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Charter Schools:
Changing the face of american education

2007 STORIES

INSPIRATION, STRUGGLE & SUCCESS

of
 2007
INSPIRATION, STRUGGLE & SUCCESS
STORIES
of

By Joe Williams

February 2007

The Center for Education Reform (CER) creates opportunities for

and challenges obstacles to better education for America's communities.
Founded in 1993 to translate ideas into action, CER combines
education policy with grassroots advocacy to work deep within the
nation's communities to foster positive and bold education reforms.

THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM

1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW • Suite 204
Washington, DC 20036
tel (202) 822-9000
fax (202) 822-5077
www.edreform.com

This report is available in full on the website.

Additional copies can be ordered at www.edreform.com or
by calling (202) 822-9000.

ISBN 978-0-9646028-2-3

© Copyright 2007 by The Center for Education Reform, Washington, D.C.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced, stored in a database
or retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of The Center
for Education Reform. For permission and usage inquiries, please contact CER at 202-822-9000.
INTRODUCTION

S
ince its inception, The Center for Education Reform (CER) has
tracked the progress of America’s charter schools, their trials and
tribulations, and their impact on the entirety of the public education
system. As we pronounced in 2000 in a book on the subject, charter
schools are indeed changing the face of American education. While much has
changed since then, with an explosion in six years from fewer than 1,700 to
more than 4,000 schools operating today, the story of these schools continues
to chronicle a message of inspiration, struggle, and success.

Such stories are detailed in this report, by award-winning author and

journalist Joe Williams. It is a window into the impact charter schools are
having in district-wide education strategies. Stories about the “Ripple Effect”
illuminate how school choice and competition can inspire education leaders
to focus their energies on improving outcomes for children.

Power and money also play a big role in the charter school story. These
nearly “deadly sins” lurk behind the obstacles which state and local
bureaucracies and teachers unions cause that distort the education mission
with efforts to protect jobs and the status quo rather than functioning
primarily to improve outcomes for children. The growth and popularity of
charter schools pose a threat to powerful political interests that respond with
tactics to thwart the very success our nation increasingly demands of its
public school system.

Somehow, despite opposition and challenges from many quarters, charter

schools find the recipe for success. These are the stories of determined
educators, often working with the children traditional public schools have
seemingly given up on, who inspire their students to achieve an academic
success some never knew was possible. We hope the lessons learned from
successes lead full circle to more ripples that improve public education for all.

Consider the larger picture as you read the individual charter school stories;
see where patterns exists, pockets of hope, as well as entrenched barriers.
This is the true story of charter schools today – a part of a nationwide school
reform transformation that seeks to inspire and deliver on the promise of a
quality education, through choice and competition, to every student.

Jeanne Allen
President
The Center for Education Reform
 THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF CHARTER SCHOOLS:
A LOOK AT THEIR IMPACT ON PUBLIC EDUCATION

D
o public charter schools help create conditions that can improve
public education as a whole? Skeptics once argued that with
80,000 public schools nationwide, the creation of several
hundred charter schools would be little more than a passing
fancy – another fad that would come and go with little impact.

It is harder than ever to dispute that charter schools are having an impact.
The ripple created by charter schools is impacting traditional schools,
changing the attitudes of entire districts and benefiting public education as
a whole. Charter schools have raised the bar, and traditional public school
systems are taking notice.

The ripple is causing public schools to model themselves after successful

charter schools and spurring district superintendents to launch major
advertising campaigns to try to prove to parents that their schools are worthy
of students’ continued attendance. In addition to coming to realize that
charter schools can be an important tool in their own reform tool kits, school
leaders are asking why charter schools in their communities are achieving
levels of success with the same kids who attend their struggling district schools.

Because one of the missions of the charter school movement is to bring

about better public schools in general, the impact of charters on traditional
schools is being watched closely. So far, we have seen that wherever a large
number of charters are clustered, traditional schools begin to behave
differently in order to keep up.

“The Ripple Effect” can be summed up best by the following comments from
the Christian Science Monitor:

Once upon a time, most people just assumed their kids would head for the
public school down the street. But today, many parents think long and hard
and review a growing roster of choices before they make that decision.

As a result, public schools in some areas are finding that they can’t just sit
back and greet the kids as they walk through the door. Some schools are
discovering that unless they’re out there working hard to bring families in –
and offering the kinds of options these families want – they’ll be seeing
fewer and fewer of them.

2 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

From enabling dedicated and gifted teachers to launch their own schools,
to changing the perspectives of traditional public school administrators,
to spurring districts and municipalities to operate their own public
charter schools, charters in many states are accelerating system-wide
school improvement.

ARIZONA

In 2006, Challenge Charter School’s principal, Mr. Greg Miller, was inducted
into Arizona’s LEADS Circle of Honor, recognition given to the top one
percent of principals in the state. Mr. Miller will be celebrating this honor by
spending the next two years serving as a model for other educators.

CALIFORNIA

The second charter school to open in California, San Carlos Charter

Learning Center in San Carlos, has become a model of success as its test
scores have put it in the top 10 percent of schools in the state. Its teaching
techniques have been adopted not only by schools across the country but
by the very public schools that once fought against its opening.

Publicly embarrassed by two failing San Diego Unified School District

schools that opted to convert to independent charter schools as part of
No Child Left Behind-prompted restructuring, the San Diego Education
Association in 2006 agreed to change its teachers' contract to allow
principals in low-performing schools to select the most qualified teachers
to participate in turn-around efforts. Parents and teachers at Gompers
Charter Middle School and Keiller Leadership Academy Charter School
had said previously they would have remained in district schools if only
the union had allowed them this kind of flexibility in the first place.

G E O RG I A

The ripple is clear in Thomas County, Georgia, where in an effort to raise

its graduation rate from below 70 percent, the district opened the Bishop
Hall Charter School. Inspired by the charter school model, the school
offers students small group instruction as well as individualized attention.
By the end of the school’s first year, the county’s overall graduation rate
increased to 80 percent, and rose to 90 percent in the second year.

The Ripple Effect of Charter Schools: A Look at Their Impact on Public Education 3
 ILLINOIS

In the fall of 2006, 14 new Chicago Public Schools opened their doors to
students. Half of the schools replicated existing charter schools, including
several launched by charismatic leaders like Michael Milkie, a former
public school math teacher who founded the Noble Street Charter School
with his wife, also a teacher, in 1999. Milkie’s two new public schools are
modeled after Noble Street. Another two teachers started Perspectives
Charter School, which opened its second campus at the site of an old city
high school. The teachers, both from the Chicago Public Schools,
dreamed of a new type of school where they could highlight character
education, use the city as a classroom and truly prepare kids for college.
Both Noble Street and Perspectives, the original models for more new
schools, have produced results with low-income, minority students. Noble
Street ranks among the city’s top-scoring non-selective high schools. Both
schools send the majority of their graduates to college.

INDIANA

Indianapolis Superintendent Eugene White, who in 2006 called for a

moratorium on new charter schools that would compete with his public
schools, described how powerful external pressure can be. “Charter
schools have been a pain and now they are a motivation,” White said.
“We will no longer feel sorry for our situation or make excuses for being
urban and poor. We will now find new ways to create better educational
options and opportunities.”

“Charter schools have been a pain and

now they are a motivation.”
— Indianapolis Superintendent Eugene White

In 2006 Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson’s Charter Schools Initiative

was one of seven winners of the Innovations in American Government
Award given out by the Ash Institute at Harvard University. The mayor
has authorized 13 charter schools since 2001.

