I n

n o v a t i o

n

s

i n

E d u c a t i

o

n

Successful Charter Schools

u . s . d e pa r t m e n t o f e d u c at i o n

o f f i c e o f i n n o vat i o n a n d i m p r o v e m e n t

SM

I n

n o v a t i o

n

s

i n

E d u c a t i

o

n

u . s . d e pa r t m e n t o f e d u c at i o n

o f f i c e o f i n n o vat i o n a n d i m p r o v e m e n t

SM

Successful Charter Schools
This report was produced under U.S. Department of Education Contract No. ED-01-CO-0012, Task Order D010, 

with WestEd. 

U.S. Department of Education

Rod Paige

Secretary

Office of Innovation and Improvement

Nina S. Rees

Deputy Under Secretary

Michael J. Petrilli

Associate Deputy Under Secretary for Innovation and Improvement

John Fiegel

Director, Parent Options and Information

June 2004

This report is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While permission to 

reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and 

Improvement, Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools, Washington, D.C., 2004.

To order copies of this report,

write to: ED Pubs, Education Publications Center, U.S. Department of Education, P.O. Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398;

or fax your request to: (301) 470-1244;

or e-mail your request to: edpubs@inet.ed.gov;

or call in your request toll-free: 1-877-433-7827 (1-877-4-ED-PUBS). If 877 service is not yet available in your 

area, call 1-800-872-5327 (1-800-USA-LEARN). Those who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a 

teletypewriter (TTY), should call 1-800-437-0833;

or order online at: www.edpubs.org/. 

This report is also available on the Department’s Web site at: http://www.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/charter.

On request, this publication is available in alternate formats, such as Braille, large print, or computer diskette. For more 

information, please contact the Department’s Alternate Format Center at (202) 260-9895 or (202) 205-8113.
iii

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

Foreword v

Introduction 1

 Part I: Elements of Effective Charter Schools 5

Getting a Good Start 5

Leading With a Mission 6

Innovating Across the School Program 6

Promoting a Community of Continuous Learning 13

Partnering With Parents and the Community 14

Governing for Accountability 16

Implications 19

Part II: Charter School Profiles 21

The Arts and Technology Academy Public Charter School 23

BASIS School, Inc. 27

Community of Peace Academy 31

KIPP Academy Houston 35

Oglethorpe Charter School 39

Ralph A. Gates Elementary School 43

Roxbury Preparatory Charter School 47

The School of Arts and Sciences 51

Acknowledgments 55

Appendix A: Research Methodology 57

Appendix B: Resources 59

Notes 61

Contents

iii
L I S T O F F I G U R E S

Figure 1. Demographics of Profiled Charter Schools 2

Figure 2. Framework for Site Analysis 4

Figure 3. Mosaica and the Arts and Technology Academy 7

 Figure 4. The School of Arts and Sciences Thematic Instruction Rubric 8

Figure 5. BASIS Course Requirements 9

Figure 6. KIPP Student Incentive System (Excerpt) 12

Figure 7. Community of Peace Parent Compact 15

Figure 8. Oglethorpe Parent Volunteer Options 16

Figure 9. Gates Adult Education Program 17

Figure 10. Roxbury Prep Annual Accountability Plan (Excerpts) 18

iv
Foreword 

I am pleased to introduce the third publication in the Innovations in Education series: Successful Charter Schools. 

This series, published by my Department’s Office of Innovation and Improvement, identifies concrete, real-world examples of innovations flourishing throughout this great land in six important areas: public school choice, supplemental educational services, charter schools, magnet schools, alternative teacher certification, and school leadership. 

Twelve years after the first charter school was launched, the charter school movement is now entering its adolescence. 

Like many pre-teens, it’s had its share of growing pains, but I am confident that it is about to hit a growth spurt. That 

is because charter schools are enormously popular with their primary clients—parents and students—and because 

they are starting to show promising results in terms of student achievement. The basic tenets of charter schools—give 

them room to be innovative, hold them accountable for results, and let parents decide if they meet the needs of their 

children—are perfectly aligned with the historic No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which also focuses on accountability 

for results in return for more flexibility, and with providing more options for parents than ever before.

One of the promises of charter schools is that they can serve as laboratories of innovation—they can be public 

education’s “R&D” arm. Because they have greater autonomy than traditional public schools, and since they tend to 

attract pioneering educators, they can try out new approaches to education that, if proven effective, can be transplanted back into the larger public education system. It is in this spirit that we highlight eight of the most successful 

charter schools in the United States. 

These schools were chosen after an exhaustive national search. They were primarily selected because they have 

demonstrated success over time in boosting student achievement. Surely many more charter schools could have 

been identified, and these should not be considered “the best” charter schools in the nation. Nevertheless, they are 

among the best, and each has much to teach other charter schools—and traditional public schools—about teaching 

and learning, management strategies, staff development, and many other topics.

One of the most striking features of these schools is their diversity. While they are all producing impressive results—and 

meeting the “Adequate Yearly Progress” requirements of NCLB—they span the educational spectrum. Some are fairly 

traditional, with a laser-like focus on the basics. Others are much more open-ended and “progressive,” with a more 

flexible approach to learning. None of these schools is a “testing factory,” a stripped down place with no art, music, or 

time for community. This is an important point, because critics of NCLB—and of standards, testing, and accountability 

more generally—have voiced concerns that a focus on student achievement will lead schools to do nothing but teach 

reading and math. These eight schools demonstrate the fallacy of that argument. Excellent schools have always focused on delivering a well-rounded education. Certainly that’s the kind of education the children of our nation’s elite 

have always enjoyed, and it’s the kind of education all of our children deserve. 

I congratulate the schools highlighted herein and urge all educators to consider whether the practices described 

can help your school serve its students better. Let me finish by quoting one of the slogans of the KIPP Academy 

Houston—which I am proud to have helped get off the ground: “If there’s a better way, we find it.” What a wonderful 

outlook for our entire public education system—and what a fitting description of the ethos of charter schools.

Rod Paige, U.S. Secretary of Education

June 2004

v

1

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

The promise charter schools hold for public school innovation and reform lies in an unprecedented 

combination of freedom and accountability. Underwritten with public funds but run independently, 

charter schools are free from a range of state laws and district policies stipulating what and how they 

teach, where they can spend their money, and who they can hire and fire. In return, they are held strictly 

accountable for their academic and financial performance. To represent what such flexibility and accountability look like in practice, this guide provides a glimpse into the inner workings of eight American 

charter schools whose freedom to experiment is raising the level of student learning.

educational results. “Deliver a quality product,” as Finn 

et al. put it, “or you won’t have students.”1

In this guide we take a look at what contributes to 

a ”quality product” as well as how eight particular 

charter schools (see figure 1) help their students 

achieve success. 

The first charter school legislation was passed in Minnesota in 1991, and as of January 2004, there were 

2,996 charter schools operating in the United States.2

Across 40 states and the District of Columbia, about 

750,000 students take part in this form of public education under varying charter laws.3

Parents choose to enroll their children in charter schools, 

usually entering a lottery for selection when schools are 

oversubscribed. The schools are free to determine their 

own governing structures, which include parents and 

teachers as active members. In all these configurations, 

autonomy gives charter schools the flexibility to allocate their budgets; hire staff; and create educational 

Introduction

Free to experiment how? To lengthen the school day, 

mix grades, require dress codes, put teachers on their 

school boards, double up instruction in core subject 

areas like math or reading, make parents genuine partners in family-style school cultures, adopt any instructional practice that will help achieve their missions—

free, in short, to do whatever it takes to build the skills, 

knowledge, and character traits their students need to 

succeed in today’s world. 

By allowing citizens to start new public schools with 

this kind of autonomy, making them available tuitionfree to any student, and holding them accountable for 

results and family satisfaction, proponents hope that 

this new mix of choice and accountability will not only 

provide students stronger learning programs than local alternatives, but will also stimulate improvement 

of the existing public education system. With charter 

schools, it is accountability that makes freedom promising. No charter is permanent; it must be renewed—

or revoked—at regular intervals. Continued funding, 

which is tied to student enrollment, also depends on
2

programs with curriculum, pedagogy, organizational 

structures, and ways of involving parents and community members that may not be typical of their neighboring schools. In this way charter schools can serve as 

laboratories, developing new educational practices that 

can be later replicated on a broader scale. This freedom 

to experiment is one reason charter schools have been 

called “education’s best hope.”4

What does this promise look like in action? For this 

guide, a number of charter schools that are considered 

successful were carefully examined. The schools were 

selected first on the basis of student performance: 

They met 2003 Adequate Yearly Progress goals for 

their states and demonstrated three years of student 

achievement growth on standardized tests. They were 

also selected to represent a range of school types, serving differing student populations and various grade 

configurations. From over 250 schools nominated, 

many demonstrated that they were doing an excellent job of educating urban students who have been 

largely underserved in traditional public schools. A 

second set of charter schools seem to be meeting the 

demands of parents in more affluent communities who 

want an alternative to the local public school program. 

Very small schools—charter schools in rural areas, virtual technology schools, and home-schooling charter 

schools—were generally not eligible for consideration 

in this report because their size made it difficult to 

meet the testing criteria for participation. Ultimately, 

eight schools were selected for site visits. While not intended to represent “the best” charter schools in the 

country, they do provide a window into how autonomy, 

flexibility, and accountability can work to transform 

public education. Each school visit took place over one 

or two days, with observers visiting classes, collecting 

FIGURE 1. Demographics of Profiled Charter Schools

School and

Location

Year First Chartered 

and Authorizer Grades Enrollment

The Arts and Technology

Academy Public Charter 

School

Washington, D.C.

1998

Special charter 

school board

PreK–6

615

BASIS School, Inc.

Tucson, Ariz.

1998

State

5–12 246

Community of Peace 

Academy

St. Paul, Minn.

1995

Local district

K–12 546

KIPP Academy Houston

Houston, Texas

1994

State

5–8 346

Oglethorpe Charter 

School

Savannah, Ga.

1998

Local district

6–8 319

Ralph A. Gates 

Elementary School

Lake Forest, Calif. 

(Los Angeles Basin)

1999

Local district

K–6 850

Roxbury Preparatory 

Charter School

Boston, Mass.

1999

State

6–8 180

The School of Arts and 

Sciences

Tallahassee, Fla.

1999

Local district

K–8 226
3

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

Student Ethnicity

English 

Learners

Subsidized 

Meals

Special 

Needs

Per Pupil 

Spending Distinctive Programs and Features

98% Afr. Am.

2% Other

0% 97% 7% $8,650

• Basic skills plus arts • Extended day/year • Mosaica national management affiliation

74% White

12% Hispanic

4% Afr. Am.

10% Asian Am.

1% Not 

applicable

1% $5,339

• European academic tradition • 12 of 30 courses qualify as Advanced Placement • Only Arizona school to have scores above the 90th percentile on math SAT 9 

in all grades

70% Hmong

20% Afr. Am.

10% Hispanic, Eritrian, 

White, Vietnamese, 

& Am. Indian

75% 80% 10% $10,355

• Non-violent community focus and award-winning character education program • High levels of support for English language learners • Looping to build relationships and support

77% Hispanic

21% Afr. Am.

2% Asian Am. & White

8% 86% 5% $8,670

• KIPP, Inc. national college prep program • Extended day/year • 85% of students enter college; 94% are first-generation college students

51% White

38% Afr. Am.

4% Asian Am.

3% Hispanic

4% Other

0% 20% 5% $6,000

• Parent contract to donate 20 hours a year • Core Knowledge curriculum • Character education focus

72% Hispanic

22% White

2% Asian Am.

2% Filipino

1% Afr. Am.

1% Multi-racial

44% 63% 5% $5,367

• School facility houses two-way Spanish-English immersion charter program 

for 43% of students

• Multiple language programs during and after school for students and parents • Regrouping across classes and grades for reading and math

80% Afr. Am.

20% Hispanic

0% 56% 7% $12,910

• 66% of students enter below grade level; 100% continue in college prep 

high schools

• Mandated homework support, Saturday school, summer school for poor grades • Curriculum developed by staff based on student performance on school 

comprehensive exams

62% White

22% Afr. Am.

6% Hispanic 

3% Asian Am.

7% Multi-racial

2% 19% 22% $5,750

• Multi-age classrooms, looping • Developmental, project-based approach • No grades; student portfolios
4

artifacts that represented aspects of the school’s program, and interviewing parents, students, teachers, 

board members, administrators, and district liaisons. 

At each school, a set of questions guided the observations and interviews (see figure 2). 

Among the eight schools represented in this guide, three 

consider themselves middle schools, one is a comprehensive K-12 school, one is 5-12, another is K-8, and two are 

elementary schools, one of which includes a preschool 

program. Student enrollment ranges from 182 at a middle school to 850 at an elementary school. At three of 

the schools, more than 80 percent of the students qualify 

for subsidized meals; at three other schools, the percentage is about 20 or less. Three of the schools are chartered 

by their state, four hold a charter from the local district, 

and one is chartered by a special chartering authority. 

The oldest of these schools has been in existence for 10 

years; most are five or six years old. Programs vary from 

college prep to project-based learning, from an arts emphasis to bilingual education. Several programs feature 

non-violence or character education. Part II presents a 

concrete portrait of each school, a snapshot seeking to 

capture the particular ambience of the school culture, its 

distinctive mission and instructional program, and how 

it has gone about creating a learning community for its 

particular school population. 

As remarkably diverse as these schools are, they share 

certain fundamental qualities, core features that seem 

to be at the heart of the charter process. Part I of the 

guide highlights those necessary elements of creating 

an effective charter school. 

FIGURE 2. Framework for Site Analysis

I. Mission

›› Is the school’s mission clear, concise, and achievable?

›› Can the whole school community articulate the school’s 

mission, expectations of students and faculty, the 

school’s educational program, and the school’s values?

›› In what ways does the school’s mission guide 

educational practice and improvement over time?

II. School Operations and Educational Program

›› What is innovative about the school’s structure 

and programs?

›› How does the school meet the needs of its 

student population?

›› How is the school using data to influence the curriculum, 

the instructional program, interventions for students, and 

improvements in the program over time?

›› How has the school built organizational capacity, 

including professional development for staff?

›› How has the school achieved and maintained 

financial stability?

III. Stakeholders

›› How does the school ensure that all stakeholders have 

shared expectations?

›› How does the school attract parents and respond to 

their input?

›› What community partnerships contribute to the 

school’s success?

IV. Chartering and Accountability

›› Why did the school go the chartering route?

›› What is the school’s relationship with the 

chartering agency?

›› What is the school’s comprehensive accountability plan?

›› How do the conditions of chartering (flexibility, 

accountability, and choice) influence the school’s 

operations and its success?
5

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

All charter schools are someone’s creation. A visionary or, more likely, a group of people sees a need or 

opportunity and decides to start a school. To be effective, a charter school begins with a mission and 

stays mission-driven: Everyone associated with the school knows what it stands for and believes in its 

vision. Each school engages parents as real, not nominal, partners. Each school fosters a culture that is 

highly collegial and focused on continuous improvement. And each effective charter school has a strong 

accountability system, not just to please its authorizers but also its “clients,” the parents.

As new public schools, they all experienced immense 

start-up challenges, including developing the mission 

and vision for the school, thinking through every facet 

of the school program, writing the charter, hiring staff, 

making decisions about curriculum, and securing the 

building and funds needed to open. One comment resurfaced at each school: They could never have anticipated how much hard work would be involved and how 

many decisions they would have to make to create the 

systems to start a charter school. 

Some charter schools begin from scratch; others are 

conversions from pre-existing public schools. Some 

handle every aspect of running a school—from curriculum to accounting. Others contract out administrative 

and business functions. Education management companies can provide charter schools with an operational 

structure and a curriculum model. For example, Mosaica Education, Inc., contracts with 24 charter schools 

nationally, including the Arts and Technology Academy, 

Part I: Elements of 

Effective Charter Schools

Getting a Good Start

Who starts charter schools? Thoughtful community 

members, concerned parents, dedicated teachers, university educators, and political and business people 

are among those who have come together to create 

charter schools. KIPP Academy Houston was started 

by two former Teach For America teachers using two 

classrooms within a pre-existing public school. The BASIS School in Tucson was started by a husband and wife 

team of college educators. Roxbury Prep in Boston, the 

School of Arts and Sciences in Tallahassee, and Community of Peace Academy in St. Paul, were launched 

by educators with a vision for an academic alternative 

to the public schools in their local communities. Others 

such as Oglethorpe Charter School in Savannah, and 

the Arts and Technology Academy in Washington, D.C., 

were developed by groups of parents working together 

with community members on a grassroots level. 
6

to provide the company’s education model as well as 

central office functions (see figure 3). The Core Knowledge Foundation contracts with the Oglethorpe Charter 

School, providing curriculum and teacher training. Other 

charter schools such as KIPP Academy Houston are part 

of a network of schools that ascribe to a particular school 

organizational model. The KIPP, Inc., national office helps 

to support the training of principals and the replication 

of new KIPP charter schools around the country. But 

however a charter school originates, each starts with 

a clear mission, a unifying vision of what the founders 

want students to know and be able to do, and why.

Leading With a Mission

At the heart of each charter school is a well-conceived 

and powerful mission, a shared educational philosophy 

that guides decision-making at every level. The spirit of 

the mission appears in slogans on hall placards, banners, 

and T-shirts and resounds in chants, assemblies, and informal conversations. During site visits and interviews for 

this guide, parents, teachers, students, and board members 

easily articulated their school’s mission, demonstrating the 

basic condition that they all begin on the same page. 

In some schools, the mission is to prepare low-income, 

urban students for higher education, students, for 

example, who enroll with below-grade-level skills and 

aspire to be the first members of their families to attend 

college. Such a mission led Roxbury Prep to structure 

the school day so that every student takes two periods 

of reading and two of math. Awareness of the school’s 

daunting challenges drives a highly rigorous academic 

program. Other schools may develop a mission focusing on the needs of the whole child. The Community 

of Peace Academy, for example, strives to “educate 

the whole person, mind, body and will for peace, justice, freedom, compassion, wholeness and fullness of 

life.” This means helping students grow not just academically, but emotionally, physically, and spiritually. 

Founders of the School of Arts and Sciences spent a 

year researching and designing a school grounded in 

developmental theory and dedicated to learning by doing. Their mission, centering on the belief that kids are 

naturally curious, seeks to foster students’ self-directed 

learning, with a strong emphasis on the arts. 

Visits to classrooms in these charter schools found students engaged, on task, and learning. A strong, clearly 

articulated purpose focuses the work, creates a pervasive positive spirit, and promotes consistent expectations 

from class to class. Teachers are deeply aware that they 

are creating change, both for their students and also 

within the larger public school system. At a mission-driven school, it is easier to focus on what will enable students to reach the school’s goals and objectives. A clear 

vision also makes it obvious when teachers are not in 

sync with the school program and empowers administrators and governing boards to hold the staff accountable. 

