessed before school, mid-year, and at end of year using an NWEA assessment, which is widely used. A reading program was ordered but the teacher's approach to improving reading was to read and discuss literature as a class. And the students read and discussed their reading almost every day. The new Board of Trustees hired 3 teachers, all experienced with youth but relatively new to public school teaching. As part of the application, each prospective teacher taught a lesson to the Board. The school operated without the funds to which students were entitled, so funding for supplemental staff and programs outlined in the charter were not available. All the services and support were provided by three full-time teachers aided by parent and community volunteers. The school’s director worked with certain students or taught cooking between administration tasks. The teaching responsibility for FCA's 3 staff was enormous: to teach every college-readiness subject at each grade level and also sports, music, arts; advise classes; learn to administrate and implement assessments and reports of results; guide students applying for college; meet regularly with parents; coordinate programs; plan and oversee community service; intervene in all discipline and awards for progress; be available to coordinate with district personnel to meet requirements for special students; meet together regularly to plan and implement the new school; implement all services in special education plans since there was no other help, plan field trips, set up the school store, integrate technology, create their own classroom programs, outlines, and tests; develop school procedures and guidelines; plan special events; intervene in student crises; advise on transitions and admissions; and ...much, much more. In this environment, fueled primarily by by the school's charter, parent and board expectations, each other's energy, and the enormity of the challenge, the results were...unbelievable. In reading, the average student increase was 2.3 grade levels. Individual grade level reading gains ranged from 1 year to 6 years per student. In Language, the average student increase was 2.7 grade levels in one year. In Math, the overall grade level improvement was 1.5 grade level with individual student gains from 1.0 year to 6.0 years. In science, 94% of students shows an increase in assessment scores. 100% of students had individualized programs. 97% of students maintained passing grades, 70% of students completed assignments by due date, 80% met attendance goals of 95% attendance for the year. 100% of students had laptops to use and "all projects were completed using Microsoft Office applications." Parents of the 35 students clocked in over 1200 volunteer hours (and subsequently earned state recognition). Students provided 224 hours of independent community service in addition to school-sponsored projects. In Independent Reading, students read 401 books throughout the year in addition to books assigned in class. During the year the state's first charter school received no money for the special education students, whose progress is included in the totals above. There were no additional paid staff besides the 3 teachers and director. So hats off to this faculty of 4: Maura Ambuter, Teacher, Grades 7-12 English, Reading, Language Arts; Alejandro Gomez-del-Moral, Teacher, High School Math, Social Studies, and History; G. Stephen Kelsey, Ph.D., Sciences 7-12 and Math grades 7 & 8; and Carol Sideris, Head of School, who also taught cooking and tutored students while managing the school. Franklin Career Academy captured the state's attention when the City of Franklin refused to send state funding to the charter school--the only public funding available to these students. Franklin also provided no special education funding to their special education students. The state funding intended for teaching staff, rent, or heat never reached the students, although the school had received a state and a federal grant. The state does not really give a contemporaneous headcount allocation, so no district actually receives a set amount per child for the current year. And in Franklin students returned to public schools from home schooling, further confusing the state funding scheme. The key points to observe is how needy the students were for the type of accelerated emphasis they received. Students on grade level do not accelerate 6 levels in a year. We can assume these students--transferring in from school or home--really benefited from this school program. The program was designed around the demographics of Franklin and it obviously met a need. The school had many applications for the 2005-2006 school year but did not re-open but says it intends to re-open with funding path and timeline issues are resolved. The Franklin Career Academy Report Card names charter school founders
and board members, gives goals from the charter application, and
provides ample commentary about the school's progress and how it
came to close. This report is worth the read and is available from
Bill Grimm, Board Chairman, Franklin Career Academy.
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