4 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

KANSAS

When the Parsons Unified School District decided it wanted to create a

new health careers program for students, school officials decided that
creating a district-sponsored charter school was the way to go. Housed as
a separate school within Parson’s High School, the school’s plans call for
offering more intense math and science courses, and would allow for time
in the school schedule to build in job-shadowing and other programs
within the health field. “A charter will give us flexibility on where we hold
classes, and it will not be as constrictive as far as time,” said
Superintendent Deborah Perbeck.

MASSACHUSETTS

The Massachusetts Department of Education compared MCAS scores

between charter schools and their counterpart sending districts (CSD)
and found that in both language arts and mathematics, at least 30 percent
of charter schools have performed significantly higher than their CSD
since 2001. According to Jeff Wulfson, associate commissioner of the
state Department of Education, “there’s been a lot of resistance to people
learning from charter schools. This report shows that there are a
significant number of high-performing charter schools, and therefore, we
should be trying to learn what they’re doing.”

MICHIGAN

Michigan lawmakers approved a bill in May 2006 that requires every

student in the state to take part in some kind of online instruction before
he or she graduates. The support for online learning in Michigan is
evident in the growth of the Michigan Virtual University’s Charter High
School program, whose enrollment went from 100 in 1999 to 5,959
during the 2004-5 school year.

The Ripple Effect of Charter Schools: A Look at Their Impact on Public Education 5
 MISSISSIPPI

Frustrated with lackluster academic results in Coahoma County's public

schools in Mississippi, members of the Clarksdale Municipal School
Board and other civic leaders traveled to Arkansas to visit two public
charter schools being operated by KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program).
Led by the Delta Regional Authority and Coahoma County Industrial
Foundation, the visitors looked not only at the successes KIPP has
achieved academically, but how the charter schools have worked with
other agencies to improve the economic outlook of the region.

N E W YO R K

When the Child Development Center of the Hamptons in Long Island

opened its doors in 2001, it found a relatively captive audience of
children with disabilities. East End children with special needs frequently
had no choice but to endure bus rides of more than an hour to regional
school facilities. Enrollment at the charter school generally took care of
itself. But as local school districts began to lose students – and thus,
revenue – they began to change their offerings. By the fall of 2006, center
officials said that expanded services for disabled students in local public
schools had increased to the point that the charter school asked
permission from the state to change its charter contract to include fewer
students than when the school first opened.

After taking office in 2005, Buffalo School Superintendent James A. Williams

announced his intention to borrow ideas from charter schools in an effort to
improve student achievement in this New York school district. Such changes
include uniforms, extended school days with extensive after-school tutoring,
and hiring teachers through an interview process as opposed to seniority-
based hiring. A year later, after holding up Buffalo’s Westminster Community
Charter School as a model for academic success, Williams asked his Board of
Education to start asking why the school is so successful. “Those students are
coming from the same neighborhoods our students are coming from,”
Williams said. “If they can do it there, we can do it.”

“If they can do it there, we can do it.”

— Buffalo School Superintendent James A. Williams

6 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

OHIO

Public school systems are starting to pay attention. In July 2005, district
and teachers unions in Ohio initiated a phone survey to investigate why
public schools were losing students to district charter schools. The results
were used to develop a marketing campaign to sway parents and kids
toward non-charter schools. Canton and Cincinnati districts also sought
to determine the draw towards charter schools, discovering that children
mainly attend charter schools because of issues relating to academic
achievement, transportation and after-school programs. These basic
issues were never previously the subjects of customer-type questionnaires.

Years after White Hat Management’s Life Skills Centers (charter schools)
began reaching out to dropouts and other older students who were
struggling to earn a diploma from traditional high schools, the Cleveland
Public Schools in 2006 announced plans to focus on adult residents who
lack a high school diploma. Craig Cotner, Cleveland city district’s chief
academic officer, developed a “flexible and personalized” high school
degree program in hopes of attracting the multitude of adults in Ohio
who do not have their diploma—the same kids that Life Skills had been
attracting. Likewise, the Westerville School District, near Columbus,
created an alternative school program called “Educational Options for
Success,” housed in trailers at Westerfield North High School and
designed to win back struggling at-risk students who either had already
left for Life Skills Centers or who would have otherwise been heading to
the charter school.

By converting to a charter school in Ohio’s Upper Arlington School

District in 2006, the Wickliffe Informal Alternative Elementary School
became Wickliffe Progressive Community School and widened its
innovative course offerings for students. The district also morphed
portions of the high school into two charter schools, the high-level
International Baccalaureate program and Upper Arlington Community
High School. As the Columbus Dispatch noted about these successful
programs, “suburban districts are starting to embrace the [charter school]
option as a way to diversify.” Consultants in the nearby Albany-Plain
District were planning an arts-based charter school. The Columbus
School District opened a charter school for students who fell behind and
were working with KIPP to bring a high-performing charter school to the
district by 2008.

The Ripple Effect of Charter Schools: A Look at Their Impact on Public Education 7
 WA S H I N G TO N, D C

In response to losing 10,000 students to charter schools over a five-year

period, Superintendent Clifford B. Janey announced a $2.3 billion
modernization plan to increase student achievement and attract parents
back to the school system. This plan will focus on school renovations,
increasing advanced placement classes and providing specialty classes in
an attempt to retain its current students. He later, however, called for a
moratorium on new charter schools in an attempt to slow the bleeding.

WISCONSIN

Manitowoc Public School District will open an alternative charter high

school within the public school district in the fall of 2007. Superintendent
Mark Swanson said he needed an innovative solution to help struggling
Lincoln High School students, who were at risk for dropping out. Many
of these students were lost in the traditional structure of public high
school. Swanson took inspiration from the charter school format which,
freed from many state law restrictions, allows educators to be innovative
and creative in their approach to teaching.

8 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

THE OBSTACLES AND OPPOSITION
TO CHARTER SCHOOLS

I
f public charter schools are having such a positive impact on public
education, why are so many public education officials, groups, and
labor unions standing in their way? The laws of physics tell us that
every action has an equal and opposite reaction. School reform is no
exception to this rule.

Since the first charter law was passed in 1991 and the first charter school
opened a year later, charter schools have faced more than their share of
roadblocks and pitfalls on the way toward delivering excellent education. The
obstacles faced by charter schools can be divided into two broad categories:
political opposition and operational hurdles.

Political opposition generally occurs on three fronts: the teachers’ unions, state
boards and bureaucracies, and local boards and district offices. Operational
hurdles include those barriers often encountered when a charter school
attempts to open, operate, and grow as a business organization, such as
facilities; financing; governance; staffing troubles; and the residue of political
battles, such as generating the positive public relations and community outreach
needed to establish and maintain enrollment and parent involvement.

Political Opposition

The trends in state and national studies suggest that today’s charter schools
continue to encounter various types of political obstacles. At the beginning of
the public charter school movement, charters mainly faced facility and
operational concerns. Now, reports of political opposition are flooding the
nation’s charter support centers. Charter schools from coast to coast have
even been forced to seek relief in the courts to obtain funding that is
guaranteed to them as public schools under state laws.