Above all else, the mission serves to inspire and motivate 

the teachers, parents, and students to make the necessary effort to assure that their school will thrive.

Innovating Across the School Program 

In effective charter schools, the mission drives every 

aspect of the school program, and in each case the 

school program reflects the school’s freedom to experiment, to be creative in terms of organization, scheduling, curriculum, and instruction. “The way we are going 

about closing the achievement gap for our kids,” said 

Roxbury Prep’s principal, “simply would not be possible under the present confines of the public school 

system.” The schools are infused with the spirit of 
7

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

FIGURE 3. Mosaica and the Arts and Technology Academy

Not all charter schools want to start from scratch. One option for charter schools is to contract out services 

such as accounting and other central office functions to “education management organizations.” In addition, 

these management organizations can provide charter schools with an operational structure and curriculum 

model. Such are the arrangements in place between the Arts and Technology Academy in the District of Columbia and Mosaica Education, Inc., which has relationships with 24 charter schools nationally. 

The Arts and Technology Academy (ATA) operates as an LEA with a budget of just over $5,320,000 (2001–02). 

The school pays Mosaica an annual fee of $610,000 to provide central office management functions and the 

Mosaica Educational Model. Aspects of this model in place at ATA include the extended school day and calendar year, a commitment to student and teacher facility with technology, foreign language instruction beginning 

in kindergarten, and Mosaica’s interdisciplinary Paragon “world ideas” social studies curriculum, which complements ATA’s and Mosaica’s focus on the arts. Direct Instruction in reading and mathematics are also a Mosaica 

feature adopted by ATA. In addition to all that ATA has implemented from the Mosaica model, the school has 

negotiated variations from the model as well. For example, when a new principal came to ATA, he asked the 

school board to add the 100 Book Challenge to the school’s reading program, to balance the existing skills 

focus with more literature. The board president and principal noted both a “healthy tension” between ATA and 

its management company and the importance of a strong board for negotiations.

Mosaica Education’s Web site is http://www.mosaicaeducation.com/index.html.

innovation. At one charter school, innovation takes the 

shape of a longer school day; at another, it is in the 

teaching pedagogy or scheduling configuration. While 

such practices may have been developed and tried in 

other places across the country, the novel ways charter 

schools can put them together often results in a school 

culture and operational structure quite different from 

those in neighboring schools.

MISSION-RESPONSIVE CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGY

At the School of Arts and Sciences in Tallahassee, curriculum and instruction are responsive to the developmental approach to learning called for in the school’s 

mission. The program features thematic, interdisciplinary 

instruction, project-based learning, and portfolios in 

place of grades. The rubric in figure 4, used for self-reflection and program monitoring, shows how the school 

defines this approach. In St. Paul, responsive to its mission in a gang-infested neighborhood, the Community 

of Peace Academy has created a whole co-curriculum, 

in and outside of class, focused on peace building and 

fostering justice and a non-violent lifestyle.

With a mission to challenge their students academically, KIPP Academy Houston and the BASIS School, 

in Tucson provide accelerated curricula (see figure 5). 

Some schools, like Roxbury Prep and the School of Arts 

and Sciences, develop their own curricula and do not 

typically use textbooks. Other schools have adopted external models such as the Advanced Placement curriculum 
8

taught at BASIS, the Core Knowledge curriculum used at 

Oglethorpe, and the Paragon curriculum and direct instruction model at the Arts and Technology Academy. 

Many schools incorporate project-based learning and 

internships for older students to develop connections 

between classroom learning and real world professions. At BASIS, the last two weeks of the school year

are devoted to project-based learning. For example, 

some students developed and produced an opera as 

part of the Metropolitan Opera Project, while other 

students went to Mexico to visit a marine biology lab. 

Each Friday, middle school students at the School of 

Arts and Sciences work with science professionals in 

the community. Among their many projects, students 

have worked on DNA studies, animal studies, robotic 

Stage 2 – Thematic, Multi-age Classroom

In addition to Stage 1 components.

Environment Curriculum Expectations Indicators

The prepared environment* 

is aesthetically pleasing 

(calming colors & music), 

neat, and orderly. There is a 

calm, relaxing atmosphere.

The learning process reflects 

a triangle flow of information 

between teacher, student, 

and environment. Hands-on 

skill lessons are laid out in a 

progression so that students 

can start at their own level 

and progress.

Students work independently. 

They show respect for the 

materials and handle them 

appropriately.

Teachers set their 

Professional Development 

Goals driven by student data.

Classroom materials are 

student-centered. The 

teacher’s personal resources 

are located at home or other 

designated storage areas 

to make room for student 

materials.

Developmental checklists 

assist teachers in tracking 

student development and 

planning for instruction.

Students are taking charge of 

their learning.

Students progress in 

academic skills, as well as 

projects, performances, and 

productions. Scores on 

classroom assignments & 

FCAT reflect their growth.

The environment is clean, 

uncluttered, and ordered 

to encourage motivation, 

concentration, and 

independence.

Themes continue to be 

an integral part of the 

curriculum, culminating in 

whole school programs or 

festivals. Students make 

books centered on themes 

they study.

Students take initiative 

to research topics, work 

on projects, and develop 

presentations.

Students are learning how to 

set goals and follow through. 

They maintain daily job 

charts, wallets, or learning 

tickets. 

The schedule allows 

the class to have an 

uninterrupted work time 

every day.

Special area subjects are 

fully integrated into the 

classroom themes when 

possible.

Students are engaged in their 

work and treat each other 

well. They continue to work 

on the Life Skills.

Students produce beautiful 

portfolios based on the 

8 Intelligences. Self-evaluation is part of the process.

Students understand all 

procedures and ways of 

work.

Teachers use student 

assessment data to plan 

instruction. 

Inter-cluster and intracluster collaboration 

is happening between 

teachers.

The whole class is focused 

on learning and hums 

with productivity. Students 

work individually, paired, 

or in small groups more 

often than whole class 

instruction.

FIGURE 4. The School of Arts and Sciences Thematic Instruction Rubric
9

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

FIGURE 5. BASIS Course Requirements

programming, and electron conduction studies with 

university researchers, veterinarians, and engineering 

scientists. As part of their science class, students conducted an archeology project for Cornell University, and 

while sifting through sediment from a site, discovered 

the wing of a pre-historic beetle. Their findings became 

part of a research study.

In many of these charter schools, student motivation 

is enhanced by providing an element of choice within 

the curriculum. At Oglethorpe Charter School, students 

pick electives and clubs for Friday activities. At the 

School of Arts and Sciences, students organize their 

own progress through a set of assigned math activities 

or writing exercises. Likewise, the topics of their project 

work represent personal choices, related to a class or 
10

school theme. At Community of Peace Academy, students using the Accelerated Reader program select the 

books they will read in class based on their improvement and reading level. At the BASIS School, students 

can choose to take a full menu of Advanced Placement 

classes and graduate after 11th grade. 

FLEXIBLE STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS

In schools driven by a mission, structure should be at 

the service of function. The flexibility afforded charter schools allows them to carry out their missions in 

many different ways. Some schools use a traditional 

model with 50-minute classes, while others use a 

block schedule with 80- or 90-minute classes. Some 

use a combination. The structure depends on what the 

school is trying to accomplish—whether, for example, 

to expose students to a full liberal arts curriculum or 

to focus on particular areas or allow for extended projects. At the School of Arts and Sciences, a developmental approach is supported with multi-grade classrooms 

and allowing students to progress on a developmental timetable. A lead teacher and an assistant teacher 

work across three grade levels in each classroom. 

Because many charter schools have an extremely ambitious mission, they provide a longer school day than 

their local counterparts. At the Arts and Technology 

Academy, children attend school one hour a day longer and 20 days more a year than the regular District of 

Columbia schools. The added time can be calculated as 

three extra years of schooling by the time children reach 

high school. At KIPP Academy Houston, students are in 

school from 7:25 in the morning until 5:00 in the afternoon, with Saturday school required twice each month. 

Behind the scenes, administrators at these schools have 

created program schedules to support teacher collaboration. Shared meeting time for teams of teachers during the school day gives them the opportunity to plan, 

develop curriculum, discuss student issues, and conference with families. Special Friday schedules at Roxbury 

Prep allow teachers a weekly three-hour block for professional development. Afternoon teacher meetings are 

a weekly feature at the BASIS School, as well. 

RESPONSIVE STAFFING

Each charter school has the autonomy to hire staff that 

fit its program. Gates, for example, hires teachers with 

specialized certification to work with English language 

learners. The school also hires a number of part-time 

teachers to reduce group sizes during core academic instruction and created a position for a teacher leader to 

oversee the school’s complex array of programs. BASIS 

looks for teachers with strong academic backgrounds, 

but not necessarily teaching credentials, to teach their 

advanced courses. KIPP and Roxbury Prep look for young 

teachers with lots of energy. Roxbury Prep plans its program in anticipation of frequent teacher turnover; other 

schools, like Community of Peace, have stable faculties 

that have evolved the school’s program over time.

One of the striking characteristics of these schools is their 

ability to provide a high teacher to student ratio. At Community of Peace Academy, there is one teacher per 16 

students in the kindergarten and first grade. Elementary 

grades at the School of Arts and Sciences have two 

teachers, a lead teacher and an associate teacher for each 

multi-age classroom. Many of the schools have staff specialists, such as a school nurse, social worker, or counselor; high school or college placement director; parent 

liaison-translator; special education resource specialist; 

and librarian. Student needs and priorities determine the 

staffing and resource allocation.
11

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

In all cases, school leaders and staff agree that teachers 

need to buy into the program or find another home. At 

the Arts and Technology Academy, for example, turnover was high after the first year with a new principal, 

when the faculty came together around a vision and 

expectations increased. Staff not enthusiastic about 

the school’s new demands were encouraged to leave, 

and 21 of the 41 teachers and instructional assistants 

did so. The following year, turnover was much lower.

SUPPORTIVE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT 

Common to these charter schools is a sense that school 

cares for each student as a family does for its children. 

At the School of Arts and Sciences, teachers work with 

the same students for two or more years in a row. This 

“looping” gives teachers more time to develop strong relationships with students and families and to understand 

and meet students’ educational needs. At Oglethorpe 

Charter School, an individual “Personal Education Plan” 

is developed for all students to help monitor their progress toward achieving subject area objectives. There is a 

widely shared sense that students have specific needs 

and may require different levels of support in their 

learning. The focus at the School of Arts and Sciences on 

individual learning needs has attracted many students 

whose previous education experiences featured the 

highly individualized approaches of home schooling. 

Students in these relatively small schools are taught to 

help and support one another. At KIPP Academy Houston, one of the school mantras posted in every classroom reads, “If a teammate needs help, we give. If we 

need help, we ask. Work Hard. Be Nice. Team always 

beats individual.” At Community of Peace Academy, students are trained to become “Peace Builders,” actively 

working to create a non-violent community based on 

trust and acceptance. Teachers make time for proactive 

classroom discussions about character and responsibility, coaching students to make thoughtful, caring decisions. As one parent said, “Community of Peace works 

because the teachers create a peaceful environment 

where the children feel secure and comfortable to 

learn. The teachers really care about the children.” The 

tone in these charter schools is one of acceptance. For 

example, students at the School of Arts and Sciences 

are encouraged to express their creativity, knowing that 

their individuality will be supported, not teased. Several 

schools bring everyone together for Friday community 

meetings, singing together, giving theatrical presentations, and recognizing student achievements and contributions to help create a positive tone schoolwide. 

Even in neighborhoods known for rough public schools, 

these charter schools are peaceful and safe, without violence or disruption among the students. Every school 

has developed strong expectations for student behavior and systems to help students to do their best. Most 

of these schools have a dress code or require uniforms. 

The School of Arts and Sciences is a notable exception, 

where students are free to wear blue hair and capes if 

they please. Student incentive programs at KIPP Academy (see figure 6) and Roxbury Prep keep students 

focused on being prepared for class and modeling excellent citizenship. At Oglethorpe, students must earn 

the privilege of clubs and extracurricular activities by 

keeping their grades up. 

To be sure that no student “falls through the cracks,” 

support for students extends from providing for their 

social and emotional well-being to providing systems 

for students who struggle academically. At Roxbury 

Prep, if students are not doing well in an academic class, 

or need help to master a concept, teachers will pull them 

for a tutorial during gym or elective periods. Several 
12

schools have “homework hotlines.” Oglethorpe created 

a special class for five students at risk of failing the sixth 

grade, allowing them the opportunity to accelerate their 

learning and join the seventh grade mid-year. At BASIS, 

if students do not pass comprehensive exams in academic subjects, they are offered summer school courses 

to prepare them to retake the test at the end of the 

summer. At KIPP Academy Houston, students who have 

not completed their assignments are required to attend 

“Wall Street,” staying after school, often late into the 

evening, until the work is finished. Such measures help 

these schools maintain their high expectations; parents 

are supportive and students recognize that they are 

learning to take responsibility for themselves.

KIPP: Houston There are no shortcuts

Level of 

infraction

1 2 3 4 5 6 Expulsion

Not following 

directions

Incomplete 

assignment

Academic ticket 

not signed

Negative 

attitude

Lying Copying or 

cheating

Unacceptable 

items2 (guns, 

knives, etc.)

Not prepared 

for class

Dress code 

violation

Unorganized Porch 

interaction

Swearing Inappropriate 

conduct 

(harassment)

Gross 

harassment

Tardy to class Missing ticket Disrespectful Grossly 

unorganized

Gross 

disrespect

Fighting Other similar 

offenses at the 

discretion of the 

principal

Insufficient 

funds to 

recollect items

Completely 

missing 

assignment

Stealing

Absent w/o call 

to school by 

8 am

Unnecessary 

items1

Off task

1 An unnecessary item consists of something that should not be brought to school such as electronic toys, game cards, pagers, cell phones, 

excessive amounts of cash, etc. Such items will be confiscated and held for a parent to recollect.

2 Unacceptable items are things no child should have in his/her possession at any time such as weapons, drugs, alcohol, etc. In either of these 

situations, the item(s) will be confiscated and handed over to an administrator to be picked up by a parent, and the proper authorities will be notified.

Strategies to Redirect Disciplinary Violations

KIPP implements some of (but is not limited to) the following 

techniques to help our students learn from their mistakes and 

make better choices in the future:

• Additional assignments

• Calling/agenda plans

• Khaki plan (excessive dress code violations)

• Detention (Saturday)

 Porch students avoid distractions in the following ways:

- Wearing their shirts/jackets inside out to let others know 

they are “looking inward”, reflecting on their mistakes and 

should not be disturbed (reversible jackets should not be 

worn while on porch)

- Not being able to communicate (verbal or otherwise) with 

their peers without first being granted permission from a 

teacher

FIGURE 6.KIPP Student Incentive System (Excerpt)
13

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

Promoting a Community of 

Continuous Learning

Commitment to a vision, an innovative spirit, and strict 

accountability all work to create learning communities 

in these schools, cultures of continuous improvement. 

INTERNAL ACCOUNTABILITY5

In most charter schools, the whole accountability process, from end-of-term comprehensive exams, to weekly 

teacher sessions sharing student work, is used to steadily 

improve teaching and learning. Yearly analysis of progress, taking a hard look at what’s working well and what 

isn’t, becomes the basis for a schoolwide improvement 

plan with new goals for the coming year. Schools give 

constant attention to refining curriculum and instruction, using student data to make instructional changes. 

If an analysis of math scores reveals a problem, steps are 

taken to solve it, whether through professional development, adopting a more effective program, or focused 

attention to specific areas of the curriculum. 

At Roxbury Prep, faculty engage in a rigorous process 

of self-reflection, analyzing curriculum and student 

performance down to the level of the questions on 

comprehensive exams. Students at BASIS participate in 

a highly articulated examination process, taking midyear “preliminary” exams in all core subjects followed 

by “must-pass” year-end exams. Students at Gates are 

regrouped for reading and math based on tests given 

every four or five weeks. The Community of Peace 

Academy hired an outside evaluator to help them 

assess their overall program. At Oglethorpe Charter 

School, teachers explicitly reflect on their own learning, 

with each annually submitting a professional portfolio 

to the school’s board of directors. At the BASIS School, 

a teacher’s pay is partially determined by “performance 

bonuses” tied to achieving learning goals.

Professional development at these charter schools is 

driven by school goals. For example, when the Community 

of Peace staff learned that their students needed better 

preparation in reading and writing, the school hired a fulltime curriculum specialist to support teachers to improve 

their instruction. When an evaluation showed that the 

school’s approach to English as a Second Language (ESL) 

needed strengthening, the school made it possible for every team of teachers to work with an ESL specialist, weekly, 

to help modify assignments and assessments and scaffold 

learning to accommodate students struggling with a new 

language or learning disabilities. 

At the same time, schools allow for informal, collegial 

professional development. Across the schools, teachers are 

provided time during the week for planning and meeting 

together. During Roxbury’s regular Friday afternoon “Inquiry Groups,” teachers share problems, analyze student 

work, reflect on practice, and agree to try new ideas. 

Charter autonomy is itself a help in fostering a culture of improvement, by giving schools the flexibility 

to act quickly to identify areas of concern, make programmatic decisions, and put them into action. As one 

teacher said, “I see change happen here when we need 

it.” It is control over budget, staffing, and curriculum 

that allows charter schools’ internal accountability systems to work so effectively.

Most of the charter schools visited provide teachers with 

additional professional development and planning time 

throughout the year. Some also have summer sessions 

during which staff build ownership of the school’s mission and vision, developing the systems and curriculum 

that will create the unique culture of the school.
14

STAFF COMMITMENT

Charter schools attract teachers who strongly share 

the school’s mission and are willing to go the extra 

mile to achieve it. At Community of Peace Academy, 

Principal Karen Rusthoven seeks adults who personally 

live the philosophy of the school and understand the 

importance of a healthy balance of the whole person, 

mind, body, and will. Her teachers love the school so 

much that many have served there for five years and 

more, a long time in the universe of charter schools, 

where most are themselves less than five years old. 

Other schools have a harder time retaining teachers. 

As dedicated as the young teachers are who come to 

Roxbury Prep, the work load is grueling. Comparing it 

to the intensity experienced by recent college graduates at high-powered management consulting firms, 

the school’s co-directors recognize that their young 

teachers, who “come early and stay late,” cannot be 

expected to remain for years and years. To compensate for the expertise that leaves with each departing 

teacher, the school has developed systems to retain 

evolving curriculum knowledge, storing it in school 

databases and passing it on from one teacher to the 

next. The KIPP Academy mantra, “There are no shortcuts,” applies to staff as well as students. Teachers 

work hard, long hours, starting their day at 7:00 and 

teaching until 5:00; they are also on call in the evening 

to field student and parent phone calls and to teach 

Saturday school twice a month.

Teachers at charter schools are not in it for the money. 

They are not earning overtime for their long days. Staff 

compensation at these schools is usually the same as in 

the local school districts. In some cases it is less. 

