Table Of Content

Morning meeting is a time to get motivated at KIPP Philadelphia Charter School. Lessons From W Not all charter hen Erica Amachi taught “It’s powerful,” says Amachi, who and not on academics or classroom that conversation?’” Amachi recalls. mandatory, in charter schools. By schools are rocking fifth grade at KIPP now teaches first grade at KIPP behavior—pays huge dividends, say For all of the tension between contrast, some school districts prohibit Philadelphia Charter Philadelphia Elementary Academy teachers. A teacher who has met a stu- traditional and charter schools over teachers from visiting students at their AYP numbers, School, she didn’t start the year in a (KPEA). “You sit in the family’s living dent’s parents in their home is better issues like resources and collective home for liability or contractual rea- but the very best room full of new faces. She’d met each room, and from that moment, you equipped to reach that child and keep bargaining—and these are very real sons. This practice, conducted once or ones have much of her students before, though she’d have a connection because they’ve had him or her on track through the year. issues in many districts—the question twice a year, is just one of many ways never had any of them in class. you in their home. They trusted me in O “I can remember fifth graders who remains: Can traditional schools take that successful charter schools have toB yt eKaacthe Ruisx. secahcLhoiko celh sm,i lAdoms wt ahtceoha cwi hvielilsr isbt sei n ti nhc ehh afearrmt celrial ys so f aw ewT’dah yeju Iss idtm omnp’eltet t gaheti snbtkau crtkeh- etooyf- wasc ohhuoolmodl e hn vaigivsheit ti—.f” OS: JEFF FUSC n‘iYte oiesud treo md h ometrho fteoirvr atyotoilodun mt,o ae gn hedto Iwa c goimouolpddo seratdayu,n cta - acsih mpaarigltaeer rf sar?ou mTtoh nteho amen pys.lwayebr:o Poekr hofa psus,c icfe gsisvfeunl mexo“pWdeirfhiieeandt c itesh ,d eoi ffltefeeanrre nwnitni tgihn a pano dssu ittceicvaeecsh rsiefnusgul lts. OT before the school year begins. where the focus will be on the child H tion. Do I need to call her and revisit Home visits are common, if not charter school is the whole pack- P 33 SCHOLASTIC INSTRUCTOR WINTER 2012 INS4•Charter.v8.ag.indd 32 1/12/12 8:03 AM INS4Charter.v8.ag.indd 33 1/10/12 9:32 AM CHARTER SCHOOLS HANDS-ON EDUCATION: KIPP encourages students to learn by doing, both in the science lab—where a seventh grader bravely KIPP teachers pride themselves on being professional educators. Time for teachers dissects a frog—and in music class, where a student wears a shirt he earned for academic achievement and participation. to plan and collaborate is built into every day’s schedule. INT1201M age,” says Betheny Gross, a senior sets charter schools apart from regular Valdez would have to do to qualify for Knowing the Kids Teacher Home Visit Project. “They’ve research analyst at the University public schools. However, traditional the program. It used to be that when a teacher been happening for generations. Our of Washington–Bothell’s Center on schools are gaining ground. The plan that Valdez wrote as part of visited a student’s family at home, it project was started by parents who felt Reinventing Public Education (CRPE). Peter Sherman is principal of Valdez its application for Denver’s “innovation was because something was seriously disengaged and teachers who felt the “What you see is an organization that Elementary School in Denver. Two schools” program became the school’s wrong. Today, a growing number of same way. There was a cycle of blame is oftentimes very focused on mission. years ago, he and a group of teachers mission and vision. Teachers voted teachers at non-charter schools are happening in our district.” Everyone is thinking about the same were talking about things they would to make certain changes, including making appointments with families to Thirteen states besides California kind of instruction, and the profes- change about Valdez if they could, and the hiring of new faculty as “at-will” get to know them in their homes. At have districts that receive training sional development is thought about in the policies and rules that were in the employees, in exchange for greater charter schools, teacher visits are rou- in conducting home visits. To ensure the context of that mission.” way. Sherman mentioned the district autonomy over assessments and cur- tine. Ideally, these visits send a clear success, it’s essential that all involved Gross led a four-year, federally was in fact rolling out a new program riculum development. The vision also message: that teachers