Education reformers across the political spectrum are embracing charter

schools. Nevertheless, the concept behind charter schools—accountable but
freely operating public schools driven by an education mission—may seem
threatening to those who have a vested interest in the current district system
of public education. As autonomous public schools of choice, charter schools
operate outside the conventional fiscal, operational, and personnel policies
that have shaped schools for more than a generation. This new way of
operating puts the power players of the traditional school system in a

The Obstacles & Opposition to Charter Schools 9

 competitive environment in which the regulations and unwritten rules of
school administration no longer provide protection against critical scrutiny
and public pressure for better results. Thus, the establishment of charter
schools, which often involves scrapping the traditional power organizations of
public education, is often perceived as a threat to the status quo.

The Power Players

The local school boards, the state boards of education and the teachers’
unions have a powerful advantage over ambitious reformers. As the old kids
on the block, they have written the regulations and cast the conditions for
their own survival. They can navigate the maze of rules and paperwork that
supports the current system, as well as exploit loopholes created by any weak
or vague parts—often inserted at their insistence—of charter school laws. By
insisting on compliance with otherwise seldom-enforced regulations or
magnifying legislative anomalies, the powers that be can—and do—diminish,
delay and even kill charter efforts.

ARIZONA

Although charter schools are considered public schools, some charters

have arrangements with for-profit companies, which is permissible under
Arizona law. But these schools with business relationships are not eligible
for federal funds, a federal appeals court ruled in September 2006. More
than $3.6 million dollars in federal funding has been withheld from state
charter schools while the case was pending.

ARKANSAS

Haas Hall Academy Charter School in Farmington nearly had to close its
doors after the Arkansas Board of Education refused to permit its move
to Fayetteville. Board members did not want a charter school in
Fayetteville because they felt it would pull students away from one of the
best schools in the state.

CALIFORNIA

Dehesa Charter School, a non-classroom-based school that provides

personalized learning through various approaches, couldn’t get anyone in

10 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

 Riverside County to even look at their charter petition, even though a
majority of their students reside there. They stayed part of a different
county, however, after an unsuccessful attempt with Riverside.

Charter schools in California received a tremendous boost from the state

judiciary in 2005 when the Fifth District Court reaffirmed that, under the
terms of Proposition 39, the Kern County School District must provide
facilities for hundreds of charter school children similar to those provided
to public school children. Many charter schools nationwide spend
enormous amounts of money simply fighting for funding to which they
are legally entitled. But the message still didn’t make it to all school
districts. Two other San Diego-area charter schools, Fanno Academy and
KIPP Adelante Preparatory Academy, were forced to file a lawsuit in
2005 to obtain classroom space from the local school district.

Students at Pacific Collegiate Charter School in Santa Cruz were kicked

out of the North County's swimming and track leagues in 2006 because
the leaders of some of the area’s traditional public schools were upset that
charter schools compete with them for students and state funding. This
charter school, one of the highest performing public schools in the state,
has been controversial with the surrounding school districts since it began
accepting students in 1999.

CONNECTICUT

Operating in New Haven, one of the worst school districts in the state,
the Amistad Academy has had to institute a lottery system to decide
which of 500 applicants will get one of 70 available slots. So successful
has the school been since opening in 1999 that in 2005 it opened three
more schools in inner-city New York neighborhoods, with two more
schools to follow in 2006. Unfortunately, due to a cap on the number of
charter schools allowed in Connecticut, Amistad is unable to open any
new charter schools there at this time despite both its extensive waiting list
and its stellar track record of academic success.

Since 2005, charter school advocates have worked to lift the state’s
enrollment cap, which limits the number of students charters can serve.
The state also funds the charters it approves at almost 30 percent less than
other public schools.

The Obstacles & Opposition to Charter Schools 11

 F L O R I DA

In 2005, the opening of Our Children’s Academy in Lake Wales was

jeopardized by a dispute over whether the school was technically just a
preschool or a school that also served kindergartners and first graders.
The local school board argued that, being solely a preschool, Our
Children’s Academy was not entitled to federal start-up money. School
administrators, however, disagreed and sued the school board to obtain
these important funds.

More than a dozen school districts in late 2006 signed on to join a lawsuit
planned by the Florida School Boards Association challenging the legality of
the Florida Schools of Excellence Commission. The commission, created by
the Legislature with seven members appointed by the state Board of
Education, is allowed to authorize charter schools, even if local districts don’t
want them in their space. In the past, school boards had the direct authority
to reject or approve applications for charter schools in their districts.

G E O RG I A

The Charter Conservatory for Liberal Arts & Technology (CCAT) in

Statesboro receives only $3,000 per pupil per year, less than half of the
$6,900 received by students in the local school district. The school
reported that finding adequate funding has been its biggest challenge.
Grant application and fund solicitation often take administrators’ time
away from the more important task of educating students.

H AWA I I

The State Board of Education in 2006 slashed the proposed $62 million
budget for charter schools by more than $10 million, denying charters in
Hawaii much-needed funding for facilities.

I DA H O

State law caps the number of new charter schools that may be created in
Idaho to no more than 6 per year for the entire state. Lawmakers have
been considering plans to increase the cap to 12 charter schools per year.

12 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

INDIANA

West Side (Gary) High School's ninth grade basketball team walked off the
court and refused to play the team from Thea Bowman Leadership
Academy in the championship of a 2006 Thanksgiving weekend
tournament because coach John Boyd doesn't like charter schools. “Why
would a Gary school play a charter school that takes kids from the Gary
school district?” Boyd said following his team's forfeit. “What community is
going to support a school that takes kids, and essentially takes money, from
our schools? It's crazy. They want to be friends with us, but they're taking
money from us and teaching jobs from us. I can't understand that. Maybe
I'm wrong, but my program is not playing charter schools.” Bowman, in its
fourth year, is the largest charter school in Gary, with 572 students.

“Why would a Gary school play a charter school that

takes kids from the Gary school district?”
— West Side (Gary) High School basketball coach John Boyd

M A RY L A N D

In 2005, Anne Arundel County prevented a new charter school from

opening by instituting a new requirement that schools be located on a
minimum of three acres of land. The school had already begun
renovations on a former church it intended to use as its facility before the
law was passed. Traditional public schools were exempted from this
ordinance, suggesting that the law may have been passed to force area
charter schools out of existence.

After more than a year of work to obtain a charter, the Potomac Charter
School in 2006 had to wait months for the contract to be signed by the
state, which delayed the signing of a lease with the school’s landlord until
June 8. Twelve-weeks worth of school construction needed to be
completed in a fraction of the time. And then came another curveball.
Despite the fact that the school board signed off on the architect's designs
in February, founder Deborah Driver was told on July 12 that the school
needed to increase its bathrooms from 9 to 19. Driver cut the school's
kitchen in half - and probably her own pocketbook - and added the
bathrooms. The school opened to the joy of its students three days late.

The Obstacles & Opposition to Charter Schools 13

 MASSACHUSETTS

State officials in 2006 changed the way it calculated student aid for
schools and districts in ways that disproportionately hurt independent,
public middle schools. The change, to cite one example, forced McAuliffe
Regional Charter Public School in Framingham to cut $200,000 from its
operating budget. The school even had to lay off one of its founders in
order to adjust its spending to accommodate the change. Like many
underfunded charter schools, McAuliffe officials planned to raise private
funds to avoid such pitfalls in the future and to maintain its high level of
academic services for its students.

Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School was forced to

defend itself in a lawsuit initiated by 16 surrounding districts claiming
that AMSA was “illegally recruiting” students from those districts by
handing out fliers. Interestingly, the districts involved in the lawsuit
contained only poorly performing public schools.