In all of these schools, parents rave about the teachers’ commitment to the students, their availability and 

openness for communication, and their dedication. The 

challenge is how to support staff who are working so 

hard to make a school successful. Many teachers say that 

collegiality with their teammates, the partnership with 

parents, the climate of support from administrators and 

board members, and even the opportunity to serve on 

their school board provide a boost in morale that makes 

it possible to engage in such all-consuming work. 

Partnering With Parents and the Community

At each of these schools, the culture forged around a 

shared educational vision creates a strong sense of community. Parents choose to send their children, and students know why they are there. The schools tend to be 

small, which itself allows an intimacy and face-to-face 

recognition not possible in larger schools. But their family-like feel is intentional, part of the school design. As 

one teacher explained, “We see the whole school as an 

extended family.” Teachers reach out to create a connection between home and school environments. At Community of Peace Academy, teachers begin the school year 

with home visits to meet the families and learn about 

students’ home environments. Parents repeatedly commented that they appreciate how frequently teachers 

communicate with families. Every teacher at KIPP Academy Houston is accessible by cell phone, taking calls until 

8:30 at night from students and parents. The sense of 

shared commitment by parents and staff is formalized 

in most of these schools in a signed compact like that of 

the Community of Peace Academy shown in figure 7.

The fact that students are never assigned to a charter 

school, but are there as a conscious choice, helps create a voluntary civic community.6

 In the schools visited 

for this guide, the tremendous commitment on the 

part of the teachers, parents, community members, administrators, and students was palpable. For some, the 
15

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

creation and development of their school community 

has involved unexpected challenges, including political 

conflicts, facility nightmares, and funding struggles, 

to name a few. But with the generosity of community 

partners, who have donated everything from office 

space and auditorium facilities to new reading programs and a music teacher, who have served on the 

schools’ boards and mobilized parents, these charter 

schools have become part of the fiber of the local communities that they serve. 

Parent involvement is widely recognized as a benefit to 

children and schools, and these charter schools engage 

parents as authentic partners at many different levels. Parents at Roxbury Prep, KIPP, and BASIS formally 

agree to support their children through these schools’ 

COMMUNITY OF PEACE ACADEMY

HOME/SCHOOL COMPACT

2002-2003

The School Will

* Teach and model a non-violent lifestyle.

* Treat parents with care and respect.

* Provide a Family Handbook in English and Hmong.

* Visit the home of each parent in the fall of each school year.

* Return phone calls in a timely manner.

* Meet with parents upon request.

* Conduct Parent/Mentor/Teacher/Student Conferences in August, November, and March.

* Provide Parent/Mentor Nights at least semi-monthly.

* Provide a Home/School Liaison to assist parents/mentors.

* Translate important information into the Hmong language.

* Provide child care and interpreters for conferences and meetings.

* Provide transportation to important meetings and conferences as needed.

* Provide a monthly calendar and newsletter for all parents.

The Parent/Mentor Will

* Teach and model a non-violent lifestyle.

* Treat school staff with care and respect.

* Read the Family Handbook and High School Handbook and support the philosophy and policies therein.

* See that the child is in school and on time every day.

* See that the school has accurate emergency numbers, phone numbers, and addresses for the parent/mentor at all

times.

* Attend Parent/Mentor Registration Night and all scheduled conferences and meetings concerning their child, or 

call the school prior to the meeting if not able to attend.

* Return phone calls and answer requests for meetings and conferences in a timely manner.

* Return important school document s in a timely manner.

* Support the community as able by attending Parent Nights, volunteering, and attending school events.

Names and grade levels of children attending Community of Peace Academy

Name Grade Name Grade

School Official: Date: 

Parent/Mentor: Date: 

Parent/Mentor: Date: 

BY SIGNING THIS FORM YOU BECOME AN OFFICIAL MEMBER OF THE COMMUNITY OF 

FIGURE 7. Community of Peace Parent Compact
16

How Do You Earn Volunteer Hours?

Parent volunteers are a critical component of our program at Oglethorpe Academy. In 

fact, all parents at Oglethorpe sign a contract agreeing to serve the school for 10 hours 

(if single) or 20 hours (couples).

We provide many activities for which you may “earn” hours:

• Attending day-time school events and field trips

• Extra-curricular parent-planned dances and parties

• Preparing food for special school events

• Attending school functions (athletics, concerts)

• Parent conferences

• Saturday workdays to spruce up our facilities

• Working in the media center

• Assisting with health screenings

• Acting as a team coach or coordinator

• Leading a club

• Working from home: collecting box tops, pop tops, completing character 

assignments, doing research, etc.

• Participating in committee work

• Serving on the Governing Board

Parents are provided with a quarterly “report card” (sample attached) so that they can 

monitor their progress. To ensure that all families do their fair share, only those families 

who have fulfilled their family contract are allowed to re-enroll their students at Oglethorpe 

Academy for the following year.

We believe that parent participation is part of our student success formula!

very demanding academic requirements. At Oglethorpe, parents sign a contract to provide 20 service 

hours annually (see figure 8). Parents were often visible 

at these schools, helping in classrooms, supervising student activities, and organizing school programs. At all 

these schools, parents serve on governing boards of directors, making policy decisions that shape the schools’ 

operations and futures.

Some of the schools see that supporting parent education is part of their broad commitment to the community, as well as a way to support student learning. 

Gates, for example, opens up its computer lab for English as a second language classes (see figure 9) and also 

provides Spanish classes for parents, in keeping with its 

focus on bilingualism.

Governing for Accountability

The freedom to innovate with governance models is a signal feature of charter schools. Each has a governing board 

of directors that is responsible for school policy-making 

FIGURE 8. Oglethorpe Parent Volunteer Options
17

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

and oversight. Those serving on governing boards are 

stakeholders in the truest sense of the word, people not 

only attuned to the school’s mission, but also highly 

familiar with its daily operations. Parents are board 

members in each of the schools visited. At Oglethorpe, 

because Georgia charter law requires parents to be the 

majority on a charter school’s board, the board is made 

up of six parents, two teachers, and four non-voting 

members, including three community members and 

one school administrator. At other schools, community 

members might make up the board’s majority.

Including teachers on school boards is one of the biggest departures from traditional public schooling. In 

states where charter schools are exempt from collective bargaining, teachers presumably face no conflict 

of interest in negotiating teacher contracts and can 

serve on the governing board alongside parents and 

FIGURE 9. Gates Adult Education Program
18

community members. The advantages of teacher 

membership on school boards include deepening 

teachers’ ownership of the school’s vision, giving them 

a greater stake in policy and organizational decisions, 

and helping to ensure that a board’s solutions fit the 

identified problems. 

Annually, charter schools are expected to evaluate their 

school program, quality of teaching, and student outcome measures in light of the mission and goals defined 

in the charter document. All charter schools publish 

an annual report or a school improvement accountability plan outlining specific goals to be accomplished 

each year (see excerpt from Roxbury Prep’s plan in 

figure 10). The governing board monitors a school’s 

progress and helps to set new goals to keep it moving 

forward toward its mission. 

Over a longer time frame, typically three to five years, a 

charter school must demonstrate that it is meeting the 

FIGURE 10. Roxbury Prep Annual Accountability Plan (Excerpts)

Academic Program (Note: Once the MCAS is expanded to include Math and English Language Arts exams for all 

middle school grades (6–8), RPC may no longer use the Stanford 9 for external accountability purposes.)

Goal # 1: Students at RPC will be able to effectively comprehend and analyze literature and non-fiction texts.

Measures:

• Over 90% of RPC students who have attended RPC from September of the 6th grade through May of the 7th grade will 

pass the 7th Grade MCAS English Language Arts exam.

• RPC students who have attended RPC from September of the 6th grade through May of the 8th grade will at the end of 

the 8th grade year improve their entering Stanford 9 Reading Comprehension scores by an average of 3 NCE points.

Organizational Viability

Goal # 6: RPC enrollment and attendance reflect parental demand and commitment.

Measures:

• Applications to enroll in grade 6 will exceed the number of available spaces by at least 25%.

• Annual school attendance rates will be 93% or higher.

Faithfulness to Charter

Goal #9: RPC students are prepared to enter, succeed in, and graduate from college.

Measures:

• Over 30% of graduating RPC 8TH grade students will enroll in college preparatory high schools in which over 

80% of graduates matriculate to college.
19

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

terms contracted in its charter. The authorizer, whether 

district, state, or another entity, is responsible for monitoring whether the school has in fact lived up to the 

promise of its charter. If a school fails to meet ongoing 

criteria for success—ranging from financial management to student performance—its charter can be denied renewal or revoked. 

Yet another dimension of charter school accountability has to do with family satisfaction. Charter school 

practices are open. Information is shared and available. 

All parents and community members can see how students are doing on a regular basis. Thus a school that is 

not delivering is likely to lose its customers: Parents will 

no longer choose to send their children there. It is this 

openness of the charter process, the high visibility of 

the quality of performance, which may be the strictest 

accountability measure of all. As one principal put it, 

“The conditions of chartering, if anything, lead us to be 

more self-analytical and critical, holding ourselves to a 

higher standard than most schools.” 

Again, the natal twin of charter accountability is freedom to act. Success “hinges on academic achievement 

and other performance indicators, not on regulatory compliance or standardized procedures.”7

 Charter 

school boards do not have to convince districtwide 

majorities or unwilling superintendents that their 

approaches are right. A Roxbury Prep board member 

remarked that as a charter school, “We have the flexibility to turn on a dime.” If board members see a need, 

they can follow up. Freed from the constraints of bureaucracy, when a decision is made, implementation 

is immediate. 

The charter schools in this guide measure success in 

a number of ways. All have made continuous academic gains and are proud to have done so. All have 

attendance rates at 95 percent or more. Waiting lists to 

get into these successful schools provide new meaning 

to “winning the lottery.”

In other ways, what constitutes success at a given 

school varies with its mission. The Community of Peace 

Academy in St. Paul, Minn., can point to its designation as an exemplary character education school. KIPP 

Academy Houston can take satisfaction in the 85 percent of its students who enroll in college. Parents at 

the School of Arts and Sciences in Tallahassee, Fla., find 

that the school succeeds in welcoming all students, 

however unique or whatever color they may have dyed 

their hair. The school profiles in the next section provide additional measures of success at each school.

Implications

Taken as a group, successful charter schools clearly illustrate two things: (1) key elements that enable success, such as mission-driven programming, are shared 

by all of them, and (2) the forms those elements take 

vary widely from one school to another. 

One theory of charter schooling is that freedom from 

regulation will stimulate innovation and experimentation. This is not to say that each charter school, even 

each successful charter school, is entirely original 

or ground-breaking. But as illustrated by the eight 

schools in this guide, each reflects the particular vision of its founding educators and community members—whether for classical education, schooling infused with character education, approaches aligned 

with research on learning and instruction, or programs 

that have been designed by educational management 

organizations, for example. What does make each of 
20

these schools unique is the combination of ideas that 

have been brought together, made the centerpiece of 

each school’s educational approach, and then assessed 

to make sure the approach works in practice to accomplish the intended goals.

Success comes not only from the ideas themselves but 

also from the focused and energized school culture 

that thrives in a mission-driven school. School communities become internally accountable—dedicated to 

working together to accomplish their shared goals, adjusting their approach based on results, and responding 

flexibly and quickly when needed.

›› Implications for charter school educators.

Charter school educators may gain some confirmation and encouragement from these schools. 

Only eight schools could be included in this guide, 

but each represents a whole class of other, similar 

schools. Charter schools around the country are 

experimenting with new ideas, mobilizing communities, and meeting the learning needs of children and families. This guide may help support 

their cause.

›› Implications for other school leaders. Within 

this guide, school leaders will find ideas that can 

be applied in any public school. Many of the specific practices in these schools can be put in place 

anywhere. Perhaps more importantly, the core organizational features, such as vision and internal 

accountability, are also transferable. The concept 

of internal accountability, for example, was first 

identified in research on public schools that were 

restructuring.8

 As a stimulus to all educators, the 

guide provides concrete visions of what is possible. 

Readers might ask themselves, “How can I replicate 

these conditions and practices in my setting?”

 Schools looking to meet the accountability requirements of NCLB should especially take note.

These eight schools were selected in part because 

they have increased their scores on state assessments over a three-year period and made “Adequate Yearly Progress” this past year. They have 

improved over time. It’s not that they found a 

magic solution so much as they became organizations mobilized to achieve their goals. Other 

schools can do that, too.

 If local constraints set up what seem to be insurmountable barriers, educators and community 

members may want to consider chartering as a 

route to pursuing their vision more fully. The local 

district or another authorizing agency may provide support. (The resources section of this guide 

identifies additional sources of support.)

›› Implications for district or state administrators. 

For those charged with the task of creating the 

institutional supports schools need to succeed, 

the key question to ask is, “How can we get more 

schools like the ones in this guide?” District and 

state administrators may see here the opportunity to “reinvent public education” in meaningful 

ways.9

 Districts, like some mentioned here, can see 

chartering as one way to encourage innovation 

and better meet the needs of children and families. States may reexamine chartering policies in 

light of their understanding of the school conditions that promote success.

The first part of this guide has laid out what appear to be 

the cross-cutting design elements of successful charter 

schools. Brief illustrations of how these elements take 

shape in the eight featured schools demonstrate that 

they can be accomplished in a variety of ways. In the 

following part of the guide, snapshots of each of the 

schools are intended to help readers envision full charter 

school programs—eight different ways, just for starters. 
21

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

Part II: 

Charter School Profiles

The Arts and Technology Academy Public Charter School

BASIS School, Inc.

Community of Peace Academy

KIPP Academy Houston

Oglethorpe Charter School

Ralph A. Gates Elementary School

Roxbury Preparatory Charter School

The School of Arts and Sciences
22
23

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

The Arts and Technology Academy Public Charter School

Location

Year First Chartered

and Authorizer Grades Enrollment

English 

Learners

Subsidized 

Meals

Special 

Needs

Per Pupil 

Spending

Washington, D.C. 1998

Special charter school board

Pre-K–6 615 0% 97% 7% $8,650

When low enrollment led the District of Columbia 

Public Schools to close Richardson Elementary, local 

parents and community members stepped in to create a new school in the empty building. The Arts and 

Technology Academy Public Charter School (ATA) was 

chartered in 1998—“A true, homegrown, grassroots effort,” says a member of the chartering board. In a tough 

Washington neighborhood characterized by public 

housing and family incomes well below federal poverty 

levels, some of these parents had a different vision for 

their children. 

For its 615 students—98 percent African American 

and 97 percent low-income—the pre-K–6 ATA has designed a program to meet their needs and their parents’ 

dreams. According to the school’s annual report, the 

curricular mixture of the basics and the arts seeks to 

“propel” students beyond their “economically depressed 

community.” The arts are seen as the foundation for 

building children’s academic prowess as well as a way 

to “connect them to the great artists and leaders who 

were nurtured within their community.” By design, the 

school program reflects for children the strengths of 

their heritage and creates many ways for them to express themselves and to excel. 

Program and Operations

To meet its high expectations, ATA runs an extended, 

seven-and-a-half-hour school day, and an extended 

school year of 200 days, about 20 days longer than at 

neighboring schools. The basics in reading and math 

are taught through the scripted approach of direct 

instruction. On the other hand, a multicultural social 

studies curriculum invites students to explore the history of ideas. Everyone learns Spanish. Students and 

their teachers have easy access to current technology. 

After-school tutoring and homework assistance are 

provided for students who need it. Student clubs and 

extracurricular activities reinforce the focus on arts and 

academics. And student performances fill the auditorium with proud parents throughout the year. Teachers 

liken the school to “an oasis in the community.”

To keep focused on the children’s possibilities, the faculty and staff of ATA have created a list of belief statements that begins, “We can teach every student,” and 

concludes, “Given knowledge and opportunity, students 

can shape their futures.” To safeguard those futures, a 

culture of achievement has taken hold at ATA. While 

standardized test scores indicate that ATA students still 

have a lot of ground to make up, students are proud to 

have good grades. “I got 28 As and 8 Bs,” a sixth-grader 

reports with satisfaction. 

Principal Anthony Jackson is a large part of the ATA 

story. Jackson came to ATA in 2000, two years after it 

opened, at a time when the school was floundering, 

children were not succeeding, and complaints were 

high. After three years, all signs are positive. “This is 

an example of how a school can turn around,” says 

a member of the District of Columbia Public School 

Charter Board. “When I get discouraged, I point to it.” 

The leadership that Jackson brings to the school begins 

with his attitude about the school’s place in the community. On a tour of the school, he stops to point out 

a window in the rear of the building that looks onto 
24

the neighboring public housing developments. There 

used to be a cage on this window, he reports, to keep 

out the vandals. On all the windows, in fact. “Cages,” 

he says, “signify surrender,” and against the advice of 

many, he took a chance and had them removed. At the 

same time, Jackson is not willing to take chances with 

his students. Walking a boy home who was being suspended, Jackson experienced the open-air drug market 

outside the student’s apartment, reversed course—boy 

in tow—to deal with him instead within the walls of 

the school. Otherwise, he says, “I was just turning him 

over to them.” 

Academically, Jackson is equally protective. “I get kids 

to come read to me all the time. I see that child who 

struggled ... he’s reading with confidence, with inflection, and he understands what the heck he’s reading. I 

think we’re doing a pretty good job,” he allows. A selfdescribed “data nut,” who enjoys the challenge of disaggregating data to see what it can reveal, Jackson also 

recognizes the limitations of test scores. He never loses 

sight of his students’ broad academic needs and the 

role of the arts in their education. “It’s our responsibility,” he says, “to make sure that schools remain—even 

in an age of accountability—kid friendly. If at the end 

of the day children have passed every SAT 9 test that’s 

placed in front of them, but they have no sense of 

beauty, what have we created?” 

Beyond the core curriculum of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies, students all learn basic 

communicative and performing arts, often demonstrating them through technology-based activities. The arts 

and technology program encompasses the disciplines of 

the visual arts; speech; drama; dance; music, including

singing, playing instruments, and composing; journalism, and video production. As a teacher points out, the 

school’s mission and belief statements are “based on the 

fundamental understanding that kids learn in different 

ways. ATA gives them many ways to learn.”

The director of special education notes that the arts 

program is also very effective for the 7 percent of the 

students who have special needs. The parent of a special needs student calls ATA “a blessing” for her son. 

“All of the teachers and staff, everybody makes him feel 

comfortable and loved. The kids are comfortable with 

him. He’s excited about his homework and about the 

things he’s asked to do. He gets lots of stimulation.”

The school’s strong emphasis on teaching values and 

respect is key to the treatment this child has received 

at ATA and to the school’s overall discipline approach. 

Teachers may not yell at students or punish children by 

isolating them in any way. Jackson counsels teachers 

to get to know students instead of resorting to overly 

strict practices. “You can’t discipline strangers,” he cautions. “You have to build trust first.” 