take their work parties—the union, district adminis- funded initiative called Inside Charter to give schools more autonomy. includes enhanced teacher collabora- very seriously. trators, principals, teachers, and par- Schools that examined practices at “We spent three or four hours talk- tion and leadership. Some charter schools have opened ents—agree the practice is important. charters around the nation. The report ing and came away pretty psyched,” As an innovation school, Valdez in neighborhoods where the com- Levasseur says that the most suc- concluded that the best charter schools Sherman recalls. After that, other exercised its right to opt out of the dis- munity feels let down or underserved cessful home visit programs are volun- make more effective use of instructors’ teachers got excited, and some parents trict’s teacher evaluation plan, which by traditional schools. In such cases, tary. Some teachers aren’t comfortable time and support them in their efforts volunteered to help explore what included observation by teachers from visits can help to establish trust and doing them and some families decline to provide focused and differentiated outside the school. build parent involvement. the invitation. Also, she says, teachers programs for students. Teachers still wanted peer feedback, The practice is gaining sup- should be compensated for the time ‘Charter schools have though. “Our teachers said, ‘We want port at the district level as well. In required, either with a stipend or with Developing a Mission our colleagues to observe us,’ so this Sacramento, California, nearly 50 professional development hours. two advantages Charter schools have two advantages year we instituted internal peer obser- public schools have implemented an Having cleared those hurdles, teach- over most traditional schools: auton- over most traditional vation,” says Sherman. “My leadership optional home visit program, with the ers are encouraged to follow these omy and a mission. Having a focused style tends to be pretty collaborative. help of a local nonprofit. guidelines: make an appointment to mission or school philosophy and the schools: autonomy Now it’s even more transparent. Most “We didn’t invent home visits,” says visit a family (never just show up); autonomy to make the decisions to put people in the building know exactly Lisa Levasseur, local project direc- meet in the family home or elsewhere and a mission.’ that philosophy into practice is what what we’re working on.” tor for the Sacramento-based Parent off-campus; and bring a small gift for 34 SCHOLASTIC INSTRUCTOR WINTER 2012 INS4Charter.v8.ag.indd 34 1/9/12 8:30 AM INS4•Charter.v8.ag.indd 35 1/13/12 11:21 AM charter schools 4 Ideas To Take back To your school the child (books work well). Amachi. She recalls that at the tradi- Fuentes Charter School, a K–8 school “One year when I was teaching, tional public school in Atlanta where on Chicago’s North Side. It’s an indi- I visited a Hmong family and ended she taught for five years, “we had a vidualized approach. Cleaver will Teachers in traditional public schools are using many of the strategies that up visiting them throughout the scripted reading instruction program work with each teacher under her work well in successful charters. With some initiative and support, these year,” Levasseur says. “I heard beauti- that broke our students into groups tutelage to identify strengths and areas approaches can boost professional satisfaction and student performance in ful stories about the parents’ lives for us, based on data that hadn’t been that could use improvement. If, for even the most tradition-bound schools. growing up. It’s a very oral culture, gathered in our classrooms.” example, a teacher wants to work and the visits gave me some insight. Amachi, who works with a co- on increasing student engagement It changed my way of doing things teacher at KPEA, says that reading during lessons, Cleaver might do some back in my third-grade classroom. assessments there are conducted both data collection to find out what the 1Mission Building 2 Home Visits 3 Homegrown Data 4 In-House We gave speeches and did a lot of school-wide and on a class-by-class issues are. Get together with your Teachers in many tra- Some traditional schools Professional recording stories and then writing basis. The assessments are given “I will go observe and quantify colleagues, and your ditional public schools are following the lead of Development them down.” at regular intervals and look at all engagement—E for engaged, W for principal, if you can. Talk about have the option