MICHIGAN

In early 2006, the Lansing School Board put a local elementary school
building up for sale but refused to sell it to the Mid-Michigan Leadership
Academy, a charter school already occupying the building. The previous
year, the school paid $460,000 in rent for the building and sought
purchase in order to lower its operating costs.

MISSOURI

In 2005, Thurgood Marshall Academy was almost forced to close its

doors after the University of Missouri at St. Louis declined to continue as
its sponsor. Lindenwood Academy in St. Charles, a local private school,
initiated discussions about taking over sponsorship but Missouri state law
does not permit a private school to sponsor a charter.

Kansas City charter schools were prevented from receiving $6 million in

funding to which they are entitled under state law because the Kansas
City Board of Education chose to sue the state rather than pay this
money. According to a decision by the Board of Fund Commissioners,
the Kansas City Board of Education owed each school about $800 per
student in wrongfully withheld funding. Every time a public body or court

14 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

 solves the issue in favor of the city’s charters, the Kansas City school
board challenges it, distracting the school leaders from their core focus.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

The Franklin City School Board in 2005 voted not only to slash funding
for the Franklin Career Academy Charter School from $82,000 to $1, it
also took the unusual step of refusing to allow the charter school’s
students to march in a community Class Day parade solely because the
school was not part of the local school district.

NEW JERSEY

Due to excessive regulations about how to spend start-up grant money,

the TLC Charter School in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, an innovative school
plan that was designed to help bridge the education divide between
minority and white students, was forced to shut down before it even
opened. Prior to closing the school, founder Harriet Beckman noted that
excessive charter school regulations in New Jersey allowed her to purchase
needed furniture but not the necessary storage or insurance for it. She
was permitted to rent a school building but not to pay an architect to
convert it into usable classroom space.

N E W YO R K

National Heritage Academy’s Southside Academy Charter School in

Syracuse, which has been in existence since 2002, was granted permission
by the state Supreme Court Appellate Division to build a new school
facility—a decision that overturned previous rulings against the charter
school. After being turned down by the city planning commission and
losing its case before a local judge, Southside Academy was finally allowed
to start building, but the setback in terms of planning time and
construction was harmful to the natural growth of the school. Once the
school got the green light to proceed, city officials began discussing the
possibility of swapping land with the school, so that it would be located in
a more hospitable neighborhood. Ironically, the land the city was offering
was the same land that the school originally attempted to purchase back
in 2002 – only to have the sale vetoed by the city.

The Obstacles & Opposition to Charter Schools 15

 When Imagine Schools, which runs 50 strong charter schools nationwide,
attempted to open a new school in the Bronx, it was told that New York
State had reached its cap of 100 charters. In addition to the state
legislature’s refusal to lift the cap, eight unused charters (from charter
schools that were closed) were not made available to new schools by the
state. Because of this cap, some 4,000 New York City children were
forced to remain on waiting lists for spots in charter schools.

N O RT H C A R O L I N A

Unlike conventional public schools, charter schools in the Tar Heel state do
not receive money from the state lottery. Access to lottery money could provide
an additional $100 for each student enrolled in a North Carolina charter
school. State charter schools, unlike conventional public schools, also receive
no money for construction of school buildings or for providing transportation.

OHIO

Concerned about losing students and funding to community schools (as

charter schools are called in Ohio), Warren City Schools took out a full-
page ad in the local newspaper asking parents to look closely before
deciding on a community school.

Ohio’s education establishment – including the state’s PTA, American

Federation of Teachers, and school boards association—filed suit in 2001
challenging the constitutionality of the 1997 charter school law on ten
different counts, despite the fact that similar lawsuits in at least a dozen
other states had found charter schools constitutional extensions of state
authority. In 2006, the Ohio Supreme Court affirmed charter schools as
legal, but court cases like this only serve to worry parents and make
observers skeptical.

OREGON

Two charter schools, the Armadillo Technical Institute and the Trillium
Charter School, were forced to use funding from parents, teachers, and
private donors to finance permanent school buildings. Four of the
founders of the Armadillo Technical Institute put up their homes as
collateral and still needed the parents of a student to co-sign on the loans.

16 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

 Unlike conventional public schools, which are able to fund capital costs
such as school buildings through tax money, charter schools do not
receive funding for this and must be creative and budget-conscious when
looking for school housing.

The public debate over plans to open the Estacada Academy of

Educational Excellence charter school got so acrimonious in 2006 that
local school board members were quoted in official meeting minutes
calling the school's supporters “basically nuts.” Oregon state law requires
charter schools to have a contract with the local school board with which
they will compete. The Estacada School Board twice rejected the school's
charter application, claiming it lacked community support, financial
stability, and a clear instructional plan.

P E N N S Y L VA N I A

Although Career Connections Charter School has successfully operated a

high school for eight years in Lawrenceville, PA, plans to open a new
middle school have been repeatedly blocked by the Pittsburgh school
district. After turning down the initial application in February of 2006,
the school board failed to vote on a revised application. The charter
school took its application to the State Charter School Appeal Board,
which voted to approve the middle school. In response, the school district
asked the Appeal Board to reconsider and put off providing the charter.
Despite this, the middle school opened its doors to 76 students on
September 7, 2006. On September 27, the school board voted
unanimously to close the school down immediately, thereby disregarding
the approval obtained by the Charter School Appeal Board. The Career
Connections Middle School has voted to stay open despite its battles with
the district, which began making telephone calls to parents and sending
letters warning they would be cited for truancy if their students did not
re-enroll in district schools.

In early 2006, Pennsylvania cyber charter schools faced a challenge when

the Pennsylvania School Boards Association sought a moratorium on
“cyber schools,” a move clearly intended to harm charter schools in the
state. The School Boards Association claims that cyber schools cost too
much to operate.

The Obstacles & Opposition to Charter Schools 17

 S O U T H C A RO L I N A

Midland Valley Preparatory School, a charter school in the Aiken area,

spent $24,000 in legal fees in 2004 battling for funding from the local
school district.

TENNESSEE

After creating a strong application to create an academically rigorous

charter school in Nashville, the founders of the LEAD Academy saw
their application rejected by the Metro Board of Education in November
2006. The board had approved only three charter school applications
since the Tennessee charter school law was passed in 2002.

V I RG I N I A

Despite changes made to the state’s charter school law in 2002 and 2004,
which were designed to help build a stronger movement, charter schools in
the state have had little growth. Currently, three are in operation – all
serving at-risk students. In 2006, the Loudoun School Board unanimously
rejected the county's first charter school application, saying it failed to
provide anything superior to what the school system already offers. “There
is no gap in any of our Loudoun County schools that this application will
fill,” said school board member J. Warren Guerin. Virginia law requires a
charter school to fill an unmet need in a community.

WA S H I N G TO N, D C

Clifford B. Janey, Washington D.C. School Superintendent, called for a

“moratorium on new charter schools in the district.” Citing that “the
independently run, publicly funded facilities are draining students and
cash from traditional school[s],” Janey failed to acknowledge the 25
percent of D.C. public school children already successfully placed in
charter schools.

18 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

A SAMPLING OF CHARTER SCHOOL SUCCESS:
ACHIEVEMENT AGAINST ALL ODDS

S
tudent achievement, high attendance and retention rates, parent
and student satisfaction, lower dropout rates, higher reading scores
and more can define school success. When parents prepare to
choose a school for their children, these are the biggest factors they
tend to consider in making their decision.