The school also benefits from having a dean of students, 

who serves as a “behavior interventionist.” In a school 

founded on the arts, it is only fitting that one kind of 

intervention is music therapy. Picture a small group of 

boys singing a song called “Cooperation” as the music 

therapist strums a guitar. No one notes the irony of the 

cooperation in evidence.

Finally, the condition of the school’s physical plant is 

not incidental to the atmosphere of confidence and 

pride that permeates ATA. One of the board of directors’ first actions was to repair the run-down building. 

When ATA opened, the new school was in ship shape, 

but it was sterile. Two years later the hallways were still 

barren and no student work was on the walls, lest students tear it down or deface it. When Jackson arrived, 

he encouraged wary teachers to paper the walls with 

colorful student work. To their delight, they found that 

In a tough Washington neighborhood characterized 

by public housing and family incomes well below 

federal poverty levels, some of these parents had 

a different vision for their children. 
25

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

students respected each other’s contributions. Says one 

proud teacher, “If children are going to be here for eight 

hours, they should have a stimulating, beautiful, safe 

environment—and our building is all of those things.”

Continuous Learning

To improve instruction in all areas, faculty and administrative staff meet four times each year to review assessment outcomes and to develop responsive 

strategies. They use outcomes from curriculum-based 

assessments to identify students with low skill levels 

who are tracked for consideration of special education 

referral and/or learning enrichment, such as tutoring 

or homework assistance. SAT 9 outcomes are used to 

identify areas that are posing a challenge for students, 

and the curriculum is modified accordingly. Jackson 

also looks at data such as attendance, referrals to the 

office, and numbers in after-school tutorial programs, 

all with the purpose of planning improvements. 

The school devotes at least 15 days each year to professional development in the areas of standards, best practices, test-taking strategies, and classroom management. Teachers meet with the assistant principal weekly 

to discuss classroom practices. In addition, the assistant 

principal completes weekly classroom observations and 

coaches teachers. Program coordinators for grades preK–2, grades 3–6, and arts and technology also regularly 

coach teachers. This structure and support are credited 

with teachers’ high performance. Proud of what ATA 

teachers have accomplished, the school board president 

notes that they are not inherently “better” teachers than 

those in the rest of the District of Columbia but that 

they have responded to the environment in the school. 

The leadership team believes it has created a culture 

where it is “okay to ask questions.” Likewise, teachers at 

ATA feel they are “allowed to grow.”

The principal, one teacher says, “is a leader who demands the best. It makes all the difference because you 

want to do well for somebody like that.” 

Parents and Partners

Although ATA was first envisioned by parents and has 

two parents on the school board, parent involvement 

outside of a small core group is very limited. Most parents 

are single mothers and have themselves had few educational opportunities, which teachers report limits participation in their children’s academic life. The school board 

and school staff are eager to increase parents’ role in the 

school. GED classes, job training, and job placement that 

could be offered through the school’s Parent Resource 

Center are seen as important services that could also 

strengthen parent participation in the school.

ATA has many relationships with community groups such 

as local churches and cultural organizations, including 

the Library of Congress, but no key partnerships. 

Governance and Accountability

The Arts and Technology Academy Public Charter 

School was chartered by the District of Columbia Public 

Charter School Board in 1998 as a nonprofit corporation and local education agency (LEA). It has an annual budget of about $5,320,000, receiving funding of 

about $6,550 per student, plus some extra dollars for 

weighted categories, such as pre-school, and federal 

entitlements amounting to about $475,000. 

ATA has a business relationship with Mosaica Education, Inc., which operates 24 charter school programs 

nationally. The school pays Mosaica $610,000 annually to provide a “central office” function. The company 

also provides the school’s Direct Instruction reading 

and mathematics curricula and the Paragon social 

studies curriculum. 

Students are proud to have good grades. 

“I got 28 As and 8 Bs,” a sixth-grader 

reports with satisfaction. 
26

The school is governed by a nine-member board, 

which meets monthly. Recently the board used taxexempt bonds to purchase the school building, which 

it had been renting. Monthly payments dropped from 

$33,000 to $13,000. These savings have contributed to 

the school’s $600,000 bank balance.

While the school cannot operate without sound fiscal 

management, success is measured by student test scores, 

the scope of the curriculum, attendance, disciplinary referrals, staff retention, and parent satisfaction:

›› Since 2000, when Jackson took over as principal, 

students’ SAT 9 scores have moved steadily up. In 

reading performance, 59 percent of the students 

were reading at or above grade level in 2003, 

compared with 35 percent in 2000. In math performance, half of the students were at or above 

grade level, compared with 20 percent in 2000. 

›› Many educators are baffled by ATA’s ability to emphasize the arts as well as raise test scores. With 

the trend toward an increasingly narrow curriculum, Jackson is used to the question, “How do you 

guys do it?”

›› Daily average attendance is 95 percent.

›› Behavioral referrals dropped from 43 to 24 in 

three years.

›› After Jackson’s first year in the school, faculty 

turnover was high. Staff not enthusiastic about 

the school’s demands were encouraged to leave, 

and 21 of the 41 teachers and instructional assistants did. The following year staff turnover was 

low, with departures down to seven.

›› Parent satisfaction is measured by the school’s 

waiting list, the overflow audiences for student 

performances, and parents’ pleas that the school 

extend its program into middle school.

“The principal is a leader who demands the best. 

It makes all the difference because you want 

to do well for somebody like that.” 
27

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

language, literature, history, art, philosophy, mathematics, and science, in a curriculum that is aligned with 

the Arizona State Standards and also exceeds those requirements in many areas. Sports and fine arts courses 

are offered to all students, and middle school students 

take physical education. After some pressure from parents, after-school sports, band, and other courses and 

activities were added.

The BASIS School is the brainchild of a husband and 

wife team, both economists, who founded the school 

to combine their idea of the best from European and 

American educational traditions. The European tradition, they feel, provides academic rigor, while the 

American tradition promotes creativity, problem solving, free expression, and a sense of community. Chartered in 1998, the BASIS School proved so successful 

that in 2001 its founders opened a second campus, 

BASIS Scottsdale, in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Program and Operations

The mission of the BASIS School drives every aspect of 

its daily operations. School leaders are guided by a selfdescribed “bias toward traditional teaching.” They strive 

“to avoid educational fads and empty slogans and to 

put substance above form.” Faculty, parents, and students fully understand that the students are expected 

to work hard at courses that are more rigorous than 

most of those at similar grade levels in local schools. 

All students begin taking algebra in the seventh grade 

and move on to calculus in high school. Sixth-graders study Latin to prepare for learning scientific terms 

and romance languages, seventh-graders take public 

In the midst of a national focus on educational performance and accountability, BASIS School, Inc. achieves 

both through its priorities of hard work and academic 

achievement. The school’s mission is to provide a rigorous academic background to prepare students for college, with an emphasis on a classical liberal arts education based on European education practices. Struggling 

students receive extra academic support until they can 

meet the school’s performance standards, and teachers 

are hired not on the basis of certification but according 

to their level of expertise. Of the 19 faculty members, 10 

have a master’s degree, and two have doctorate degrees, 

all in the subjects they are teaching. BASIS parents, who 

maintain an active community dialogue, adhere strongly 

to the school’s mission. Says one parent, “The workload 

is hard, but it brings a sense of satisfaction and prepares 

children for the real world.” Students too appreciate their 

school culture, reporting that the school’s small size and 

emphasis on enabling every student to succeed makes it 

feel like “an extended family.”

Housed in a converted one-story structure in Tucson, Ariz., the BASIS School is open to children of any 

background or ability, including those who qualify for 

special education. The school serves a student population that is 74 percent white, 12 percent Hispanic, 

10 percent Asian American, and 4 percent African 

American. The 246 students in grades 5–12 must take a 

placement exam before enrolling. Students who place 

below their desired grade level are offered such options 

as remedial work in summer school, a retake of the 

placement exam after home preparation, or enrollment 

in a lower grade. Consistent with the school’s liberal 

arts focus, students in all grade levels take courses in 

BASIS School, Inc.

Location

Year First Chartered

and Authorizer Grades Enrollment

English 

Learners

Subsidized 

Meals

Special 

Needs

Per Pupil 

Spending

Tucson, Ariz. 1998

State

5–12 246 1% Not 

applicable

1% $5,339
28

speaking, and eighth-graders take economics. High 

school courses are based on the Advanced Placement 

(AP) curriculum, with 12 out of 30 courses qualifying 

as AP, and the course load is designed such that by the 

end of the 11th grade all students have enough credits 

to graduate. In their senior year, if they choose to stay, 

they may engage in higher-level coursework.

An integral part of the school’s program is its system 

of yearly comprehensive exams, which every student 

must pass in the core subjects of English, mathematics, science, and social studies in order to be promoted to the next grade. In January, students take a 

“preliminary exam” in each subject, which serves as 

an accountability measure for students, a test-development tool for faculty, and a formative evaluation 

for teachers, parents, and administrators to make decisions about tutoring and other support options for 

the students. If students do not score higher than 

60 percent on an exam, they are not promoted unless 

they successfully retake the exam before the start of the 

next school year. All members of the school community 

express satisfaction that the school allows no exceptions to these promotion policies. The faculty feel that 

students learn to take responsibility for their education. 

When students occasionally leave the school because 

of the heavy workload, they often come back, reporting 

that they were “bored” in other schools or felt lost in 

the larger, less personalized school environments. 

Along with its rigorous curriculum and high performance standards, the BASIS School offers a number of 

supports for students that are designed not only to enable them to reach high academic standards, but also to 

foster a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Fifth 

grade, called “6 prep,” may include some students who 

are sixth-graders but not yet ready to engage in the 

full sixth-grade program. Students in need of academic 

help have access to tutoring both during the school 

day and after school and can enroll in four weeks of 

summer school. Teachers are required to hold afterschool office hours twice a week—one day for student 

help and one day for parent-teacher conferences. Because the school is small, students may keep the same 

teachers over several years, and the teachers as a result 

understand students’ unique strengths and weaknesses 

and can target help as needed. In addition to this kind 

of support from teachers, students also report feeling 

supported by their peers. One student notes that BASIS 

students “feel like brothers and sisters.” In a school 

culture where “It is ‘cool’ to be on the honor roll, and 

even cooler to be on the high honor roll,” the array of 

student support networks is intended to help students 

“find enjoyment in academic achievement.” 

During the last two weeks of the school year, after 

the comprehensive exams, students engage in project-based learning. Examples include developing and 

putting on an opera as part of the Metropolitan Opera 

Project and traveling to Mexico for a marine biology 

project. These last two weeks serve as an opportunity 

to put into practice skills that students have developed 

over the course of the school year.

Continuous Learning

Implicit in the school’s high performance standards 

is an emphasis on improving teaching and learning. 

Student progress is assessed regularly, with six grading 

periods over the course of the year and a final, cumulative grade. Student achievement and improvement 

are acknowledged via frequent honors assemblies. Students receive a gold or silver balloon for achieving “distinguished” or “regular” honor roll, and students who 

have improved their cumulative average by 2 percentage points or more are honored and also awarded a 

balloon. A limited number of non-academic awards are 

given out by teachers who wish to recognize students 

The BASIS School is the brainchild of a 

husband and wife team who founded the school 

to combine their idea of the best from European 

and American educational traditions. 
29

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

who achieve highly in other areas. The balloons have 

proven to be an effective inspiration to work hard, and 

even high school boys report “loving” the balloons. 

Students carry them throughout the school day, and 

they are a visible symbol of improvement, pride, and 

accomplishment. By continually recognizing student 

achievement and improvement, the school aims to 

strike “an appropriate balance between students feeling challenged by rigorous academics and the selfsatisfaction that flows from the school’s recognition 

of excellence based on hard work.”

The BASIS School also devotes significant time and resources to improving teacher practice. At least once a 

semester, and twice or more for new teachers, the school 

director makes unscheduled observations of each teacher 

in his or her classroom. Observations are also conducted 

by peers, and in each case an evaluation is discussed 

with the observed teacher. Any problems are reported in 

writing to both the teacher and school administrators. 

Parents may also provide feedback on their children’s 

teachers. “Hard measures,” such as test scores, and “soft 

measures,” such as science fairs and math competitions, 

are also considered in teachers’ evaluations. 

Teachers meet one afternoon a week to share teaching 

strategies and information about struggling students. 

All teachers participate in professional development 

workshops and trainings, including the College Board’s 

Advanced Placement training, which the middle school 

as well as the high school teachers attend. At the end of 

every school year, all faculty and staff attend a two-day 

retreat, where together they review the students’ performance on the comprehensive exams. Consistent with the 

emphasis on continuous improvement, the next year’s 

syllabi are developed based on their analysis of these results. In August, teachers spend two weeks before school 

starts finalizing the syllabi and preparing for the year. 

The school’s founders also structure creative financial 

incentives into teacher compensation to encourage 

teacher commitment and improvement. Faculty compensation comprises a base salary and a “performance 

bonus,” which can range from 6 to 14 percent of the 

base salary. Performance bonuses are based on quantifiable goals determined at the beginning of the school 

year. Teacher commitment is also rewarded through a 

“wellness bonus.” Teachers start the year with five paid 

sick days and are compensated at the end of the year 

for any that remain. 

Parents and Partners

The ethic of individual responsibility and clear communication about standards and goals is one to which 

BASIS parents adhere strongly. Parent buy-in to the 

school’s mission is deliberately sought, as the school 

expects parents to participate actively in their children’s education. Before a student enrolls, at least one 

parent must come for a school visit and interview with 

the school director. Parents are informed of the school’s 

strict, high expectations and are told that if a child is not 

ready to work hard, or if parents are not willing to support their child to work hard, then the parents should 

consider other educational options. At the beginning 

of the school year, every student receives a Communication Journal, which serves as the primary means of 

communication between teachers and parents. Teachers and parents use the journals to correspond, and 

students use them to record daily homework, other 

assignments, and important information. Parents also 

frequently contact teachers by e-mail, often sending 

group e-mails when the matter is of general concern.

In addition, parents engage in an active community 

dialogue about the needs and goals of the school. 

The parent-teacher organization, called BASIS 

Boosters, operates independently from the school 

High school courses are based 

on the Advanced Placement 

(AP) curriculum.
30

administration and so is not a typical parent-teacher 

organization. The Boosters run a parent-created and 

supported Web site addressing any and all aspects of 

the school. The Web site includes an online calendar, 

a message board for announcements and discussions, 

links to resources and photos, and a teacher information database. Recently, the Web site offered a poll to 

ascertain whether the school should stock healthier 

snacks in its vending machines. Says one school administrator, “The important thing is that it’s run by the 

parents, not the administration.” 

Governance and Accountability

Both BASIS schools, in Tucson and in Scottsdale, are 

owned and operated by BASIS School, Inc., a 501(c)3 

nonprofit organization. BASIS School, Inc. serves as the 

contracting agent with the Arizona State Board for 

Charter Schools and also appoints the school boards at 

each school. At the BASIS School, Tucson, both school 

founders currently sit on the board, as does the school 

director. The remaining members are a local community 

college professor, who has been repeatedly recognized 

as a superior educator, an experienced University of California educator and philanthropist, a professor emeritus at the University of Arizona, the school’s drama and 

public speaking teacher, and a parent representative.

The BASIS School, Tucson, was selected by the American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) for a pilot 

program to develop criteria for charter school accreditation. (AALE is an accrediting agency for liberal 

arts colleges and universities.) The academy’s main 

criteria are high levels of academic achievement and 

commitment to a liberal arts curriculum. Charter applicants are also assessed on factors including mission, teacher quality, assessment, financial management, organization and governance, student services, 

special education, and facilities. Beginning this year, 

the BASIS School will undergo annual reviews with 

AALE to secure renewal of its accreditation. In addition, the school continues to be accountable to the 

state of Arizona, which requires all charter school 

students to take Arizona’s Instrument to Measure 

Standards (AIMS) test and the Stanford 9 standardized achievement tests. 

BASIS students consistently score well above the state 

average on the AIMS test, and the BASIS School, Tucson, 

was the only school in Arizona in 2003 whose students’ 

median scores were above the 90th percentile on the 

Stanford 9 math test in all grades. While academics are 

important, school leaders continue to emphasize that 

“BASIS graduates should be not only well prepared for 

college admission, but more importantly they should 

be prepared to succeed in college and enter their adult 

lives without losing their appreciation of learning.”

The BASIS School was selected by the AALE 

for a pilot program to develop criteria 

for charter school accreditation.
31

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

Community of Peace Academy

Location

Year First Chartered

and Authorizer Grades Enrollment

English 

Learners

Subsidized 

Meals

Special 

Needs

Per Pupil 

Spending

St. Paul, Minn. 1995

Local district

K–12 546 75% 80% 10% $10,355

Community of Peace Academy was founded in 1995. 

It began as an elementary school and added a grade a 

year. As it became clear that the large local high schools 

would not meet the individual needs of the school’s 

students, the Community of Peace Academy decided to 

extend its K-8 program. The staff has grown from under 20 members when the school opened to over 80 in 

the fall of 2003. The still-developing high school now 

enables families to enroll all of their children at one 

school, where students will not fall through the cracks. 

Program and Operations

The mission shapes the entire program structure. The 

most striking and innovative feature, represented in 

the school’s name, is its focus on fostering a non-violent lifestyle. Peace building and character education 

are woven into every facet of the school. Each teacher 

receives a two-week Responsive Classroom training so 

that all are using the same system for guiding student 

behavior and modeling positive discipline. This consistency from one classroom to the next is remarkable. 

Students know exactly what is expected of their behavior and the result is a peaceful, intentional tone in 

the classroom, which allows every student to engage 

in learning. The K-8 PeaceBuilder Program, Project 

Wisdom for grades 7-12, and the Ethics and Advisory 

elective in the high school are all integral parts of the 

school’s peace and ethics program. It becomes part of 

the way teachers take time to teach the whole child, 

not narrowly focusing on academics. In a sixth-grade 

classroom, for example, a teacher identified a need 

to help her students reflect on what it feels like to be 

teased and why they tease others. By the end of this 

In a community where gangs actively recruit adolescents into their ranks and teenagers sometimes marry 

at age 14, according to Hmong custom, the Community of Peace Academy (CPA) has created a school 

program and family-style community that empower 

students to make thoughtful, non-violent life choices. 

The school’s mission, to create a peaceful environment 

in which each person is treated with unconditional 

positive regard and acceptance, is heard in teachers’ 

conversations about curriculum, seen in student-fashioned hallway murals, and experienced through the 

school’s PeaceBuilder awards. “Community of Peace 

works,” says one parent, “because the teachers create a peaceful environment where the children feel 

secure and comfortable to learn. The teachers really 

care about the children.” Their focus on educating “the 

whole person, mind, body and will for peace, justice, 

freedom, compassion, wholeness and fullness of life,” 

guides every aspect of the school, from hiring and 

mentoring new teachers to disciplining students for 

misbehavior, from maintaining small class size to relationship building. 

