State board approves 6 new charter schools

All will be district-run conversions

Teryan Spears (left), project coordinator for the New Tech High charter school in Blytheville, applauds as she thanks the state Board of Education for approving her charter school application Monday morning during a meeting in Little Rock.
Teryan Spears (left), project coordinator for the New Tech High charter school in Blytheville, applauds as she thanks the state Board of Education for approving her charter school application Monday morning during a meeting in Little Rock.

— The Arkansas Board of Education on Monday approved six new school district-operated conversion charter schools, including high schools in Rogers, Murfreesboro and Blytheville that will become part of a network featuring project-based learning and technology.

The other new conversion charter schools approved by the board will be in the Jonesboro, Texarkana and Warren school districts.

The board delayed action on a charter school proposed by the Bauxite School District until it could get more clarity on the plans.

And in a follow-up action on a proposal first discussed in November, the state board denied an open-enrollment charter for the Lincoln-based America’s Charter School that would have provided a largely online, project-based curriculum to students statewide.

The six new conversion charter schools will increase the total number of Arkansas conversion charter schools to 19 in the 2013-14 school year. There are now 14, but Blytheville district officials will allow the charter for its alternative learning center to expire after this school year.

The approval of three New Tech Network charter schools raises to 15 the number of Arkansas schools that will be tied to that network next year, although not all are charter schools. Nationwide, there are 115 New Tech schools in 18 states this year.

The New Tech model enables students to work collaboratively on relevant, hands-on projects in most subject areas. It teaches problem-solving, collaboration, communication and analytical thinking.

All New Tech classrooms have a 1-to-1 ratio of students to laptops, tablet computers or other technology. Teachers work as facilitators, rather than lecturers, and may co-teach in combined courses, such as English and social studies, or science and math.

The New Tech Network, which started in Napa, Calif., in 1996, provides support and resources to each school, in part with an online learning-management system called Echo. Through Echo, teachers and students in different schools are connected to each other and can obtain and share project ideas and project-grading systems.

“It’s not a silver bullet, and I don’t think every school needs to be New Tech,” Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell observed Monday, but he added that he hopes that even more Arkansas schools will adopt the model.

In August 2011, Gov. Mike Beebe called for Arkansas schools to place a greater emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, in part through the New Tech program. Participating districts can receive $75,000 grants from the Governor’s Work Force Cabinet to design their New Tech programs.

Kimbrell said districts typically take up to two years to plan for implementation.

“It’s not something you can just pour into a school,” he said.

In the case of the Blytheville and South Pike County school districts, the existing high schools will become New Tech schools.

In Rogers, a stand-alone New Tech High is planned.

The Blytheville New Tech High will serve up to 1,000 students in grades nine through 12.

“The thing that stands out the most about New Tech is that the research shows that their process breaks that age old [connection] between race, poverty and academic success,” said Teryan Spears, Blytheville’s New Tech project coordinator. “That’s what we have to do in Blytheville and Mississippi County,” she said.

Murfreesboro High School-New Tech, which is in the South Pike County School District, will serve up to 600 students in grades seven through 12.

“I’m sold on it,” South Pike County Superintendent Roger Featherston told the Education Board. “I think it is going to be the greatest thing to happen to Murfreesboro High School in years and I go back a little,” he said, adding that at least four generations of his family attended the school.

Rogers New Tech High will serve up to 600 in grades nine through 12. The school will be in the former Kirksey Middle School.

“We have a saying in Rogers that we will go from good to great to extraordinary,” Deputy Superintendent Mark Sparks told the state board. “We expect our New Tech high school to be an extraordinary facility.”

On Monday, the state board also approved the Brunson New Vision Charter School in the Warren School District, Washington Academy in the Texarkana School District and The Academies at Jonesboro High Conversion Charter School.

The Brunson New Vision Charter School plan for up to 300 pupils in fourth- and fifth-grades calls for pupils to progress through levels of instruction rather than grades. The pupils will have to show evidence of their learning and their readiness to move to the next level of instruction. The children’s learning will be continuously monitored through different tests, allowing for quick adjustments.

The school will be an extension of the program already in place for younger pupils at Warren’s Eastside New Vision School, which was approved by the Arkansas Board of Education last January.

The newly approved ninththrough-12th grade Washington Academy in Texarkana will serve up to 160 students in a building that was a nonpunitive alternative school.

The charter school will feature personalized education plans to aid students in catching up on credits for graduation while helping other students graduate early.

The school will feature flexible school hours, varied instruction, small-group instruction, one-on-one tutoring, the ability to earn college credits while in high school and career connections.

Texarkana Superintendent Russell Sapaugh reminded the board that his district had fought the establishment of an independently run charter a year ago. In the process, he said, he and his staff learned a lot about charters.

“We found out that there are certain features of charter schools that when combined with the resources of a school district ... gives you one more avenue to reach some kids we were not reaching,” Sapaugh said.

The newly approved Academies at Jonesboro High will serve up to 1,800 students in grades nine through 12.

Principal Mike Skelton said district leaders visited several communities to find a way to give Jonesboro students “a leg up” in the competition for jobs. “We brought the good back and we will make it our own and unique to Jonesboro.”

One of the three academies will be centered on science, technology, engineering, mathematics, manufacturing and agriculture.

The second academy’s focus will be on business, communications and finance. Career and technical courses, world history and foreign language will also be included. Health, human services, law and government administration will make up the third academy. Biology courses, consumer science, hospitality and tourism will be folded into that program.

Project-based learning will be part of the school as will showcasing student work to community members, business leaders and student peers.

Education Board members voted unanimously to deny the Lincoln-based America’s School plan proposed by Frank Holman, a now-retired veteran superintendent, but urged him to continue to work on the proposal.

The board in November tabled a vote on the 500-student school to allow Holman to make agreements with education cooperatives and school districts that would assist in testing its students.

America’s Charter School “will primarily seek to serve students who are currently disenfranchised from the regular public school setting,” the school’s application said.

“Clearly you are passionate,” Education Board member Sam Ledbetter of Little Rock told Holman on Monday about the online, project-based learning program. “It’s a very intriguing concept.

“But there is so much uncertainty that we are being asked to take at face value that it makes it difficult for us. It’s almost like we are giving you a charter that is a blank piece of paper and trusting you to make something that is similar to but is not going to be ... affiliated with the New Tech Network.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/15/2013

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