Public charter schools have demonstrated success in all these areas. Some can
be evaluated at this stage on the satisfaction criteria alone. Others, however,
go beyond and offer evidence that attendance is higher, achievement strides
have been made, and waiting lists are growing in response.

Evidence of achievement on tests that matter the most – state tests – are
rampant. For example:

In Ohio, researchers found charter schools’ year-to-year improvement on

the Ohio Performance Text exceeded those made by conventional public
school students, despite spending less money per pupil and having less-
experienced teachers.

In Texas, academic gains for elementary and middle school students who
have remained in charter schools for several years are significantly higher
than their matched counterparts in conventional schools.

In Massachusetts, at least 30 percent of the charter schools performed

significantly higher than their school district counterparts in the state’s
most recent tests of English Language Arts and Mathematics.

In Colorado, charter school students generally made larger gains in

reading, writing, and science than students in conventional public schools.

These are just a selection of the successes charters are making across states.
To understand how this is occurring, the following examples are evidence
of the effectiveness of charter schools in raising academic achievement.
Although scores of other examples of success emerge each year, these are just
a sampling of the dramatic instances in which charter schools have produced
academic success.

As the federal No Child Left Behind law has highlighted the urgent need for
a significant overhaul of the types of successful school options offered to

A Sampling of Charter School Success: Achievement Against All Odds 19

 children and their families, public charter schools have undoubtedly emerged
as a tool to infuse quality-schooling options into communities where they are
badly needed.

ARIZONA

Kevin Bertram, a 13-year-old student attending Valley Academy Charter

School in Phoenix, won the 2005 Arizona National Geographic Bee.
Valley Academy educates over 600 students in kindergarten through
eighth grade and is well known for having one of the strongest language
arts programs in the state.

The BASIS Charter School Inc.’s high school in Tucson was named the
third best high school in America by Newsweek magazine in May 2006. Its
middle school in Scottsdale was the only school in Arizona whose
students’ median scores were above the 90th percentile on the Stanford 9
Math Test in 2003—in all grades. BASIS has also received accreditation
from the American Association of Liberal Education, which extends its
accreditation to only a few top-performing charter schools nationwide.

Students in all grades at Presidio School in Tucson scored above the state
average on the 2005 AIMS tests, and the school now has a long waiting
list. Originally housed in a converted mortuary, the school now occupies a
more polished building five times as large.

In July 2006, the Challenge Charter School in Glendale reported that

scores for their students on the statewide AIMS test exceeded 33 percent
of the state average in all categories at each grade level. For sixth graders,
100 percent of the school’s students met or exceeded state standards.

ARKANSAS

A fifth of the senior class for 2006-07 at Farmington’s Haas Hall

Academy qualified as National Merit Scholars based on their PSAT
scores. Of the school’s 2006 graduates, 100 percent are currently enrolled
in college. The school advertised itself as a private school experience in a
public school setting, and boasts of having attracted many families back
to public education from private schools.

20 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

CALIFORNIA

Students at KIPP Heartwood Academy in San Jose dramatically

outscored students at some of the highest achieving schools in the region
on the state’s 2005 STAR tests. A full 69 percent of KIPP students
achieved proficient or advanced scores in language arts, while an
impressive 93 percent achieved proficient or advanced scores in math.
These scores were twice as high as those of the local school district.

The Academy for Academic Excellence charter school in Apple Valley is

so popular with parents and students it has more than 2,500 students on
its waiting list. The school, which raised more than $2.3 million in public
grants in 2005, spends $7,000 per student—a full $2,000 more than is
allocated to the school based on daily attendance.

A back-to-basics curriculum and a zero-tolerance discipline policy have

helped the American Indian Charter School in Oakland become one of
the city’s highest performing middle schools. At American Indian, where
the majority of students are non-white, 70 percent of students achieved
proficiency on state tests of language arts and math.

Oakland’s Lighthouse Community Charter School, where 80 percent of

students qualify for free lunch, increased its Academic Performance Index
(API) for sixth and seventh graders by 25 points in 2005, from 612 to 637.

Founded as a school that would cater to the needs of creative students—

needs not necessarily met in traditional California public
schools—Natomas Charter School’s Performing and Fine Arts Academy
in Sacramento was named a Creative Ticket National School of
Distinction by the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center for the 2003-
2004 school year. Just five schools nationwide received this honor.

Downtown College Prep charter school in San Jose sent 93 percent of its
graduating seniors on to four-year colleges in 2005, far more than local
public schools. The school aims to prepare underachieving students to
become the first members of their families to attend and thrive in a
college setting.

The Oakland School for the Arts, considered by far the best school in the
city, received a 10 out of 10 rating from the state, using 2005 test scores.
Most other Oakland public schools received only a 1 out of 10 rating.

A Sampling of Charter School Success: Achievement Against All Odds 21

 View Park Preparatory Accelerated Elementary, Middle, and High
School Charter Schools have each earned the California API scores that
rank them number one in their respective categories and, in 2005,
boasted the highest test scores of all schools in the South Central section
of Los Angeles, a neighborhood notorious for gang violence and poorly
performing public schools.

The Joe Serna Jr. Charter School in Lodi, which operates an innovative
English/Spanish dual immersion program, saw its scores on the state’s
API jump from 653 to 718 in 2006. School officials credited the school’s
focus on individual students for the improvement.

According to an analysis by the California Charter School Association, 1

in 4 California charters schools scored at least 50 points higher than they
had previously on state exams, compared to only 1 in 10 non-charter
public schools in the state using the same criteria.

COLORADO

Despite teaching a student population where 90 percent of students

qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, and where 25 percent receive
special education services, Paradox Valley Charter School was rated
“excellent” on the 2006 Colorado School Report Card. School leaders
credit the quality of the staff and the innovative curriculum for its ability
to beat the odds.

Ridgeview Academy Charter School in Denver showed marked

improvement in its ninth- and tenth-grade students’ scores on the 2005
Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) reading and writing tests.
Since the school opened in 2001, freshman reading scores have increased
by 35 percent, and tenth-grade writing scores have increased 44 percent.
In addition, Ridgeview’s 2005 junior class ranked an impressive fifth in
the city on its ACT scores.

CONNECTICUT

ConnCan, a nonprofit education group aimed at closing the achievement

gap between Connecticut’s poor, minority students and their wealthy,
white peers, released a report in September of 2006 that assembled “top
10” lists of state schools based on various criteria. Although public

22 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

 charter schools account for only 1.2 percent of all public schools in the
state, these schools represent 25 percent of the schools on the list.

In its first year of operation (the 2004-2005 school year), Elm City
College Preparatory School saw the proportion of its kindergarten and
first graders who scored proficient on state tests of reading rise from 26
percent to 96 percent.

D E L AWA R E

In 2005, Chor Hang Lam, a student at the Charter School of

Wilmington, was named a finalist for the U.S. Physics Team and also
received a Network of Educators in Science and Technology Outstanding
Achievement Award.

F L O R I DA

Broward Community Charter Schools increased the number of African-

American students reading at or above grade level by 12 percent from
2000-2005. During the same time period, traditional public schools raised
their scores by only 8 percent.

Bonita Springs Charter School in Bonita Springs was the most improved
school in its district in 2005, rising from a C to an A rating. Interestingly,
students gave credit to the school’s hard-working yet confident teachers,
who felt secure enough about the quality of their instruction they allowed
students to relax before state assessment tests.