Located on the east side of St. Paul, Minn., Community 

of Peace Academy serves a high proportion of low-income and English language learners. With 546 students 

in grades K-12, 70 percent are Hmong and 20 percent 

are African American. The remaining 10 percent include 

Hispanic, Eritrean, white, Vietnamese, and American 

Indian students. The majority do not speak English at 

home. The K-12 curriculum focuses on four core academic areas: reading/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. In addition, peace and ethics 

instruction are infused at every grade level. 
32

morning circle, students shared personal feelings and 

set goals for the week, including a commitment not to 

tease others. At this age, the focus is preventative, on 

teaching students how to develop the skills to create a 

safe classroom environment. 

To work with older students, the Hmong Gang Strike 

Force coaches the high school faculty on signs that indicate gang involvement. Through this partnership, the 

school is also trying to empower parents to take back 

children from the gangs, which have a strong presence 

in the community.

Real life issues are seized on as ways to build a nonviolent perspective. Last year, for example, two high 

school students broke out into a fight in front of a 

group of first-graders at breakfast. These were two new 

students with violent backgrounds who had an unresolved conflict from the weekend. At Community of 

Peace, consequences are functional and constructive 

rather than punitive. So as a result of their fight, the 

high school students were asked to develop a presentation for the first-graders, explaining their personal 

reflections about the use of violence and what they 

could have done differently. They talked about learning 

how to solve problems without striking out. It proved 

to be a powerful learning lesson for the teenagers, and 

teachers reported that it had a huge impact on one of 

the boys in particular. Teachers consider the school as a 

family and help each other to work through issues that 

arise, teaching students to learn from their mistakes 

and supporting them in the process. 

In a practice called “looping,” teachers work with the 

same students for two years in a row. In the elementary 

school, each teacher is supported by an ESL specialist, a classroom aide, and a shared special education 

teacher. For grades seven and eight, teachers team by 

math and science and by language arts and social studies; each teacher teaches the two subjects to the same 

two groups of 24 students for a two-year cycle. This 

looping, whether at the elementary grades or in junior 

high school, provides continuity and allows teachers to 

develop strong connections with students and families. Additionally, teachers feel that when they identify a critical student need, there is support to make 

things happen quickly. As one teacher comments, “ I see 

change happen here when we need it.” 

Continuous Learning

Ongoing learning is evident on every level, from the 

classroom to professional development. At the outset, 

the school hired an outside evaluator to help them 

stay focused on their mission and to strategize ongoing needs. The whole evaluation and accountability 

process is used to steadily improve teaching and learning. The board members, teaching and support staff, 

and administrators use student performance evaluation 

measures to focus on continuous improvement. Data 

collected each spring are analyzed by the evaluator 

consultant, then presented to the staff of the school. 

Working groups then review the data and work during 

the school year and summer to develop strategies that 

will help students to meet the desired outcomes of the 

plan. For example, analysis of standardized testing data 

revealed the need to develop a stronger reading program. So the school adopted Accelerated Reading K-12, 

created a reading period every day for every student, 

and lowered K-1 class size to 16 students. Through an 

America Reads grant, they collaborated with the University of St. Thomas to provide an after-school Reading 

Buddies program for second- and third-graders, pairing 

these elementary students with university students for 

reading support. The school also hired a full-time instructional facilitator to provide ongoing professional 

development. The reading program is now considered 

very strong. “My daughter would never pick up a book,” 

reports one parent, “and now I can’t stop her from 

“The teachers create a peaceful environment 

where the children feel secure and 

comfortable to learn.”
33

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

reading and her grades have gone up.” She attributes 

this to the motivating schoolwide focus on reading.

The evaluation process also helped teachers see the 

need for a more fully developed ESL program, a model 

that was more inclusive, embedded, and tightly monitored. It is now one of the school’s most innovative 

elements. Based on the belief that every CPA teacher 

must be an ESL teacher, the school is partnering with 

Hamline University, which provides in-service workshops, teacher observations, and conferencing with 

teams to provide feedback on the ESL content and 

learning objectives. Every two grades are matched with 

an ESL teacher who provides support in the classroom 

inclusion model and plans regularly with the classroom teachers. In the high school, two ESL teachers 

provide classroom support as well as teaching two ESL 

electives, one a tutorial for students who need additional help with their academic classes and a second 

ESL class for students who continue to struggle with 

English language acquisition. 

Now every ESL student has an Individual Learning Plan. 

Looking at a student’s standardized testing data, grades, 

and school record, the ESL teacher creates two to three 

learning goals for each student, indicating the level of 

intervention needed and areas for teacher focus. Every 

Monday, classroom teachers and ESL teachers plan strategies for their English learners, such as using more realia, 

giving students more time to respond to a question, and 

allowing students who are shy about participating more 

time to share ideas in classroom discussions.

Parents and Partners

Embracing the belief that parents are the first educators of their children, the school works very hard to 

reach out to the families of their students and keep 

lines of communication open and clear. All families are 

asked to sign a Home/School Compact and a Mentor 

Contract, committing themselves to full participation 

in the education of their child’s mind, body, and will 

within an educational community fully committed to 

peace and non-violence. Teachers start off the year 

visiting students’ homes, connecting with families and 

developing a deeper understanding of and empathy 

for each child. This paves the way for ongoing communication throughout the school year, sharing goals 

and expectations. A full-time parent liaison fluent in 

Hmong arranges interpreters for home visits, meetings, 

and conferences and translates all school information, 

such as the Family Handbook and the monthly parent 

newsletter, into the Hmong language. Transportation 

and child care are provided for parents so they may attend school meetings, conferences, and events. 

In addition to regular parent-teacher conferences, parent nights are held every other month throughout the 

school year. Students in grades K-6 write a weekly letter home to update parents on their grades, homework, 

and school learning. 

Each year parents are invited to evaluate the school and 

its programs through focus groups and surveys. It was 

the parents’ idea to have the students wear simple uniforms—khaki pants and polo shirts—as a way to remove 

barriers among students. Over nine years, teachers and 

parents have worked closely together to develop the 

school program. On the school’s board of directors, parents hold five of the 11 voting memberships and teachers hold the other six.

Governance and Accountability

In addition to the five parents and six teachers on the 

school’s board of directors, four non-voting members 

attend the board’s monthly meetings: the school’s executive director and principal, the business accountant 

The school hired an outside evaluator 

to help them stay focused on their 

mission and to strategize ongoing needs. 
34

and adviser, the high school assistant principal, and the 

elementary school assistant principal. The board is responsible for implementing and overseeing the school’s 

mission, budget, and policy. Every other year the board 

engages in strategic planning. 

Community of Peace Academy is chartered through the 

local public school district of St. Paul, Minn. Granted 

for three years at a time, the charter has been renewed 

three times, based on the school’s successful focus on 

its mission and student academic growth. CPA is accountable not only to the charter authorizer but also 

to the parents and students it serves. Accountability 

is also directly tied to teacher evaluation. This high 

level of accountability, says founding principal Karen 

Rusthoven, is at the heart of the school’s success. 

Financially, the school is sound, although staff are paid 

about 10 percent less than their district counterparts. 

In 1998, through a nonprofit building company, the 

Community of Peace Academy bought the building it 

was renting and built an addition to better serve the 

K–8 program. In 2002, by raising a community bond, 

the school further renovated the building and constructed a new high school. In addition to per pupil 

funding from the St. Paul district, the school uses a 

combination of other funding sources to provide special programs for students and teachers. For example, 

school improvement funds support the instructional 

facilitator, who provides ongoing professional development support for teachers. Title III funding supports an 

ESL partnership with Hamline University. First-gradepreparedness funds provide the kindergarten with a 

full-day program, and class-size-reduction funds allow 

a maximum of 16 students in kindergarten and grade 

1 classes.

In 2003, the Character Education Partnership in Washington, D.C., presented Community of Peace Academy 

with the National School of Character Award, recognizing the school as one of 10 schools nationwide for 

“exemplary work to encourage the ethical, social, and 

academic development of its students through character education.” The school is also recognized by World 

Citizens Incorporated as an international peace school. 

Academically, the school is doing well by its low-income students. For example, 73 percent of the students 

in grade 8 passed the 2003 Minnesota Basic Skills test 

in math, compared with 72 percent statewide. Math 

improvement among students in grades 5–8 ranked 

the school among the top 20 in Minnesota. In reading, 

with a majority of students whose home language is 

not English, 65 percent passed the assessment. 

Finally, as demonstrated by the school’s waiting list, 

parents are actively choosing Community of Peace 

Academy, drawn to the small size, the K-12 program, 

the cultural acceptance, and the focus on peace and 

non-violence. 

Teachers start off the year visiting 

students’ homes, connecting with families,

and developing a deeper understanding of and 

empathy for each child. 
35

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

KIPP Academy Houston

Location

Year First Chartered

and Authorizer Grades Enrollment

English 

Learners

Subsidized 

Meals

Special 

Needs

Per Pupil 

Spending

Houston, Texas 1994

State

5–8 346 8% 86% 5% $8,670

prepare them for college. We want disciplined thinkers, 

in a society where thinking doesn’t always get rewarded. 

And a big key to success here is that we want our kids 

to believe they have choices in life—that their future is 

not determined by their past or their status in society or 

their economic reality or their skin color or for whatever 

reason—success is defined by the choices they make.”

When KIPP Academy began, it was a contract school 

in the Houston district. The program was immediately 

successful and co-founder Levin left at the behest of 

the New York Public Schools to start a KIPP school 

there. Meanwhile, Feinberg continued to run the Houston campus. By 1998, the district had moved the school 

five times, so Feinberg applied for and received a charter from the state. In 2000, with a $7 million capital 

campaign, KIPP Academy Houston moved to its present 

37-acre campus and built a multipurpose space for the 

new middle school. 

Of KIPP Academy Houston’s 346 students, who are 

chosen by lottery, 77 percent are Hispanic, 21 percent are African American, and the remaining 2 percent are Asian American and white; 8 percent of KIPP 

students are English language learners; 5 percent 

receive special education services; and 86 percent 

qualify for subsidized meals.

Program and Operations

A standout feature at KIPP Houston is its academic work 

ethic and how its chartered freedom is used to extend 

student learning time. The school day is considerably 

longer than most workdays and the schedule includes 

At KIPP Academy Houston, daily chants ring out through 

the school: All of us will learn. Read, Baby, Read. Hallway banners proclaim The path to success is education. 

Work Hard. Be Nice. Every teacher and school leader at 

KIPP, which stands for Knowledge Is Power Program, is 

on a mission to level the playing field for students who 

live in neighborhoods troubled by illiteracy, drug abuse, 

broken homes, gangs, and juvenile crime. KIPP’s mission 

is to “help our students develop academic skills, intellectual habits and qualities of character necessary to succeed in high school, college and the competitive world 

beyond.” Serving predominantly low-income, minority 

students in grades 5–8, KIPP has forged an academic 

culture of high expectations, charged with the conviction that every child will learn. The key to this topperforming school is its unrelenting focus on results: 

teachers and administrators will do whatever it takes 

to help students learn, which includes being on call via 

cell phone for homework help at all hours. Everyone in 

the school is expected to live by its credo: “There are no 

shortcuts. Success is built through desire, discipline and 

dedication. The path to success is education.”

KIPP Academy Houston is the flagship among the 31 

KIPP schools now operating in the United States. It was 

started in 1994 by two Teach For America teachers, Dave 

Levin and Michael Feinberg, who recognized that to 

bridge the academic achievement gap, students needed 

more time and lots of hard work. Their first agenda was 

to broaden the concept of a school day to one in which 

every student worked hard academically from 7:25 in 

the morning until 5:00 at night. Then, as current principal Elliott Witney explains, “We focus on the pieces 

students are missing and work to catch them up and 
36

two mandatory Saturdays each month, plus summer 

sessions. The school year begins in June with a threeweek kick-off and then school resumes six weeks later 

in August for the rest of the school year. The summer component for incoming fifth-graders focuses 

on creating the school culture—making sure students 

understand the strict code of conduct and learn the 

chants, songs, and systems that will carry them through 

the school year. For the sixth-, seventh-, and eighthgraders, the focus is strictly academic.

Students travel as a class from one subject to the next, 

working as a team in their 80-minute core classes: language arts, history, science, and math. They also take 

45-minute classes, including physical education, art, 

music, and Spanish. Students eat lunch with their entire grade in the cafeteria, as teachers conduct informal meetings. With 90 students per grade, there are 

three sections of 30 students each. Teachers are able to 

handle such large classes because the students are on 

task and well behaved. 

Consequences for misbehavior or not completing 

homework are serious. Discipline is summed up in the 

slogan, “If you can’t run with the big dogs, stay on the 

Porch.” Students who misbehave are “put on the Porch” 

and are prohibited from socially interacting with anyone except adults, are required to wear their uniform 

shirts inside out, and must work their way off the 

Porch through a combination of good behavior, community service, apologies, and goal-setting. Incomplete 

homework sends students to “Wall Street,” the afterschool homework center, where they stay until they 

finish, even if it takes until 8:30 at night. KIPP also uses 

a schoolwide incentive program, a weekly “paycheck”

that rewards good citizenship and good deeds with 

“KIPP dollars” to purchase items at the school store. 

Paychecks can also be docked for bad behavior.

The academic focus at KIPP is on making sure that students “know what they need to know,” says founder 

Mike Feinberg. “It is not a race,” he adds. This attention 

to mastery and academic engagement is evident in a 

visit to a fifth-grade English class. Students conduct 

themselves in an academic discussion the way college 

students might engage with a text. Not needing to 

raise hands, but instead politely waiting to comment 

on the contributions of the last person, students offer remarkably mature and thoughtful responses. 

They hold the classwide discussion among themselves 

rather than always addressing the teacher. Pointing to 

particular examples in the book Night John by Gary 

Paulsen, students support their ideas with evidence, 

whether to make a point or to respectfully disagree. 

The tone is supportive rather than competitive. After 

20 minutes of student discussion, the teacher compliments his students and models the use of supporting 

detail: “Your ideas are beautiful. I liked the way you 

grabbed someone else’s idea and then extended it.” At 

other points in the lesson, the focus was on grammar, 

with students learning hand cues to figure out the 

predicate and the nominative cases in a sentence. In 

KIPP classrooms, whether students are learning grammar, discussing a novel, singing their math facts, or 

chanting state capitals, the pace is fast and full of engaging instruction and learning. 

KIPP does not track students; everyone takes the accelerated high school preparatory curriculum. The extra 

hours devoted to instruction and academic learning 

make it possible for all students to handle more rigorous academics. However, when students are new to 

KIPP, there is often a steep learning curve as they fill in 

the gaps and holes in their knowledge.

Every teacher and school leader is on a mission 

to level the playing field for students who live in 

neighborhoods troubled by illiteracy, drug abuse, 

broken homes, gangs, and juvenile crime. 
37

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

Continuous Learning

KIPP’s first priority in maintaining its demanding program has been to recruit and train outstanding teachers committed to raising achievement for underserved 

kids. Most KIPP teachers are young and all work long 

hours. “We hire stallions,” says Principal Witney, “give 

them the race track, and let them run.” 

Teachers from different grade levels are grouped in 

teams of four by department. As a team they videotape each other conducting lessons, give feedback, 

and help to develop a plan of action after viewing the 

videotape. This is a powerful learning tool for teachers to develop their teaching. Once a month, students 

have a half-day schedule and teachers convene for a 

staff meeting and curriculum development. Learning 

inquiry groups are another form of professional development at KIPP, one that is new enough to be considered a work in progress. Extra support is available to 

beginning teachers. The school’s lead mentor teacher 

observes new teachers two to three times each week, 

writes comments, meets with them during their prep 

periods to provide feedback, and helps with curriculum and lesson planning. 

Student learning is assessed in multiple ways, including weekly progress reports to parents, six-week report 

cards, student writing portfolios, unit tests, projects, 

and standardized tests. KIPP also considers other measures as valuable indicators of student progress towards 

achieving their mission, such as number of books read, 

attendance, and high school and college placement. 

Parents and Partners

Parent involvement starts from the first orientation 

presentations. Entering students, their parents, and 

their teachers all sign the KIPP Commitment to Excellence Form, their agreement emphasizing a culture of 

shared expectations. These include making a commitment to the extended school hours, Saturday school 

and summer school, the school dress code and conduct code, and homework. If parents need help managing their commitments, staff are ready to help. One 

mother whose son consistently skipped his homework 

explained to the principal that she could not control 

the boy’s TV viewing. “Would it help for you to bring 

in the TV?” Witney offered. “And she nearly fell out 

of the chair. It’s sitting here on my floor until her son 

earns it back.”

Parents are involved at KIPP in a myriad of ways: chaperoning end-of-the-year school trips such as visits to 

boarding schools and high schools across the country, 

supervising Saturday school, coaching sports, working 

in the office, serving on the board of directors, supporting students to focus on getting their work done, 

and providing transportation after school. One parent 

works in the office and helps other parents to communicate with teachers and administrators in Spanish. Parents serve food in the cafeteria, supervise Wall 

Street after school, and run fundraisers for the school. 

Bus transportation is provided to and from school, but 

parents often pick students up from the extended-day 

homework center and activities. Surveys find that parents are enthusiastic about the KIPP program and confident that it is making a difference for their children.

Governance and Accountability

KIPP, Inc., holds the charter for KIPP Academy Houston as well as for three other schools in Texas. The 19-

member board of directors of KIPP, Inc., oversees the 

principals of each Texas campus and makes sure each 

campus adheres to the charter goals and Texas Education Code guidelines. The board also supports each 

campus for additional fundraising and marketing and 

holds each principal accountable for his or her school’s 

academic and fiscal performance. Board members in-

“We focus on the pieces students 

are missing and work to catch them up 

and prepare them for college.”
38

clude CEOs, accountants, lawyers, educators, a doctor, 

community volunteers, and one parent. 

KIPP Academy Houston operates on an annual budget 

of about $3 million. The school typically raises about 

$500,000 a year beyond the $7,400 per pupil provided 

by state and federal funding. Principal Witney points out 

that this is about $2,200 per pupil less than in the Houston district. “Even with our fundraising,” he says, “we’re 

streamlined. We don’t waste money on administrative 

people. We have to pay for facilities, we have a program 

for alumni, we pay for out-of-state field trips. And the 

Saturday school teacher and I pick up the trash.”

Everyone in the school is expected to live 

by its credo: “There are no shortcuts.”

KIPP Academy Houston measures its success with a 

99 percent attendance rate, a waiting list larger than 

its total enrollment, outstanding standardized test 

scores, and eighth-grade students who have accepted 

$13.5 million in high school scholarships over the past 

five years. KIPP Academy Houston has been recognized 

as a Texas Exemplary School every year since 1996, and, 

in 2003, was recognized as a Blue Ribbon School by 

the U.S. Department of Education. The New York Times, 

Washington Post, Newsweek, Forbes, and other media 

have lauded KIPP’s remarkable results, and KIPP is widely considered one of the most promising initiatives in 

public education today. With the backing of the Pisces 

Foundation, the KIPP national office trains future school 

leaders to create KIPP schools across the country. 