of visiting charters and developing their Charter schools often don’t send aspects of reading. working, P for passive or distracted,” Meaningful Assessments, “This way we can help kids who Cleaver says. “I do that for five-minute the things you would do or families of prospective children own assessments. When teach- teachers out for professional Master Teachers haven’t met the baseline as well as intervals and get a few data points.” change at your school if you before the school year begins. ers have more control over how development. Instead, master could shoot for the stars. This Find out whether your district they assess students, they are teachers are on staff to provide In many districts, each school is push kids who have already mastered Then, during a one-on-one, they is the first step to building a allows home visits. If so, consid- more likely to reap meaningful ongoing feedback every day. required to use the same curricula. the skill,” Amachi says. interpret the data together and come common vision, and with some er contacting the Parent Teacher insights. Find out whether At the very least, teachers in Under this approach, all teachers In Chicago’s UNO Charter Schools, up with strategies: Maybe the teacher support from higher up, it could Home Visit Project (pthvp.org) there is interest at your school traditional schools can benefit might, for example, use a reading cur- every classroom or special subject could do more “cold calls,” or perhaps lead to positive change. for information about trainings for site-based assessment from this approach by stepping riculum that follows an explicit pho- teacher is assigned a master teacher. Cleaver could observe student discus- and details about how to set up development. up internal observation and nics and comprehension program. They meet at least once a week to sion time to get more specific data. a program. assessment. This could take Charter school advocates say their discuss how students are doing and “I think having master teachers the form of sharing challenges site-based autonomy allows teachers to how the teacher can improve his or who are in the classroom and able to and providing real-world tips to be more creative and responsive. her craft. develop professional working relation- improve practice. “I feel really valued in what I know Samantha Cleaver has 13 teachers ships with teachers is really valuable,” about teaching,” says KPEA’s Erica under her supervision at UNO’s Carlos Cleaver says. “It’s the best part of our job to look at data and see those suc- cesses and celebrate together.” BRING THE CHICAGO SYMPHONY It’s About Time ORCHESTRA INTO YOUR CLASSROOM! Charter school principals can make a number of decisions to tailor their schools to students’ needs. One of the most common is to lengthen the school day or year. In Chicago, school days are longer at UNO’s network of 11 charters than at the city’s public schools, to provide more instructional time. And by having master teachers on staff, kids don’t have to miss class time while teachers do in-service professional development. Over the course of the year, students at UNO schools are in class for 1,330 hours, compared 1 with 977.5 hours for their counterparts in traditional public schools. The Orchestra Explorers® curriculum offers 1 It’s worth noting that many of the multidisciplinary lesson plans and a Chicago best charter schools serve kids with Seylemmpehnotanryy O mruchsiecs stprae crieacliostrsd ainsg w, deells iagsn eclda sfsorro om OSCoPaAyfnrrhm cotdiLchhgp eaAeerhgaas coor tmcnrn ea i yn s gs hthigehsee rc ihnisldtrruenct, isoanya lr enseeeadrsc.h Merasn, yb eonf efit from a longer school day. teachers (K–3) without a background in orchestral LEADIESR PSRHOIPV AIFDUDTENDHDDEI TB INFIYOIE GTNLH DFAEO L FN ROS EUOUGPNRAPCDOUHANRTETESI OETIS RFN POA RO UOEFXNV IPDLIDLLAOIENTDRIOO EBRINSYS.. AT HJoEu rPnaeys tino Breaelt hSoYvmenP’sH WOoNrlYd “The idea is that kids, particularly music. Request your materials today! bTAILrSHEDo PAEDuR DFOIgTIEEhVIRLOItDSDN H tEFAIoDOPL U FBySUNYUoN PDTuPDHA ObTIENyRI ONGTNE IFGS O OAPRRFU OIONLVLERIIENDC EOFHODEIS USB.TNYR D A A ETXIOPLNO. R ERS SUPPORTED IN PART BY: kids below grade level, need more instructional time,” says Parker Baxter, Brought to you by the Institute for Learning, Access senior legal analyst for CRPE. And in charters, they often get just that. and Training at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. CSO.ORG/ORCHESTRAEXPLORERS 36 scholastic instructor winter 2012 INS4•Charter.v8.ag.indd 36 1/11/12 1:15 PM INS4•Charter.v8.ag.indd 37 1/11/12 1:15 PM