G E O RG I A

Despite operating on a budget one-third less than that of local public

schools, students at Tech High School in Atlanta saw their average scores
in reading improve one full grade level between the first and second
semester of 2005. The school emphasizes both discipline and attention to
the individual student, boasting both uniforms and individual learning
plans for students.

A Sampling of Charter School Success: Achievement Against All Odds 23

 In 2005, Fulton Science Academy in Alpharetta received first place in
reading and social studies on the CRCT tests, a series of regional
achievement tests in the South.

H AWA I I

Students who were behind in conventional Hawaii public schools

consistently leaped ahead by multiple grades in their reading abilities at
Kanu o Ka’ Aina New Century Public Charter School, a school driven
by a “pedagogy of Aloha” approach to education based on Hawaiian
traditions. The school maintains a waiting list of students despite
operating out of what the Honolulu Advertiser described in 2005 as
“meager, unconventional conditions.”

ILLINOIS

State test scores at Fort Bowman Academy Charter School in Cahokia

increased for five straight years, a record unmatched by area public schools.

Chicago charter public schools are outpacing neighboring traditional public

schools on a wide variety of benchmarks. Using 2004-05 test results, all
charter schools outperformed their neighborhood public schools on Illinois
Standard Achievement Tests, as well as the Prairie State Achievement
Exam. In addition, all eight charter high schools in the Windy City had
higher graduation rates than their public school neighbors.

INDIANA

Student progress in Indianapolis charter schools gained ground in 74

percent of the grades and subjects evaluated by Mayor Bart Peterson in
his 2006 Accountability Report on Mayor-Sponsored Charter Schools.

24 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

I O WA

Fifth graders at the Lincoln Academy of Integrated Arts, in Davenport,

outperformed their district’s averages on standardized math and science
exams in 2005-06. For reading, 91.8 percent of Lincoln students were
proficient, compared with 85.2 percent of Davenport students. For math,
87.8 percent of Lincoln students were proficient, compared with 76.8
percent for the district. The school, in collaboration with parents, art
partners, and the larger community, aims to engage its students in a
challenging and rich academic and arts environment. Nearly 80 percent
of Lincoln’s students qualify for free or reduced price lunch.

KANSAS

Elkhart Cyber School, based in Elkhart, Kansas, became one of the first
charter schools in the nation to offer innovative, online, educational
opportunities for kids in kindergarten through 12th grade. Students
complete coursework both on-line and off-line and communicate with
their teachers and fellow classmates via chat rooms, discussion boards,
and email, all from the comfort of home. The goal of ECS is to provide
students with a solid education through an alternative delivery method.
Time and place take on new meaning when students have the flexibility
to complete assignments at any time of day and from any location. While
the delivery method may be flexible, the curriculum is solidly aligned with
the rigorous Kansas State Standards and is facilitated by Kansas certified
instructors. Students completing the program earn a Kansas diploma.

LOUISIANA

Despite serving an extremely poor student population—94 percent of its

students qualify for free lunch—the Children’s Charter School in Baton
Rouge regularly scores above parish, state, and national averages on
yearly standardized tests. In 2005, Children’s was one of only eight
schools statewide to receive recognition as a Title I Distinguished School.

A Sampling of Charter School Success: Achievement Against All Odds 25

 M A RY L A N D

A state appellate court ruled in September 2006 that Baltimore charter

schools have a right to more funding than the city school board provides
them. The case originated in a feud over funding levels set in Maryland’s
2003 charter school law. The law dictates that charter schools should
receive a sum “commensurate with the amount disbursed to other public
schools” in the jurisdiction. The school board was offering $8,000 per
student, while spending $10,000 on each of its own students.

MASSACHUSETS

Every student at Boston’s MATCH Charter Public HS who took the MCAS
tests in the spring of 2005 and 2006 received a passing score. The high-
achieving charter school also has a 100 percent acceptance rate to college for
graduating students and a remarkably low daily absenteeism rate of only 3
percent. Even more importantly, parents have given the school a 9 (out of
10) on satisfaction surveys. In 2005 and again in 2006, the proportion of
MATCH students achieving an “advanced” score on the MCAS math test
was a remarkable 70 percent, scores that ranked the school in math in the
top 10 out of all 350 Massachusetts high schools; none of those same
students had scored advanced in 8th grade before entering MATCH. The
school credits its philosophy of long hours, discipline, and strong student-
teacher and tutor relationships for the improvement.

The Boston Collegiate Charter School announced in 2006 that 100

percent of its seniors were accepted to college and passed the tenth grade
English and math MCAS exams on the first try. The seniors also received
$387,000 in merit scholarships. The school’s focus on college has made it
so popular that it currently has a wait list of over 800 students.

Eighth graders at Roxbury Preparatory Charter School outperformed

every school district in Massachusetts in the 2006 math exam, ending up
ranked second among 458 schools in the state. The previous year, despite
having 73 percent of its mostly Latino and African-American students
qualify for free lunch, Roxbury outscored 414 of the state’s middle
schools on the test. More than 71 percent of the school’s sixth graders
scored advanced or proficient on the math test, the highest percentage of
any predominantly black school in Massachusetts and the second highest
percentage in Boston.

26 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

MICHIGAN

The Black River Charter School in Holland was accredited by the

American Academy for Liberal Education in 2006. The organization
recognizes only a handful of top charter schools nationally. Black River is
one of the few charter schools that have succeeded in obtaining state,
regional, and national accreditation. In 2004, 46 percent of the school’s
students scored a 3 or higher on Advanced Placement examinations, as
compared with 13 percent of students nationally.

In 2005, International Academy in Flint became the first charter public

school ever to receive special recognition from the National Community
Education Association.

M I N N E S O TA

A back-to-basics curriculum at Ascension School, a Minneapolis-area

charter school, has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of students
passing the state’s basic math standards in 2006. The year before the
adoption of this high-quality curriculum, only one in five Ascension students
met the state’s math standards; one year later, only one in five failed.

MISSOURI

University Academy Charter Public School in Kansas City sent 100

percent of its graduates on to college in 2005.

Charter schools in St. Louis, at first considered merely lifeboats that could
be used by poor families with no access to better public school choices in
their neighborhoods, have become so successful that many middle-
income students are enrolling in them as well – leading to the kind of
economic diversity in school settings that tends not to happen when the
quality of education is poor. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “new
students are flocking to St. Louis Charter Schools by the busload.”

A Sampling of Charter School Success: Achievement Against All Odds 27

 N E VA D A

Most charer schools in western Nevada County have witnessed sharp

increases in enrollment, despite declining enrollment in traditional public
schools in recent years. “What charter schools have offered in Nevada
County are more choices, in terms of a Montessori school, a Waldorf
school, an arts school, an expeditionary learning school, and a strong
home-study program,” said Terry McAteer, Nevada County
superintendent of schools. “They are competing for that choice niche in
the market place.” The Forest Charter School, for example, which stresses
community partnerships and individualized learning, has seen its
enrollment triple since it opened in 2002.

NEW JERSEY

Camden Academy Charter High School, which graduated its first class
of 92 students in 2005, scored second in the city on state standardized
tests the same year. In a city where only half of all students graduate at
all, Camden Academy has had several graduates enroll in Ivy League and
other highly selective colleges.

Students at TEAM Academy Charter School in Newark rose from the

31st percentile to the 91st percentile in math on state standardized tests
over the course of the 2004-2005 school year.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

In its first year serving students, the North Country Alternative Charter
School passed out new diplomas to 21 students, many of whom had
dropped out of traditional public schools in the past. Seven of those students
not only took advantage of the second chance the charter school offered,
they ended up enrolling in college after they received their diplomas.