KIPP Academy Houston will soon embark on a $15 million capital campaign for facilities and an endowment 

to expand their program so that a child can enter in 

preschool and continue through high school. 
39

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

In 1997, when Savannah parent Martha Nesbit first 

pictured an alternative to the public middle schools 

available to her children, it was as a member of the 

district task force charged with researching ways to 

improve the district’s lagging middle schools. But when 

the district accepted almost none of the task force 

recommendations, Nesbit approached a group of five 

friends in her church and asked, “If I think about starting a school, would you be on board with that?” 

From the beginning, the parents’ vision was for a school 

that would provide character education as well as challenging academics. They wanted a school that had an 

active role for parents, and they wanted student diversity. Yet the five friends were all white. To ensure that 

the school’s student population would be representative of the district, where 57 percent of the students 

are African American, they purposefully invited African 

American parents to join them in shaping the school. 

Because Georgia had no legislation allowing for a 

charter school that was a start-up (rather than a district conversion of an existing school), parents faced 

an unusual first step in securing their charter. They 

became lobbyists, persuading state legislators to pass 

the needed legislation. In addition to their trips to the 

capital, “We did a letter writing campaign and we did 

telephone calls. We probably made hundreds of calls,” 

one parent estimates. The next step, securing the charter, was its own challenge. Knowing that they would 

be encountering a skeptical district board, parents prepared carefully. The charter was narrowly approved, five 

to four. Parents began preparations to open the school 

eight months later.

“We had nothing,” one parent explains. “Somebody 

let us use a back office room in their insurance business where we set up our fax machine and a phone. 

We advertised for teachers in the newspaper and interviewed them in that office. They had no school to 

look at, no equipment, facilities, nothing. We still had 

to hire our principal and we had to have students.” The 

district came up with an abandoned school that was 

both smaller than parents had planned for and in terrible disrepair. They took it. They found a principal that 

March, someone who would commute from her home 

in South Carolina. And the same month, at the district’s 

showcase of all its magnet programs, according to parents there was “a line out the door for people to apply 

to come to our school.”

The building capacity allows Oglethorpe to enroll 330 

students, and there is a waiting list for each grade. Next 

year’s sixth-grade class has almost twice as many applicants as can be accommodated. Students are chosen by 

lottery, and the efforts of the school’s founding parents 

to reflect the diversity of the community in the school 

population have been effective. About 38 percent of 

Oglethorpe students are African American, 51 percent 

are white, 4 percent are Asian American, 3 percent are 

Hispanic, and 4 percent are multiracial. About 20 percent of students qualify for subsidized meals. Five percent are designated special education and participate 

in the school’s inclusion program.

Program and Operations 

Oglethorpe Charter School is an official Core Knowledge school, which means that at least 80 percent of 

Oglethorpe Charter School

Location

Year First Chartered

and Authorizer Grades Enrollment

English 

Learners

Subsidized 

Meals

Special 

Needs

Per Pupil 

Spending

Savannah, Ga. 1998

Local district

6–8 319 0% 20% 5% $6,000
40

the Core Knowledge curriculum is taught annually. 

The Core Knowledge curriculum, developed by scholar 

E.D. Hirsch, is designed to begin in the first grade, so 

Oglethorpe teachers frequently have to scramble to fill 

in their middle school students’ missing Core Knowledge background. Nonetheless, teachers and parents 

like the sense that students are learning what it takes 

to be “a really educated person.” As one parent puts it, 

“They are teaching things that everybody should know 

in life, to be a participating member of society.” And 

even though Oglethorpe does not focus on test preparation, an eighth-grade student reports, “We have 

been hearing from students who have graduated that 

they seem to be a lot more prepared for high school 

than their friends who came from regular schools. Our 

school is a lot more challenging, and so by the time 

test time comes, we are very prepared and ready to 

take the test. We always do well.” 

All students at Oglethorpe are held to high academic 

standards, and participation in sports and special interest clubs, instead of attendance in study halls, depends 

on satisfactory grades. A Personal Education Plan (PEP) 

is created for each student, with clear learning goals 

related to a student’s progress meeting subject area objectives. The PEP also includes standardized test data, results of a multiple intelligences survey, study skills monitoring, student reflections and self-evaluations, teacher 

comments, and portfolio work samples from each year. 

Teachers at Oglethorpe work hard to meet students’ 

individual needs and all provide regular tutorials for 

students during lunch and after school. Students 

who need help get it. One student explains what feels

different about Oglethorpe: “I’ve been in schools where 

they help you with some things, but teachers here stay 

after school and stay over their work time to help you. 

It is really small here, so all the teachers know all the 

kids. And you feel a lot more, I guess, comfortable with 

your teachers.” 

Students entering the sixth grade can test into the 

Advanced Instruction with Motivation (AIM) class. Students in the AIM class can earn five Carnegie units for 

high school credit by passing a test at the end of the 

course. The AIM class is self-contained and student diversity in the class is controlled to be proportional to 

that in the school. Oglethorpe also has a teacher who 

works with students identified for academic intervention in a special reading program and after school two 

or three days a week between 2:30 and 5:30. Every 

effort is made to help students succeed. Last year, for 

example, a small group of students who failed their 

grade-six standards were placed in an accelerated program and given support until December to catch up. 

Three of the five students were able to move into the 

seventh grade, while two continued in sixth grade.

The school operates on a block schedule with 90-minute classes and a special schedule on Fridays. Students 

say they like the block schedule. They note, “You get 

more done in class,” and “Because it doesn’t meet 

each day, you have more time to get your homework 

done, so it doesn’t feel overwhelming.” Classes average 

22 students. The school day begins at 7:30 and ends 

at 2:30, with tutorials from 2:30 to 3:20. On Fridays, 

classes are shortened to allow for a one-hour block 

that rotates among assemblies, clubs, and TLC (Titans 

Love Character) advisory group. 

TLC is the most explicit aspect of Oglethorpe’s focus 

on character development and is organized into crossgrade groups of about 12 students each. Every month 

a different “virtue”—such as integrity or service—is emphasized and students discuss what it means to them. 

The school also has a tightly monitored dress code and

From the beginning, parents’ vision was for a 

school that would provide character education 

as well as challenging academics. They wanted a 

school that had an active role for parents, 

and they wanted student diversity. 
41

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

forbids students to bring personal electronics such as 

music players or video games to school. Rap music is 

excluded from the annual talent show. “It’s strict here,” 

students agree. Yet the results are positive. Last year 

only 44 detentions were given out for the entire year. 

When students are off campus, “People can tell who the 

Oglethorpe students are,” one teacher says, “because of 

their good behavior.”

Continuous Learning 

Oglethorpe is accredited through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and in 2001 as part 

of the SAC accreditation, the school conducted a selfstudy focusing on student improvement. The study revealed that teachers needed more training in the Core 

Knowledge curriculum, which they now get. It also led 

the school to set goals for improving student learning outcomes. In 2002, Oglethorpe implemented SRA’s 

Direct Instruction Corrective Reading program for their 

students who were reading below grade level—onethird of the student body. As part of this initiative, 

some students’ parents agreed to become involved in 

the parent reading partners program, reading stories 

and completing vocabulary-building exercises together 

with their children at home. 

As a Georgia charter school, Oglethorpe Charter School 

does not require teachers to be certified, but they must 

demonstrate competence in their subject areas. One 

teacher has a doctorate and one teacher came from 

university teaching. Most have many years of teaching 

experience. As a faculty they share common practices 

and have formed teacher research study groups for 

ongoing professional development. In addition to participating in weekly department meetings and monthly 

professional development sessions, each teacher compiles a professional portfolio. Self-reflection is part of 

teachers’ annual evaluation process. Teachers describe 

feeling “respected as educators” and note that communication is very open at the school. Two teachers represent the faculty on the school’s board of directors. 

Parents and Partners

As stipulated by Georgia charter law, a parent-majority 

board governs Oglethorpe Charter School and monitors 

its operations. Parents have the ultimate decision-making responsibility for the school. 

While membership on the board rotates and only a few 

parents serve at a time, all parents sign a contract to 

provide service to the school. Parents are obligated for 

20 hours a year (or 10 hours if a single parent). The 

weekly school newsletter contains suggestions for 

ways that parents can earn their service hours and 

reminds them to do their part. For example, parents 

can chaperone field trips, prepare food for events, lead 

clubs, help in the office, and serve on committees. They 

can do weekend maintenance chores at the school, and 

they can receive credit for attending school programs 

such as the Math/Science Night and sporting events. If 

parents do not fulfill the family contract (or request a 

hardship exemption), their students are not allowed to 

re-enroll the following year. 

Communication with parents is frequent. Homework 

assignments are posted on the school Web site. Every Wednesday, folders are sent home with the school 

newsletter and classroom updates. Every quarter parents receive a mid-quarter report and a quarter-end 

report card for their children. “The school tends to attract families who want to be involved in their kids’ 

education,” one parent observes.

Beyond its relationship with parents, Oglethorpe has 

developed partnerships within the community. The 

school uses a local church facility for assemblies, special events, and gym classes; and the music program 

A Personal Education Plan (PEP) is created 

for each student, with clear learning 

goals related to a student’s progress 

meeting subject area objectives.
42

is operated in conjunction with a local university. The 

after-school program is in partnership with a nearby 

YMCA. In addition, Oglethorpe students participate in 

community outreach, such as an annual beach cleanup, 

diabetes walk, or food drive for homeless shelters. In 

March, the whole school became reading partners for 

students at a local elementary school.

Accountability and Governance

The 11-person board of directors includes a parent 

majority, community members, two teacher representatives, and, in a non-voting capacity, the school 

administrators. Board members serve one- or two-year 

terms. Facility needs are a constant headache. In addition to contending with the building’s generally poor 

condition, the board has needed to add restrooms and 

a new drainage system. The roof must be replaced. And 

to accommodate an additional class at each grade, portable classrooms are the only possible solution. One has 

already been added and another has been ordered.

Resources are tight. The Savannah-Chatham County 

Public Schools provides the school facility and student 

transportation. Per pupil funding averages about 

$6,000. Last year expenses were $2,112,000, which included $80,000 raised through grants to cover the costs 

of developing the reading program, paying a technology teacher, and buying laptops for the computer lab.

In June 2003, the school charter came up for renewal by 

the Savannah school board. This time, in contrast to the 

narrow vote in favor of the school’s initial charter, the 

renewal passed unanimously. To even its toughest audience, Oglethorpe Charter School had proved its mettle. 

Parents and the board are proud to have created 

a school that reflects the diversity of the Savannah 

community and that addresses student learning needs 

ranging from special education to advanced academics. For the 94 students reading below grade level, enrollment in the school’s Corrective Reading program 

is beginning to make a difference. Sixty-nine percent 

of sixth-graders read at grade level; at seventh and 

eighth grades, this rises to 78 and 79 percent. In writing, 98 percent of students met or exceeded the state 

standards. Parent involvement, including the 44-hour 

average that families contribute each year, sets a 

model for the kind of character development that 

parents and faculty agree is woven throughout everything that happens at the school.

The weekly school newsletter contains 

suggestions for ways that parents can earn their 

service hours and reminds them to do their part. 
43

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

Ralph A. Gates Elementary School

Location

Year First Chartered

and Authorizer Grades Enrollment

English 

Learners

Subsidized 

Meals

Special 

Needs

Per Pupil 

Spending

Lake Forest, Calif. 1999

Local district

K–6 850 44% 63% 5% $5,367

The most distinctive feature of Ralph A. Gates Elementary School is its two-way language immersion (Spanish/English) program. In 1998, a group of concerned 

parents spearheaded the conversion of Gates from a 

regular California elementary school to a charter school, 

in large part to protect this program. The recent passage of Proposition 227 had all but eliminated bilingual 

programs in the state, but parents, teachers, the community, and the school board in Saddleback Valley Unified School District were all committed to maintaining 

the program that had been developed over the years at 

Gates. A Gates parent, who later became school board 

president, took the lead along with a resource teacher in 

writing the charter application. They applied to become 

a district-dependent charter, a type of charter under 

California law that preserves the school district as the 

management organization to deal with contracts, personnel policies, and so forth, but allows the school site 

council control over instruction, staffing configurations, 

and budgeting.

The multicultural, multilingual mission at Gates goes 

beyond a particular program. The school’s goal is to educate each student as fully as possible, advancing the 

life prospects of students who often come from families in which the parents did not complete high school. 

A few years ago the principal and staff reviewed and 

revised the school mission statement, taking a careful 

look at their student population, which had an increasing number of English language learners and low-income students. They established a set of seven key “tenets” that guide how they interact as a staff and school 

community. A sense of purpose and high expectations 

pervades the school culture. The principal holds teachers to these standards, and she is currently counseling 

out one of the staff. Teachers agree with this approach. 

As one explains, “Either you are part of our staff or you 

need to find another staff that meets your vision and 

your mission.”

The celebration of multicultural community is at the 

heart of the school. The principal describes how the 

large number of students from bi- and tri-racial families bolsters an attitude of acceptance for all students. 

Kermes, an annual multicultural fair hosted by the parents and community with assistance from the staff, 

is attended by 3,000 to 5,000 people—families from 

across the Orange County area—in a literal celebration 

of the multicultural community that Gates represents. 

Of the school’s 850 students, 44 percent are English 

language learners and 63 percent qualify for subsidized 

meals. The students enrolled in the two-way immersion 

program represent 43 percent of the school population, 

while 57 percent of the students are in the regular program. In the school as a whole, providing the best possible education to these students and enhancing their 

lives and those of their families is the purpose that 

drives a caring and committed staff. 

Program and Operations

Gates is a welcoming home for bilingual language 

development for both children and adults. Students 

are enrolled in either the two-way language immersion program or the regular program, which includes 

English language development strategies. After school, 

students—both English and Spanish speakers—can 

extend their fluency through programs funded by a 
44

lish and computer literacy skills, the school responded. 

Working with the district’s adult education department, 

they combined Title I, Title III, and adult education funding to set up a parent education program. Now parents 

go to school with their children, heading for one of the 

school’s two computer labs, where they take ESL classes 

that also build computer literacy. After school there are 

classes for English-speaking parents who want to learn 

Spanish and for Spanish-speaking parents who want to 

become literate in their native language.

This array of programs has attracted highly qualified 

staff members—all have specialized certification—who 

are excited about teaching English learners and committed to helping their students succeed. Gates enrolls 

more language learners and low-performing students 

than any other school in the district, and support for 

these students is high. Parents who share the staff’s 

enthusiasm for language development have formed 

the Advocates for Language Learning group. Members 

of this group have become knowledgeable about the 

international track record of two-way immersion programs, attend conferences, and actively contribute to 

school planning.

While the carefully designed language programs at 

Gates provide a solid base, the staff attribute their students’ recent large increases in test scores to an additional factor—the dynamic model of flexibly regrouping students homogeneously for directed reading, 

writing, and math instruction, which the school began 

four years ago. Suspending the assumption of “one 

teacher—one classroom,” they instituted a Joplin-plan 

grouping arrangement in which students are regrouped 

every four to five weeks into homogeneous skill groups. 

Students in grades 4–6 are grouped across grades; students in grades 2 and 3 are grouped within their grade. 

The regrouping has created an opportunity for teachers 

in grades 2-6 to work together and collaborate, sharing 

their knowledge of the children whose education they 

share. For the children, the regrouping is a way to break 

down stereotypes, meet individual needs, and give

Gates School Tenets

We strive for high academic standards and 

expectations for all students in an environment 

that stimulates learning.

We promote students’ self-esteem with positive 

reinforcement and build good character so each 

student can be successful.

We believe in programs that allow students to 

progress academically through appropriately 

leveled instruction.

We believe our parents should be equipped with 

information and resources in order to support 

their child’s learning.

We respect diversity and individual differences in 

our students and staff.

We believe students should be provided with 

opportunities to learn a second language.

We use available technology to help our students, parents, and staff prepare for the future.

Title III grant. This after-school foreign language 

program includes Spanish as a second language classes 

for the native English speakers and a Spanish literacy 

program for Spanish speakers who are in the regular 

program but want to extend their academic literacy in 

their first language. French classes will be added to the 

after-school foreign language program as it expands.

Parents can build their language skills, too. When a survey revealed that almost half the parents had not completed high school and that they wanted to learn Eng-
45

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

everyone access to the same standards-based 

curriculum. Every group works on the same standards, 

but assignments vary in depth, and group sizes are 

smaller for students who need more help. Special education students are included in these groups, for example, and the resource special education teacher is 

part of the teaching team.

If a student needs extra assistance, the Gator Assistance Team steps in. This team of eight staff members 

is trained in the Masonic model to assess the student’s 

social, emotional, and economic needs. Teachers make 

the referrals; the team sifts through them and makes 

recommendations that are implemented. The student is 

then monitored, and, if needed, the team can move the 

child to special education testing. The school’s community liaison can also get involved as needed to facilitate 

access to community counseling or health resources. 

Continuous Learning

Distinctive about the school culture is the “can-do” attitude. Teachers and staff will try whatever, provided it 

has worked for someone else or has evidence to show 

that it is a valid, promising program or approach. After trying and evaluating something new, staff decide 

whether to continue it or not. For example, when regrouping was instituted, in 2000-01, the whole first half 

of the year was dedicated just to getting the planning 

down pat. Teachers finally got started, halfway through 

the year, regrouping students for language arts. Initially, 

there were a lot of naysayers and doubters, people who 

were hesitant or even a little scared. What the principal 

suggested to them is indicative of the spirit that has 

served the school well: “We’re all jumping off the fence 

and if we fall, I’ll fall first and I will be your pillow.” The 

principal, who had been at the school only a year, felt 

honored that the staff were willing to trust her, and after only two weeks, teachers realized that their experiment with regrouping was working. Even the loudest 

naysayer was pleased to have been wrong. At the end 

of the school year, teachers were eager to know whether regrouping would continue the following year. The 

principal left it up to them, and that’s when regrouping 

was instituted for math as well as language arts. 

The teachers have developed rubrics for developmental progress that are used for student assessment, by 

the students themselves to reflect on their progress, for 

instructional planning, and in the regular reporting to 

parents. Teachers also refer to monthly printouts from 

standardized assessments to help them link their instruction to identified student needs.

Parents and Partners

Parents are active contributors to the school, volunteering in classrooms and running supplementary activities. The annual Kermes multicultural celebration is 

a highlight of the year, and draws participation from 

businesses and families in the surrounding community 

as well as from the school’s own population. The parent-run Multicultural Club, the Computer Club, Girl 

Scouts and Boy Scouts, and Homework Club supplement the after-school programs. 

Parents and teachers work together to bring in new 

opportunities. In 2002, for example, the staff saw a 

need to help students increase in resiliency, respect 

for themselves and others, and responsibility for 

their work. A team of parents and staff attended a 

regional “Asset Building” workshop. They returned 

with training for the rest of the staff and began the 

integration of a character education program, focusing on teaching students how to build and practice 

the traits of positive character. This year, resiliency 

training is being extended to the assets classes the 

school provides for parents.

The staff reciprocate parents’ involvement by going

out of their way to be accessible to those who want 

Gates is a welcoming home for bilingual language 

development for both children and adults.
46

to talk about their children’s progress. As the principal reports, “We are here whenever they can make it. 

Before school, our teachers will come in at 8:00 in the 

morning, 7:00 in the morning. They will stay until 6:00, 

7:00 at night to meet with the parents whom they feel 

they need to meet with.”

In addition, the school provides regular and frequent 

communication to parents in both Spanish and English. 

Specific information about student progress is provided 

to parents monthly. 

Governance and Accountability

The school site council, made up of six parents and six 

staff members, sets and oversees the school program. 

While taking advantage of district management services 

and staff development offerings, Gates has autonomy to 

allocate the school’s budget and determine staffing as 

well as instructional programs. They can combine funding from different sources and use these funds flexibly 

as they determine what best meets the school’s needs. 

For example, while the district’s normal staffing pattern 

would not include an assistant principal for a school of 

this size, the council felt that additional oversight was 

needed and allocated a position for a teacher on special assignment. They also hired a number of part-time 

teachers who reduce group sizes during the regrouping for core academic subjects. While their annual plans 

and budgets are submitted to Saddleback Valley Unified 

School District as the authorizing agency, the district 

board is highly supportive of Gates and routinely accepts their proposals. The charter came up for renewal 

in 2003 and was quickly and unanimously approved. 

Student scores provide positive evidence of the school’s 

effectiveness. The 2000 Academic Performance Index 

(API) was 689 and was targeted to be raised 6 points 

for 2001. The reading regrouping empowered student 

subgroups to make significant gains above the target 

set by the state, raising the API by 32 points to 731. 

In 2002-03, Gates staff restructured the mathematics 

programs based on test data from 2001. This regrouping 

allowed them to create smaller classes for struggling 

students (as well as high achievers) so that they could 

provide the mathematics curriculum at each group’s 

instructional level. Additionally, the program has increased the redesignation rate for students to be classified “fluent English,” in both the two-way immersion 

and regular programs. In recognition of the school’s 

continued student achievement, Gates received the 

California Distinguished Schools Award in 2002 and the 

California Title I Achieving Schools Award in 2003. 

They instituted a Joplin-plan grouping arrangement 

in which students are regrouped every four to 

five weeks into homogeneous skill groups. 
47

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

Roxbury Preparatory Charter School

Location

Year First Chartered

and Authorizer Grades Enrollment

English 

Learners

Subsidized 

Meals

Special 

Needs

Per Pupil 

Spending

Boston, Mass. 1999

State

6–8 180 0% 56% 7% $12,910

This urban middle school was founded in order to prepare its African American and Hispanic students to 

enter, succeed in, and graduate from college. Located 

in Boston’s tough Roxbury neighborhood, this charter 

school is filling a gap in local students’ education choices. Unlike any other middle school in this impoverished 

community, Roxbury Preparatory Charter School (RPC) 

features an academic program designed specifically to 

prepare students for college. 

The philosophy driving Roxbury Prep is that when curriculum is engaging and rigorous, when student character and community responsibility are emphasized, 

and when the community network supports student 

academic, social, and physical well-being, all students 

can succeed in college preparatory programs, even the 

66 percent of the school’s incoming students who are 

reading one or more grade levels below the norm.

The key to Roxbury Prep’s success in bridging the 

achievement gap is its relentless and systematic focus 

on academic achievement. There is an urgency in the 

school, an understanding that this is a life-changing 

opportunity for students.

The school was started in 1999 by a team of educators—John King; Evan Rudall; Roger Harris, then principal of the James P. Timilty School; and Keith Motley, 

the vice chancellor of student affairs at the University 

of Massachusetts, Boston—who recognized that Roxbury did not have any public schools dedicated to a 

college preparatory program. With a charter from the 

state of Massachusetts, they originally intended to create a school for grades 6–12. Amid the challenges of

start-up, however, they realized that managing such 

a comprehensive facility and providing all the options 

that come with a high school program, such as sports, 

was beyond their means. The board of trustees and administrators decided that, rather than launch the high 

school program, they preferred to focus on developing 

an outstanding college preparatory middle school for 

students in grades 6-8. As John King says, “It was better 

to focus on doing middle school well.” 

Roxbury Prep has 180 students: 72 sixth-graders, 

58 seventh-graders and 50 eighth-graders this year. 

Eighty percent of the students are African American 

and 20 percent are Hispanic. Female students outnumber male students by 56 to 44 percent. Three-quarters 

of the students come from the Boston neighborhoods 

of Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan.

Program and Operations

Roxbury Prep has developed many schoolwide structures 

to create a common culture and work ethic for students. 

The academic day runs from 7:45 to 3:15, followed by 

mandatory enrichment classes, after-school clubs, and 

a homework center. Each day begins with breakfast in 

advisory groups and 25 minutes of Drop Everything And 

Read (DEAR) time. Students take six academic classes of 

50 minutes each plus physical education and computers twice a week. Each day students have two periods of 

mathematics and two periods of reading/language arts; 

the extra emphasis helps students make up ground as 

needed and get ahead in these basics. 

Fridays are structured differently, to allow for 1:30 p.m. 

dismissal so that teachers can meet for professional 
48

development. Saturdays find the school open and as 

many as half the school’s 20 teachers and 20 to 30 students on hand.

Classroom practices promote continuity from one class 

to the next. For example, each day teachers outline on 

the blackboard a specific, measurable “Aim” for the day, 

a “Do Now” activity, and homework. When students enter any classroom at Roxbury Prep, they move quickly 

to their assigned seats and begin working silently on 

the “Do Now” activity, a five-minute warm-up that gets 

them settled and immediately focused on school work. 

In a math procedures classroom, the “Mad Minute” 

routine is used to check basic math facts, helping 

students to develop speed and accuracy. The 24 sixthgraders are serious and focused on the work at hand. 

The teacher does not want students having side conversations with their neighbors, instructing them, “You 

have a question? You ask me.” The class is fast paced, 

highly structured, and the tone disciplined. 

Classes do not use textbooks, except for reference. The 

teachers draw from a curriculum prepared by staff during the previous summer and aligned both to state and 

Roxbury Prep standards. This curriculum, in turn, is refined using the plans developed in previous years. 

In addition to a focus on basics, the school offers many 

enrichment classes, including Spanish, art, sports, choir, 

drama, computers, mock trial, and yearbook. Clubs include a history movie club, a science club, peer tutoring, 

music, and the student newspaper. 

Character development is also an explicit part of the 

Roxbury Prep experience. It is woven into the daily interactions in the classrooms. As one teacher says, “Students are developing a sense of respect, how you speak

to someone, how to ask a question for help. It is part 

of the daily learning.” Friday advisory meetings have 

a specific character development focus at each grade: 

the sixth grade focuses on responsibility and time management, the focus at seventh grade is community and 

non-violence, and eighth-graders address leadership 

and community. Additionally, every eighth-grader is 

paired with a sixth-grade buddy, usually a student who 

rides the same bus, to help create a supportive sense 

of community across grades. Schoolwide community 

meetings are another opportunity to reinforce school 

values. The entire school comes together to share what 

they are learning in their classes, see performances by 

enrichment classes or clubs, and celebrate student academic achievement.

To ensure a safe, structured, and focused learning 

environment, Roxbury enforces a strict code of conduct and discipline. All students wear blue shirts, navy 

pants or khakis, and brown or black shoes and belts. 

Boys wear ties. Students not in compliance are not 

allowed to attend class and parents are asked to pick 

them up or bring them appropriate clothing. Students 

are required to be in line and silent in the halls when 

passing from one class to the next. In class they are 

expected to be focused and on task. Students are polite when they ask questions, raising their hands and 

using a respectful tone.

Students may be given demerits for conduct violations 

such as tardiness, school bus misbehavior, chewing 

gum, talking in the hallways, disrupting class, arriving 

unprepared, not completing homework on time, or disrespectful behavior. Three demerits lead to after-school 

detentions, and multiple demerits result in extended 

detentions on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. Any student who is struggling academically may 

be pulled out of enrichment or physical education 

classes for tutoring. Students may also be required 

to attend after-school tutoring, homework center, 

Saturday school, and summer school to improve their 

academic performance. 

Each day students have two periods 

of mathematics and two periods 

of reading/language arts.
49

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

Continuous Learning

Multiple assessments guide Roxbury’s curriculum and 

instruction. Comprehensive exams based on the school 

curriculum guide ongoing adjustments to meet student 

learning needs. Students all take a benchmark comprehensive exam at the beginning of the year. Comprehensive exams at the end of each trimester indicate 

fine-grained academic progress aligned with the RPC 

standards, state standards, and Stanford 9 standards, 

when relevant. Teachers create extensive spreadsheets 

to show each standard and knowledge area tested and 

how each student performed on each question. Analyzing these results helps teachers see which students need 

additional support in specific areas. Students receive 

progress reports monthly and report cards each trimester. 

Students take the Stanford 9 at the midyear and at the 

end of the school year to monitor academic progress. 

Each Friday, teachers engage in an afternoon of professional development. They devote one hour to gradelevel team meetings, one hour to inquiry groups, and a 

half hour for a staff meeting. By collaborating to address 

challenges that arise, teachers solidify their teams and 

delve deeply into pedagogy, problem solving, and teaching issues. During inquiry group meetings, teachers share 

their efforts and analyze student work in order to focus 

their instruction. For example, one team of teachers saw 

the need to focus on the use of evidence in writing. They 

developed a shared vocabulary, rubrics, and a teaching 

system across classes so that when students were writing paragraphs in one class, they would know to draw on 

strategies they were learning in their other classes. 

During the summer, staff are paid an additional stipend 

to devote three weeks to planning and preparing curriculum for the school year. They develop Curriculum 

Alignment Templates (CATs) that align with Roxbury 

Prep standards, the Massachusetts standards, clear 

and measurable benchmarks, learning activities, and 

assessment for each unit. A school curriculum file is 

maintained in binders and electronically, and teachers 

are required to save all CATs, syllabi, assessments, and 

course materials in hard copy and on the server. The 

process is valuable for developing shared knowledge 

among the staff and passing it on to new teachers, who 

can review the CATs for the courses they are teaching 

and build on those lesson plans and curriculum units. 

Parents and Partners

The school brings families into the school culture with 

an orientation that presents the ways that Roxbury Prep 

is different from traditional public schools. Families and 

students sign the Family and School Contract at the beginning of the year, agreeing to make the school a safe 

and orderly environment and to ensure that students 

arrive at school and class on time, with homework completed. Parents also agree to participate in school activities, to communicate regularly with the teachers, and to 

follow the guidelines of the school. 

When the school first started, the codirectors believed 

that all families needed to carry the responsibility for 

making sure that students completed their homework, 

but as it became clear that some students did not have 

a quiet place to study or needed additional support 

while working on homework, the school added more 

support systems. With students having two or three 

hours of homework every night, there is now a homework center, where teachers can provide academic help 

and students have a quiet space to complete their 

assignments. The homework center can be mandatory 

for students who are not completing their work or are 

falling behind and receiving poor grades.

Teachers work hard to keep communication lines open 

with families. Classroom teachers send home weekly 

syllabi for parents’ information and signature, and 

parents are asked to check homework assignments 

nightly. Regular parent-teacher conferences keep parParents can expect to hear from their child’s 

teacher adviser at least once every two weeks. 
50

ents informed about their child’s academic progress. In 

addition, parents can expect to hear from their child’s 

teacher adviser at least once every two weeks. Teachers 

each serve as advisers for 12 students. They know these 

students well, spending breakfast and lunch with them, 

the morning DEAR time, and the Friday character development advisories. Parents appreciate the Roxbury 

teachers’ commitment. “They come early and stay late,” 

says one. Another parent reports what a pleasure it is 

that when teachers call, it is not always bad news. She 

also notes that her daughter can call her teachers until 

8:00 at night if she has a question. 

The Family Involvement Committee organizes potluck 

dinners and ongoing ways for families to be involved 

with the school program. Two parent representatives 

are on the school’s board of trustees and serve on 

board committees. 

In addition to several small community partnerships, 

Roxbury Prep benefits from donors who provide the 

school with about $350,000 annually in grant funding. 

Governance and Accountability

Roxbury Prep operates on an annual budget of about 

$2,350,000. The school receives state-funded tuition of 

about $9,500 per student and other state and federal 

monies for programs such as Title I and special education, but the average cost to educate a student is estimated at $13,000 per year. The difference represents a 

healthy amount, and members of the board of trustees 

are valued in part for their ability to help the school 

raise funds. Of the 12 board members, 10 are Bostonarea community members and two are parents.

The school has two codirectors. John King oversees curriculum and development and teacher observation and 

evaluation, and Josh Phillips is in charge of facilities, 

operations, and fundraising. But as they explain in unison, “We make the major decisions together.” 

Roxbury’s charter was renewed in February 2004. 

Among the state’s predominantly African American 

schools, Roxbury Prep students in 2002–03 had the 

highest average scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests in sixthgrade math, eighth-grade math, and eighth-grade 

science, and the second-highest average score on the 

seventh-grade English test. Students averaged over 2.5 

grade levels of progress on the Stanford 9. Of course, 

the most important measure of success to the school’s 

families and staff is students’ ability to continue on a 

path toward college. All Roxbury Prep graduates have 

gone on to high schools with college preparatory missions, and the school’s recent graduating class earned 

over $400,000 in scholarships and financial aid toward 

tuition in private high schools. 

All Roxbury Prep graduates have gone on to high 

schools with college preparatory missions.
51

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

The School of Arts and Sciences

Location

Year First Chartered

and Authorizer Grades Enrollment

English 

Learners

Subsidized 

Meals

Special 

Needs

Per Pupil 

Spending

Tallahassee, Fla. 1999

Local district

K–8 226 2% 19% 22% $5,750

able facility. In what might have been the last straw, 

just six weeks before the school was to open in August 

1998, the school year had to be cancelled. Another 

facility had fallen through. The principal and teachers 

scrambled to find other positions for the year, a year 

that they turned into an opportunity to think and plan 

for yet another August. The continuing commitment 

to open the school was remarkable. “When you think 

about it,” Powers says, “it’s just amazing.”

The students who are drawn to SAS, teachers estimate, include about one-third who have been homeschooled, one-third who select SAS specifically for its 

alternative pedagogy, and one-third who choose the 

school because previous schools did not meet their 

needs. Currently, SAS has a waiting list of 400 students 

for the school’s 226 places. The student population is 

62 percent white, 22 percent African American, and 9 

percent Hispanic and Asian American; 22 percent qualify for special education services. 

Program and Operations

SAS has three classrooms for each multi-age cluster—primary, intermediate, and middle school. Primary 

and intermediate classes have a maximum of 25 students and each class has a credentialed teacher and 

an associate teacher working as a team to facilitate 

instruction in all academic subject areas. In the middle 

school, classes rotate to different subject area teachers. 

Students in all grades take music, drama, art, Spanish, 

and physical education. Daily hands-on science is also 

a feature at every level. 

A visitor to this school sees little that is typical of a traditional classroom. Students in multi-age classrooms 

range across three grades—K–2, 3–5, or 6–8. They are 

seated collegially at round tables rather than in rows of 

desks. They may be working on independent seatwork, 

cooperative learning with a partner or small group, or 

an interdisciplinary project. The goal sheets and checklists in students’ folders let them manage their learning 

activities. The artifacts students select for their portfolios are an important measure of their achievement. Peer 

mediation and a student court help maintain school 

discipline, and all teachers and students are trained in 

conflict resolution and mediation. 

According to Principal Debo Powers, the vision for the 

School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) emerged from a group 

of educators and parents. The result is a school that 

centers around beliefs that learning is natural—since 

human beings are inherently curious—and that academics are only one component of education, best learned 

through hands-on activities that tap into real interest 

and through interdisciplinary approaches framed by 

large themes. High among the qualities valued at SAS 

are self-motivation, critical thinking, and creative expression. The school’s unique curriculum design and program structures dovetail to support its mission “to facilitate individual educational ownership and responsible 

lifelong learners through interdisciplinary approaches to 

arts and sciences in a safe and nurturing environment.” 

SAS greeted its inaugural students in 1999, three years 

after first seeking a charter from the Leon County 

School District. Delays getting charter approval were 

followed with a series of frustrations in finding a suit-
52

Learning is driven by students’ curiosity and is focused 

through a project-based interdisciplinary approach. 

Arts, science, foreign language, reading, writing, and 

mathematics are all integrated. For example, older 

students learning about Asia spent six weeks preparing projects whose topics ranged from sushi to 

Genghis Khan to modern-day sweat shops in China. 

Regardless of the topic, their teacher points out, “You 

get speaking skills, you get writing skills, and you get 

research skills.” 

Instruction at all levels is highly individualized. In a K-2 

classroom, where students are working in small groups 

with math manipulatives, some are learning subtraction using beads, others are learning about number 

place, while yet another group uses plastic coins to 

learn addition. Every student has an individual folder, 

indicating which activities he or she is ready to work 

on. The two teachers and a parent volunteer circulate 

around the room, working first with one child and then 

on to the next, asking questions, assisting, and providing direct instruction and support when necessary. 

Next door, students in another K-2 classroom work on 

literacy projects. A small group sits reading a story with 

one teacher, while another group works at a table with 

a teacher creating books. A few students work independently on a word game, and it is not easy to tell age or 

grade distinctions among students within the class. 

Teachers find the multi-age classroom a powerful 

factor for cooperative learning, with older students 

naturally helping younger ones. Students are taught 

to work together, support is provided as needed, and 

no one is restricted from learning more by his or her 

particular age or grade. The principal explains that the 

younger students try to emulate the older students, 

and it raises the standard of work for everyone. SAS 

students are expected to work toward their personal 

best and to respect everyone. “No put downs” is an operating principle of the school and contributes to the 

self-confidence exhibited by students. “It’s very, like, 

peaceful,” a middle school student reports. “I’ve never 

seen a bully here.”

Students stay with the same teacher for a three-year 

period, so teachers really get to know the individual 

needs and learning styles of their students. In addition 

to the continuity this provides, it contributes to the 

secure learning environment the school strives for. As 

one student says, “It’s really a priority to have respect 

between the teachers and students. You don’t have to 

be afraid of being embarrassed in front of the class or 

having them get mad at you. You feel free to talk to 

them.” Students appreciate the freedom they are given 

to express themselves. For some this manifests in capes 

and plumes, one enjoys a spot of blue hair.

Teachers describe the natural transition of students 

who are new to the school and new to taking personal responsibility for their learning. “I don’t want to 

tell them every move to make at every moment,” one 

teacher explains, “so we do a lot of modeling. And we’re 

constantly explaining our way of work. You just watch 

them flounder for a little while, you know. Their first 

projects aren’t like everybody else’s, but when they see 

what everybody else has done, their next projects are. 