NEW MEXICO

In 2003 South Valley Charter High School in Albuquerque, serving 200

students in grades nine through twelve, was selected as one of only four
schools nationally to receive a Schools for the New Millennium grant
from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The following year,
the school saw all 22 seniors in its first graduating class enroll in college.

28 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

N E W YO R K

South Buffalo Charter School received the prestigious Pathfinder Award

in 2005, an award given by the Business Council of New York State to
schools showing the greatest improvement on math and English tests.
South Buffalo students’ English test scores improved by 44 percent, while
math scores improved 32 percent, between 2003 and 2004.

International Charter School in Schenectady achieved the highest scores

in its school district on state math and English tests, with 100 percent of
its students passing the math test in 2005.

In 2005, the Charter School for Applied Technologies in Buffalo showed

the most dramatic improvement of any local school in fourth grade math.
In 2001, only one-third of the school’s students scored at an acceptable
level on the state’s math test; in 2005, 84 percent did. In general, Buffalo-
area charter schools significantly outperformed area public schools on
four key assessment tests in 2005. To cite just one example, 49 percent of
charter school fourth graders in Buffalo tested as “proficient” in English,
versus 39 percent of public school students.

In its first year of operations in 2005, Buffalo Academy of Science

Charter School received two bronze medals in the regional science
Olympiads for sixth through ninth graders.

KIPP Academy in the South Bronx posted a 71.4 percent pass rate on
fourth and eighth grade reading tests in 2005 – more than double the
pass rate of New York City public schools as a whole.

In January of 2005 the New York City-based Wildcat Academy Charter

School earned a 90 percent passing rate on the Math A Regents test; 87
percent on the ELA Regents; 79 percent on the U.S. History Regents; 79
percent on Global Studies; and 85 percent on the Living Environment
Regents exams. The charter school serves 450 students in grades eight
through twelve, all of whom have failed in their previous high schools.
More than 80 percent of the school’s graduates were accepted to college.

A Sampling of Charter School Success: Achievement Against All Odds 29

 N O RT H C A R O L I N A

Raleigh Charter High School was named an Honor School of Excellence

by the state, based on 2005 student performance on standardized tests. On
the state’s ABC’s end-of-course exams, 92 percent of students received
passing grades – well above the statewide average of 87 percent passing.
The charter school is backed by a nonprofit corporation established in the
summer of 1998 by parents of 8th graders at The Magellan Charter
School who wanted their children to continue receiving the kind of high
quality education to which they had become accustomed.

OHIO

Two Cleveland-area charter schools were among 21 public schools that

were honored with the 2006 “Promise Awards” by Ohio Superintendent
Susan Rave Zelman. The Intergenerational School and Westpark
Community Middle School were among those schools Zelman
recognized for having a student population that is at least 40 percent
economically disadvantaged and has at least a 75 percent pass rate on
either the Ohio Achievement Test or the Ohio Graduation Test.

OKLAHOMA

Kelley Fleming, a student at Tulsa’s Dove Science Academy, took fourth

place in the prestigious 2006 Intel International Science and Engineering
Fair, the world’s largest pre-college celebration of science learning. The
annual contest brings together 1,500 top students from 40 countries.

Student test scores at the Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences in the
subjects of English, Biology, and History were the second highest of any
school in the Tulsa area for 2006. The 2007 graduating class includes
four National Merit Semifinalists. TSAS provides a college preparatory
curriculum, which integrates liberal arts with science and mathematics.

OREGON

Mitch Charter School in Tualatin and Three Rivers Charter School in

West Linn have received high marks for consistently performing well on
state tests. The schools have outperformed local charter and district
schools in their respective communities.

30 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

P E N N S Y L VA N I A

No Child Left Behind 2006 progress targets in Philadelphia were met

thanks to several charter overachievers. Looking at Philadelphia District
schools without charter schools, there was no progress made that year
under NCLB. However, when the district's 53 charter schools were added
to the equation, the percentage of schools making “adequate yearly
progress” (AYP) jumped from 48.7 percent to 52 percent.

The Community Academy of Philadelphia in 2006 celebrated the victory

of its chess team, made up of middle and elementary school students, in
the Philadelphia Scholastic Chess League.

After first suffering through attacks and opposition from the American
Civil Liberties Union and the Women’s Law Project, plans for the
Southwest Philadelphia Academy for Boys were approved by Philadelphia
school officials. The innovative, college-prep charter school for boys will
open in the fall of 2007.

RHODE ISLAND

The Blackstone Academy in Pawtucket, which serves 140 students in

grades eight through twelve, was able to overcome an obstacle faced by
many charter schools – providing facilities. The school secured a vacant
building and built the school for $700,000, less than 3 percent of its
annual operating budget.

S O U T H C A RO L I N A

Greenville Technical Charter High School had the highest percentage of

passing students in the Greenville County School District on the 2005
HSAP (High School Assessment Program) test. Nearly 100 percent of the
school’s graduates go on to college, and many earn college credits while
still enrolled at GTCH.

A Sampling of Charter School Success: Achievement Against All Odds 31

 TENNESSEE

In 2005, Smithson-Craighead Academy in Nashville experienced a

dramatic improvement in scores on state standardized tests in all areas,
including a 28 percent jump in reading scores, a 24 percent jump in math,
a 20 percent jump in social studies, and a 19.7 percent jump in science.

TEXAS

Newcomer Charter School, a new school designed specifically for

immigrants who, according to the Houston Independent School district,
are more likely to drop out of school, graduated its first class in 2006.
The school hopes to expand and respond to the needs of the district’s
12,000 immigrant students.

Students at KIPP 3D Academy in Houston performed above the 90th

percentile nationally in math in 2005. Sophomores at KIPP registered a
two-grade increase in overall reading assessments.

U TA H

City Academy, one of the oldest charter schools in the state, celebrated its
grand opening in the fall of 2006 in its third and final school building – a
location in downtown Salt Lake City that it someday hopes to own. The
grades 7-12 school offers small class sizes and an emphasis on service
learning. In addition to contributing to the revival of the downtown area,
school officials hope the new location will allow students to attend arts
and theater events, access a state-of-the-art library facility, and become
more involved with the city’s social and political scene.

WA S H I N G TO N, D C

In 2005, D.C. Preparatory Charter School was one of only four schools
in the district to receive the first Vanguard Awards for Excellence, which
comes with a $15,000 grant.

Shadwick Jenkins, a third-grade teacher at Friendship-Edison Charter

School, beat out thousands of other teachers from the District and
around the country to win recognition as an American Star of Teaching
in 2005.

32 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

 In 2005, KIPP D.C., which has 320 students, achieved the highest math
scores in the city.

The Capital City Charter School received a “High Performing School

Incentive Award” for 2006 from Mayor Anthony Williams. The school
was also honored with the D.C. Public Charter School Board Chair’s
Award for Outstanding Performance in 2005.

In the fall of 2005, the Thurgood Marshall Academy Public High School
re-opened its doors, this time to a newly renovated building in the South
East section of the city. The $14.5 million dollar project restored an old
school building 30 years after it had closed its doors as a school.

Roots Public Charter School teacher Rasheki Kuykendall was surprised

at her school in 2006 when Lowell Milken, of the Milken Family
Foundation, showed up with a $25,000 check honoring her selection as a
winner of a Milken National Educator Award. Kuykendall uses games,
relays and other exciting activities that energize her students and help
dramatically improve achievement.