You can just watch their growth.”

Continuous Learning

Each year the staff analyze students’ progress and 

use what they find to develop the schoolwide improvement plan and to set annual goals, which are 

published in the annual School Public Accountability Report. This process helps to keep teachers, 

administrators, and parents focused on the mission 

of the school, in both planning and implementation 

Students stay with the same teacher 

for a three-year period, so teachers really 

get to know the individual students.
53

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

throughout the school year. Data from standardized 

tests are part of the mix, even though teachers uniformly say, “We don’t teach to the tests.” 

Teachers do, however, use Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) scores to inform their practice. 

In reading, teachers use Scholastic’s STAR reading inventory to get a baseline and then measure progress 

using FCAT scores. In 2002, when FCAT math scores 

were below the district average in grades 3–5, teachers developed school improvement objectives to focus 

on math instruction. With a $10,000 grant, they engaged in professional development around multi-age 

math methods. They adopted a hands-on approach 

to math instruction for grades K-5. After the training, 

when the new curriculum was implemented, thirdgrade FCAT math scores rose from 299 in 2002 to 335 

in 2003, exceeding the state and the district averages, 

and showing an increase of 32 percent. Seventh- and 

eighth- grade FCAT math scores in 2003 were the highest in the district, and eighth-grade FCAT scores were 

second in the state, behind a school that admits only 

gifted students. This year FCAT math and reading scores 

exceeded the district average at every grade.

In a school with no grades and no report cards, 

students are very involved in evaluating their own 

learning. Students select all the work in their portfolios, choosing the work that best demonstrates 

progress towards academic goals and mastery of the 

appropriate Sunshine State Standards, as well as the 

work of which they are most proud. Students organize their portfolios on the basis of the multiple intelligences identified by scholar Howard Gardner. 

Parents and Partners

At least twice a year parents meet with their child and 

the child’s teachers to go over the child’s portfolio. 

Typically, a student and his or her parents come in before the scheduled meeting with the teachers so that 

the child has a chance to orient parents to the portfolio. Then the teachers join them and the teachers talk 

with the child and ask questions about various pieces 

of work, with the parents observing. According to one 

teacher, the process is very affirming: “The child is able 

to tell, ‘This is me. It’s all about me.’ And it really is.” 

Parents like the fact that the school’s developmental 

approach is grounded in the principles of how children 

learn and that they can be highly involved in their 

children’s education. For the many parents who homeschooled their children, enrolling them in SAS was the 

first time they were willing to entrust their children to 

a public school. Parents also express satisfaction that 

there is not a lot of homework at SAS, so children have 

time to develop artistic, theatrical, and musical interests. Almost half of SAS students participate in an after-school program that features specialty classes such 

as yoga, puppetry, African dance, nature craft, chess, 

track, moviemaking, and the like.

Six parents serve on the 13-member school board. 

Other ways SAS parents are involved include personnel hiring, fundraising, acquiring furniture and supplies, providing transportation, maintaining the school 

building, volunteering in classrooms, supervising on 

the playground and on field trips, and organizing 

teacher appreciation events.

Maintaining its early support from educators at nearby 

Florida State University (FSU), SAS has relationships with 

a number of programs there: the fine arts museum, the 

science education department, the family and child services department, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the music school, and the physics department 

all contribute to the school. Science mentorships—at 

FSU and local wildlife centers—have involved students in 

scientific inquiry and the work of real scientists.

In a school with no grades and no report 

cards, students are very involved in 

evaluating their own learning. 
54

Governance and Accountability

Governance of the school is at several levels. The school 

advisory council consists of three students, three teachers, three parents, and one board member. Their role is to 

write the school improvement plan and to recommend 

individuals for the school board. The 13 board members make a three-year commitment, with a third of the 

members changing each year. Their role is to set policy, 

oversee finances, and evaluate the principal. Each spring 

the board engages in strategic planning. The school also 

has a teacher leadership council, student government, 

and PTSO. A management team includes the principal, 

assistant principal/CFO, and the office staff. 

SAS has a supportive, positive relationship with its charter authorizer, the local Leon County School District. 

SAS is electronically connected to the district database 

system and has access to district e-mail. The principal 

attends district principals’ meetings, and SAS staff are 

welcome to participate in district professional development opportunities. The district provides physical plant 

consultation and inspections, and SAS pays the district 

for food, transportation, and insurance services. The 

school also pays the district 5 percent of its state and 

federal funding.

The school operates on an annual budget of about 

$1.3 million, which includes funding of about $5,000 

per pupil. Finances are tight, and board members look 

enviously at the half-cent sales tax revenue that other Leon County public schools receive. Yet when the 

school’s state funding was cut by $60,000, instead of 

economizing by leaving a position vacant when the 

music teacher took maternity leave, parents raised the 

money necessary to continue the music program.

Success is measured many ways at the School of Arts 

and Sciences. Recent FCAT math and reading scores 

exceeded the district average at every grade. Seventhand eighth-grade math scores were the highest in the 

district, with the eighth-grade scores ranking second in 

the state. Last year only one teacher left the school. Not 

a single student was on a behavior contract. A teacher 

laughingly recalls the complaints from members of 

the Student Court. “They think everybody is too good. 

They never have enough court time.” Another teacher 

reflects on the compassion engendered in the students. 

“When extremely low, low, low kids get up to do their 

presentations, the audience is rapt. I mean these kids 

cannot give them enough attention and support.” 

For Principal Powers, the performance of SAS middle 

school students at last year’s Model United Nations 

Conference at FSU is emblematic. Two middle schools 

were invited and all the other teams were from high 

schools. “Well, they gave six awards, and our students 

took three of them. Afterward, we were saying, ‘How 

did our kids win against those high school students? 

They’re obviously younger, they haven’t had as much 

experience, they’re not any smarter. What is it?’ I think 

it’s that they get to speak and perform in an environment where you’re not laughed at, ridiculed, put down, 

made fun of, so they develop this kind of confidence. 

They can get up there and they can put together their 

ideas and communicate. That’s success to me.”

Parents like the fact that the school’s 

developmental approach is grounded 

in the principles of how children learn.
55

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

Acknowledgments

The development of this guide was initiated and directed 

by Nina S. Rees, deputy under secretary of the Office of 

Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of 

Education. Sharon Horn was the project manager. 

An external advisory panel provided feedback to refine the 

study scope and prioritize issues to investigate. Members 

included Mark Cannon, executive director, National Association of Charter School Authorizers; Jim Ford, National 

Council of La Raza; Bryan Hassell, co-director, Public 

Impact; Bruno Manno, senior associate, The Annie E. Casey 

Foundation; Lisa Coldwell O’Brien, Coldwell Communications Group; Anna M. Varghese, director of external affairs, 

The Center for Education Reform; and Jon Schroeder, 

Education|Evolving.

Staff in the Department who provided input and reviewed 

drafts include: Mike Petrilli, John Fiegel, Dean Kern, Cynthia 

Dorfman, Stacy Kotzin, Brenda C. Compton-Turner, Meredith Miller, Carolyn Adams, Cathy Grimes-Miller, Christine 

Wolfe, Karen Akins, Patricia Landis, John Gibbons, Deborah 

Rudy, and Jacquelyn Zimmermann.

This guide was written and designed by WestEd. The project 

is conducted in partnership with Edvance.

WestEd is a nonprofit research, development, and service 

agency committed to improving learning at all stages of 

life, both in school and out. WestEd has offices across the 

United States and also serves as one of the nation’s 10 

regional educational laboratories.

Edvance, a nonprofit organization created by the American 

Productivity and Quality Center, is a resource for process 

and performance improvement with a focus on benchmarking, knowledge management, performance measurement, and quality improvement initiatives in education.

The eight schools cooperating in the development of this 

guide and the report from which it is drawn were generous with both their time and attention to this project. We 

would like to thank the staff who were instrumental in 

coordinating and participating in the site visits that inform 

the report and this guide. 

The Arts and Technology Academy 

Public Charter School

53rd and Blaine Sts., NE

Washington, DC 20019

http://www.dcpubliccharter.com

Anthony Jackson

Principal 

BASIS School, Inc. 

3825 E. 2nd St.

Tucson, AZ 85716

Olga Block

Executive Director

Michael Block

Chairman

Carolyn McGarvey

Principal

Community of Peace 

Academy

471 Magnolia Ave. E.

St. Paul, MN 55101

http://www.cpa.charter.k12.mn.us

Karen Rusthoven

Principal

KIPP Academy Houston

10711 KIPP Way

Houston, TX 77099

http://www.kipphouston.org

Elliot Witney

Principal

Oglethorpe Charter School

707 Stiles Avenue

Savannah, GA 31401

http://www.oglethorpeacademy.org

Susan Gingrich-Off

Principal

Ralph A. Gates Elementary School 

23882 Landisview Ave.

Lake Forest, CA 92630

http://www.svusd.k12.ca.us/

schools/gates/

Orquidia Acosta

Principal

Roxbury Preparatory Charter School

120 Fisher Avenue

Roxbury, MA 02120

http://www.roxburyprep.org

John King and Josh Phillips

Principals

The School of Arts and Sciences 

3208 Thomasville Road

Tallahassee, FL 32312

http://www.artsandsciences.leon.k12.fl.us

Debo Powers

Principal

WestEd

730 Harrison Street

San Francisco, CA 94107

http://www.wested.org

Glen Harvey

Chief Executive Officer

Nikola Filby

Associate Director, 

Regional Laboratory Program

Edvance

123 Post Oak Lane, Floor 3

Houston, TX 77024

http://www.edvance.org

C. Jackson Grayson Jr.

Chief Executive Officer 

Kristin Arnold

Project Director
56
57

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

This guide is based on a descriptive study of eight charter schools selected for their exemplary achievement and for geographic and programmatic variety. While the schools are successful, the descriptive 

methodology does not support causal claims about which factors, or combinations of factors, led to their 

success. Nor does this guide constitute an endorsement of any specific commercial program or instructional practice. It does provide a portrait of what several successful schools look like and an analysis of 

common elements across schools. A brief description of this project’s methodology follows. 

data for three consecutive years on the same measure, 

in order to show gains from one year to the next in two 

consecutive years. A final achievement criterion was 

that the school had met its Adequate Yearly Progress 

(AYP) target in the most recent year for which AYP had 

been announced to schools, as of December 19, 2003. 

To check achievement scores, the research staff looked 

at published data on state Web sites, at the database 

of achievement scores compiled by the Brown Center 

on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, and at 

information supplied by schools. For some states, it was 

impossible to find interpretable data. In other states, all 

schools were too new to have enough achievement data 

available. Unfortunately, very small schools were generally eliminated, because the scores for small sample 

sizes are not reliable and therefore are not reported.

Twenty-nine schools had acceptable achievement data 

and moved to the next phase of screening. Following 

the advice of the advisory panel, information was collected through public data and brief interviews about 

the grade levels served by the school, demographics 

Appendix A: 

Research Methodology

Nomination Process

An informal, nationwide recommendation process resulted in over 250 schools from 31 states being suggested 

for consideration. Nominations came from the advisory 

panel (see the acknowledgments section), state departments of education staff, charter school associations, 

authorizers, charter school administrators, and parents. 

Requests for nominations went out through key contacts 

to these networks, as well as through the U.S. Charter 

Schools Web site. Many schools nominated themselves.

Site Selection Criteria

The first and major criterion for site selection was 

exemplary achievement. Following the advice of the 

advisory panel, the emphasis was on improvement in 

achievement, rather than absolute achievement level, 

and on improvement trends across several years, so as 

to identify schools that were reliably becoming stronger and more effective over time. More specifically, the 

school had to have been established as a charter school 

no later than fall 1999, and it had to have achievement 
58

of the population served, location, authorizer, and 

educational program. The goal was to find a diverse 

set of schools, encompassing both elementary and secondary levels, serving mostly low socioeconomic status 

students but some serving the general population, having a range of authorizers, representing different ethnic 

configurations, and having locations around the country. Final factors in screening, based on interview data, 

were stable leadership, evidence of parent involvement 

and parent satisfaction, and a positive relationship with 

the authorizer.

Study Framework and Data Collection 

A conceptual framework to guide the study was developed from an analysis of research on charter schools 

and organizational effectiveness. Charter school experts, 

recruited to serve on the advisory panel, provided feedback to refine this framework and prioritize issues to investigate. The resulting study scope guided all aspects of 

the study (see figure 2 on page 4).

Collecting detailed descriptive information from project participants was key to understanding each school’s 

vision and practices, the outcomes or impact achieved, 

and lessons learned that others could benefit from. 

Each school hosted a two-day site visit that included 

interviews with site leaders, teachers, board members, 

parents, and students as well as observations of classes 

and school events. In addition, artifacts from the sites, 

such as letters to parents, schedules, and training agendas, were collected to provide concrete examples of 

school practices. Site visitors reviewed the information 

from each site and developed a case report. 

From the case reports, artifacts, and transcripts of interviews, the project team identified common elements 

that contributed to success across the sites. This analysis 

built on the research literature and study scope but also 

reflected patterns in the data and significant features 

that emerged in this study’s cross-case analysis.

This descriptive research process suggests promising 

practices—ways to do things that others have found 

helpful, lessons they have learned about what not to 

do, and practical, “how-to” guidance. This is not the 

kind of experimental research that can yield valid causal claims about what works. Readers should judge for 

themselves the merits of these practices, based on their 

understanding of why they should work, how they fit 

the local context, and what happens when they actually try them. Also, readers should understand that 

these descriptions do not constitute an endorsement 

of specific practices or products.

Reports and Dissemination

Two products resulted from this research: a report of 

the findings and this practitioner’s guide. The report 

provides the detailed description of each site, sample 

artifacts, an analysis of key findings across sites, and 

key project documents. The practitioner’s guide is a 

summary of the report intended for broad distribution 

through conference presentations, as well as through 

national associations and networks. The guide and 

report are also accessible online at http://www.ed.gov/

admins/comm/choice/charter/.

Ultimately, readers of this guide will need to select, 

adapt, and implement practices that meet their individual needs and contexts. Schools coming together in 

learning communities may continue the study, using 

the ideas and practices from these sites as a springboard for their own action research. In this way, a pool 

of promising practices will grow, and schools can support each other in implementation and learning. 
59

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

The U.S. Charter Schools Web site provides a wide range 

of information and links to resources to guide charter 

schools in every phase of their development—from startup, to expansion, to renewal. The site includes a national 

calendar of events and a community-exchange feature.

http://www.uscharterschools.org

The Center for Education Reform provides up-to-date 

reports on charter schools and choice activity around the 

country. The Web site links to “fast facts” and resources 

designed with parents in mind. A searchable database 

identifies resources and schools in each state.

http://www.edreform.com

The Education Commission of the States includes 

both charter schools and charter districts as issue topics on its Web site. An interesting recent development in 

the charter movement is charter districts—in which all 

or most of the schools are charter or contract schools. 

The Nuts and Bolts of Charter Districts is a four-part 

ECS series that looks at policy options for state leaders, 

design issues faced by district leaders, funding issues, 

and the new central office for charter districts.

http://www.ecs.org

Education|Evolving is a Minnesota organization working to help create and sustain an “Open Sector” in public 

education—a “space” in public education for new schools 

that are started from scratch by teachers, parents, community organizations, and multi-school networks. A 

January 2004 report discusses how district leaders can 

support the new-schools strategy.

http://educationevolving.org

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation provides links to 

major studies and to over 50 other organizations’ Web 

sites in the areas of charter schools and choice.

http://www.edexcellence.net

Appendix B: Resources 

The Charter School Leadership Council is a coalition of seven national organizations committed to advancing the charter school movement. In addition to 

serving as a link to these organizations and to charter 

policy information, the council’s Web site lists statelevel contacts for charter school information.

http://cslc.us/ncsw/teaching

The Charter School Experience is a good introductory 

resource for people wanting to understand chartering. 

Several national charter-supporting organizations joined 

forces to produce this brochure, published in 2002 by 

America’s Charter School Finance Corporation. The brochure is available online in English and Spanish.

http://www.charterfriends.org/Charter_School_ 

Experience.pdf

Charter Starters, a set of leadership training materials published by the Northwest Regional Educational 

Laboratory, consists of five workbooks, a training guide, 

and a profile of charter school leadership needs. Specific topics include start-up logistics, regulatory issues, 

assessment and accountability, governance and management, and community relations.

http://www.nwrel.org/charter/publicat/charter_

workbook.html

The Office of Innovation and Improvement in 

the U.S. Department of Education operates the Public Charter Schools Program, which supports the 

planning, development, and initial implementation 

of charter schools. Other grants target support for 

charter school facilities.

http://www.ed.gov/programs/charter/index.html
60
61

Innovations in Education: Successful Charter Schools

1 Finn, C., Manno, B., and Vanourek, G. (2000). Charter 

schools in action. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University 

Press, p. 266.

2 See the National Charter School Directory, 9th Edition, as 

reported on the Web site of the Center for Education Reform. Retrieved April 2004 from http://www.edreform.com.

3 Some states have stronger charter school laws than 

others, creating more supportive conditions for charter 

schools to launch and develop programs. See the Center 

for Education Reform Web site at http://www.edreform.

com, “Charter School Laws Across the States: Ranking 

and Scorecard, 8th Edition.” For discussion of how chartering has developed in different states, see especially

 Hassel, B. (1999). The charter school challenge: 

Avoiding the pitfalls, fulfilling the promise. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution. 

 Vergari, S. (Ed.) (2002). The charter school landscape.

Pittsburgh, Penn.: University of Pittsburgh Press.

4 Wallis, C. (1994). “A class of their own,” Time, October 

31, p. 53. 

5 The concept of internal accountability is explored 

by Paul Hill and colleagues. See chapter 3 in Hill, P., 

Lake, R., and Celio, M. (2002). Charter schools and accountability in public education. Washington, D.C.: The 

Brookings Institution. 

Notes

6 Discussions of building civic community and social 

capital can be found in Finn et al., op. cit., chapter 10, 

and by David Campbell in chapter 13 in Peterson, P. and 

Campbell, D. (Eds). (2001). Charters, vouchers & public 

education. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution.

7 Finn et al., op. cit., p. 267. 

8 Newmann, F., King, B., and Rigdon, M. (1997). 

“Accountability and school performance: Implications 

from restructuring schools,” Harvard Education Review, 

vol. 67, no. 1, pp. 41-74.

9 Finn et al., op. cit., chapter 9 discusses four stages of 

district response to charters and provides several examples of stages 3 and 4, competing to outdo charters 

and accepting charters as a district asset and opportunity. According to the chapter by Finn et al. in Peterson 

and Campbell, op. cit., charter districts—those in which 

all schools are chartered—existed in California, Florida, 

and Georgia as of 2001. The Education Commission of 

the States now supports an initiative focused on charter districts. See appendix B for links to the Education 

Commission of the States and materials targeted to 

charter districts.