WISCONSIN

At Verona Area Core Knowledge Charter School in Verona, 92 percent

of all fourth graders scored in the proficient/advanced range in reading,
as did 87 percent of the school’s eighth graders.

A Sampling of Charter School Success: Achievement Against All Odds 33

 INDEX OF CHARTER SCHOOLS

School City State Website Page

Haas Hall Academy Farmington AR www.haashall.org 10 & 20

Challenge Charter School Glendale AZ www.challengecharterschool.net 3&20

Valley Academy Phoenix AZ www.valleyacademy.com 20

BASIS Tucson High School Tucson AZ www.basistucson.org 20

Presidio Schools Tucson AZ www.presidiohighschool.com 20

Gompers Area Middle Charter School San Diego CA provost.ucsd.edu.gompers/ 3

Keiller Leadership Academy San Diego CA www.keillerleaders.net 3

Dehesa Charter School San Diego CA www.dehesacharterschool.org 10

KIPP Heartwood Academy San Jose CA www.kipp.org 21

Fanno Academy San Diego CA www.fannoacademy.org 11

Academy for Academic Excellence Apple Valley CA www.lcer.org 21

KIPP Adelante College Preparatory San Diego CA www.kippadelante.org 11

American Indian Public Charter School Oakland CA www.aipcs.org 21

Pacific Collegiate Charter Public School Santa Cruz CA www.pacificcollegiate.com 11

Lighthouse Community Charter School Oakland CA www.lighthousecharter.org 21

Natomas Charter School Sacramento CA www.natomascharter.org 21

Downtown College Preparatory San Jose CA www.downtowncollegeprep.org 21

Oakland School for the Arts Oakland CA www.oakarts.org 21

View Park Preparatory Accelerated Los Angeles CA www.viewparkprep.org 22

High School

Joe Serna Jr. Charter School Lodi CA joesernajr.lodiusd.net 22

San Carlos Charter Learning Center San Carlos CA www.scclc.net 3

Paradox Valley School Paradox CO www.paradoxvalleyschool.org 22

Ridgeview Academy Watkins CO www.ridgeviewacademy.com 22

34 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

School City State Website Page

Elm City College Prep - Elementary New Haven CT www.achievementfirst.org 23

Amistad Academy New Haven CT www.achievementfirst.org 11

Roots Public Charter School Washington DC www.rootspcs.org 33

DC Preparatory Academy Washington DC www.dcprep.org 32

Friendship-Edison Public Charter Washington DC www.friendshipschools.org 32

School (Chamberlain Campus)

Capital City Public Charter Washington DC www.ccps.org 33

Thurgood Marshall Academy High School Washington DC www.thurgoodmarshallacademy.org 33

Charter School of Wilmington Wilmington DE www.charterschool.org 23

Our Children's Academy Lake Wales FL None 12

Broward Community Charter School Coral Springs FL www.browardcharter.org 23

Bonita Springs Charter School Bonita Springs FL www.bonitaspringscharter.org 23

Bishop Hall Charter School Thomasville GA www.thomas.k12.ga.us/ 3

bishophll/menu.htm

Charter Conservatory Statesboro GA www.chartercat.org 12

for Liberal Arts and Technology

Tech High School Atlanta GA www.techhighschool.org 23

Fulton Science Academy Middle School Alpharetta GA www.fultonscience.org 24

Kanu O Ka' Aina New Century Kamuela HI www.kalo.org 24

Public Charter School

Lincoln Academy of Integrated Arts Davenport IA www.davenportschools.org 25

Perspectives Charter School Chicago IL www.perspectivescs.org 4

Noble Street Charter School Chicago IL www.goldentigers.org 4

Fort Bowman Academy Charter School Cahokia IL None 24

Thea Bowman Leadership Academy Gary IN www.aqs.org/thea_bowman.htm 13

Elkhart Cyber School Elkhart KS www.onlineECS.org 25

Index of Charter Schools 35

 School City State Website Page

Children's Charter School Baton Rouge LA None 25

McAuliffe Regional Charter Public School Framingham MA www.mcaulifferegional.org 14

MATCH School Boston MA wwww.matchschool.org 26

Boston Collegiate Charter School Dorchester MA www.bostoncollegiate.org 26

Advanced Math and Science Marlborough MA www.amsacs.org 14

Academy Charter School

Roxbury Preparatory Charter School Roxbury MA www.roxburyprep.org 26

Potomac Charter School Ft. Washington, MD www.potomaccharterschool.com 13

Mid-Michigan Leadership Academy Lansing MI www.michlead.org 14

Black River Public School Holland MI www.blackriverpublicschool.org 27

International Academy of Flint Flint MI www.iaf-sabis.net 27

Michigan Virtual High School Lansing MI www.mivhs.org 5

Ascension Academy Minneapolis MN www.ascensionacademy.org 27

Thurgood Marshall Academy St. Louis MO None 14

University Academy Kansas City MO www.universityacademy.org 27

Raleigh Charter High School Raleigh NC www.raleighcharterhs.org 30

Franklin Career Academy Charter School Franklin NH www.franklincareeracademy.org 15

North Country Charter Academy Littleton NH www.northcountrycharteracademy.org 28

Camden Academy Charter High School Camden NJ www.cpcs.k12.nj.us 28

TEAM Academy Charter School Newark NJ www.teamacademy.org 28

- A KIPP School

South Valley Academy Albuquerque NM www.southvalleyacademy.org 28

Child Development Center Wainscott NY www.cdch.org 6

of the Hamptons Charter School

Westminster Community Charter School Buffalo NY None 6

Southside Academy Charter School Syracuse NY www.heritageacademies.com 15

36 Stories of Inspiration, Struggle & Success

School City State Website Page

South Buffalo Charter School Buffalo NY www.southbuffalocs.org 29

International Charter School Rotterdam NY www.icss-sabis.net 29

of Schenectady

Charter School for Applied Technologies Buffalo NY www.csat-k12.org 29

KIPP Academy New York Bronx NY www.kippny.org 29

John V. Lindsay Wildcat New York NY www.wildcatatwork.org 29

Academy Charter School

The Intergenerational School Cleveland OH www.intergenschool.org 30

Wickliffe Progressive Community School Columbus OH www.school.uaschools.org/wickliffe 7

Dove Science Academy Tulsa OK www.dsatulsa.org 30

Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences Tulsa OK www.tsas.org 30

Armadillo Technical Institute Phoenix OR None 16

MITCH Charter School Tigard OR www.mitchcharterschool.org 30

Trillium Charter School Portland OR www.trilliumcharterschool.org 16

Three Rivers Charter School West Linn OR www.3rcs.org 30

Career Connections Charter High School Pittsburgh PA www.ccchs.net 17

Community Academy of Philadelphia Philadelphia PA www.communityacademy.org 31

Blackstone Academy Pawtucket RI www.blackstoneacademy.org 31

Midland Valley Preparatory School Graniteville SC None 18

Greenville Technical Charter High School Greenville SC www.gtchs.org 31

Smithson-Craighead Academy Nashville TN www.smithsoncraighead.org 32

Newcomer Charter School Houston TX None 32

KIPP 3D Houston TX www.3dacademy.org 32

City Academy Salt Lake City UT www.cityacademyslc.org 32

Verona Area Core Knowledge Verona WI www.veronacks.com 33

Charter School

Index of Charter Schools

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