BOWLING GREEN ELEMENTARY CHARTER SCHOOL
CHARTER DOCUMENT PROVISIONS
Editors Note:
The following is the charter petition for the Bowling Green
Elementary Charter School in the Sacramento City Unified School
District. Bowling Green was an existing elementary school that had
participated in and already begun substantial restructuring efforts
prior to "converting" to charter status in 1993. The school was one
of California's earliest charter "conversion" efforts and several
portions of the charter are seen by many as being exemplary. Some of
the stronger elements include:
The school started with a substantial base of restructuring
experience and was able to clearly identify barriers to their
continued restructuring efforts. These are presented in the
rationale portion of the Introduction.
A comprehensive description and framework for the school's
instructional program, based on a combination of both research and
successful practice. Other sections of the charter also provide
detail on how the school plans to continue to address the needs of
special needs and limited English proficient students.
An analysis of the students to be served and their current
levels of achievement.
A clear explanation of the school's broad goals for its
students, aligned with districtwide school performance goals. The
charter also contains a specific description of, and timeline for,
how it will develop these broad goals into a more comprehensive
student and school assessment system.
A detailed description of the specific assessment tools that
the school will use to measure student progress. This description
is not merely a list of popular assessment "buzzwords." Instead
the description shows that the charter developers have a strong
grasp of the different types of assessment tools that will be
used, how they will be used, the strength and weaknesses of each.
The charter also contains a helpful table listing the specific
assessment instruments to be used for each of the major goal
areas. The charter may be lacking, however, a description of what
specific goals it expects to attain and how progress toward these
goals will relate to the charter review and renewal process.
A broad description of how the school will be governed. Here
too, the description of the governance structure is grounded in
substantial research and thought about how decisions should be
made in a school and how this process can support the school's
instructional program. The description also outlines how the
school's governing body will relate to existing site level
decision-making structures and processes. (Additional information
that other charters may want to include are a description of how the governing body
would be constituted, who the founding members would be,and how
and when the bylaws would be drafted and adopted.)
Descriptions of how the school's relationship with the sponsor
district will and will not change, including specific examples to
illustrate important changes.
A draft budget that reflects a competent and careful analysis
of the resources available to the school under charter status and
which shows how resources will be reallocated in support of the
school's change efforts.
Despite the clarity and detail provided in its charter, staff and
leadership at the Bowling Green Charter school have struggled
to protect the autonomy and authority specified in its charter
document. The clear provisions and detail, however, have often proven
extremely helpful when the school engages in activities to protect
its autonomy.
Several other provisions of the charter have also proven difficult
to implement, including the extremely high level of consensus
required in governance decisions, provisions include the 80 percent
vote of confidence required for maintaining the site principal, and
the mixed adherence to provisions in existing labor agreements.
The full text of the charter follows.
A Charter School Petition Submitted
to the
Sacramento City Unified School District Board of
Education
We feel strongly that every student can learn and that every
teacher can become an excellent teacher. The current system, however,
does not encourage dedicated staff members to work together to help
their students soar. Instead, we find a system that very successfully
sorts both teachers and students into those who can and those who
can't.
Earlier this school year, the State of California awarded Bowling
Green Elementary School a SB1274 grant to demonstrate the
restructuring of a low achieving public elementary school in a large
urban district. The goal of restructuring is to increase student
performance, both academically and socially for all our
students.
As we began implementing the restructuring activities, however, we
found, as did the district's own Special Committee for School-Based
Decision Making, that the system is constrained by too many
established routines and arrangements. In its May 29, 1992, report to
the Board of Education, for example, the Special Committee identified
four major categories of impediments to site-based decision-making
and restructuring. They are 1) centralized administration and
programs, 2) state law, 3) governing board policy, and 4) collective
bargaining requirements.
Given where our district is today, we feel that in order to: 1) fully
implement the SB1274 restructuring activities in a timely manner and
2) transform our school into one where every teacher and every
student can soar, it is necessary to eliminate impediments that fall
into these categories. Becoming a charter school allows us to do
that.
Benefit of a Charter School to Our District
The recent state legislation that authorizes up to 100 charter
schools represents an unprecedented opportunity for the SCUSD Board
of Education to take the initiative in school reform. Never before in
modern state history has a school board been given the authority to
override state education code! This is recognition that the "system"
is part of the problem.
The Charter Schools Act of 1992 encourages school boards
and schools to think outside the "box" to find solutions. A major
stipulation of the legislation is that we stay within existing
funding levels. Another is that we create a school where all students
can be academically successful, especially those who traditionally
have not been successful. One hundred out of the approximately 8,000
schools in California will have a chance to experiment.
With that in mind, this charter petition proposes to create a
demonstration school within our district based on W. Edwards Deming's
principles of management. Deming suggests that 95% of the problems in
an organization can be traced to a faulty process or routine in the
system. Deming, an American, is widely credited as the person most
responsible for turning post-war Japan worldwide economic power. He
is also seen by many as the father of total quality management.
According to Deming's principles of management, an organization must
always focus on quality. He sees quality as pride in workmanship and
taking joy in one's work. When these conditions exist, there is also
continuous improvement of the system.
Source of Problems in Organizations:
Special Causes (5.0%)
Procedures/Routines in the System (95.0%)
Moreover, such a demonstration school can serve as a safe
laboratory for trying ideas that today might never get off the ground
in our district due to the cumbersome bureaucratic rules and
structures now in place. In this way, our charter will benefit the
district as a whole. In our SB1274 proposal, we underscored this
point by using Peters and Waterman's description of a skunk works as:
"a safe harbor in an organization for a project
team to try innovation. The members of the skunk works team are
generally just a bit out of the mainstream in terms of having the
same rules to follow as the rest of the organization. Industry is
filled with examples of large organizations with successful skunk
works. These organizations take pride in their skunk works. It
allows the organization to depart in a safe way from the ordinary
to create innovation while maintaining order in the rest of the
organization. A skunk works also protects the project team from
internal organizational threat."
(In Search of Excellence, 1981)
Finally, the approval of our charter petition will help us
implement our restructuring demonstration in a timely manner before
voters decide on the voucher initiative in June, 1994. We want to
show that public education can work when managed differently. We feel
that it is important to demonstrate to the taxpaying public that our
public school system can work in Sacramento for ALL students when
certain rules and regulations that impede our efforts are eliminated.
The Limited Nature of this Charter Petition
The charter that we seek is limited in nature. We intend, for the
most part, to work within existing conventions. We will
1) continue to operate as a school in the Sacramento City Unified School District,
2) continue to be district employees, and
3) continue to educate district students.
Unless otherwise stated in this petition, existing district
policy, existing contract agreements, and existing state education
code will be applicable at Bowling Green School. Thus our petition
calls for retaining the same medical benefits, the same pay scale,
the same retirement benefits, the same seniority rights, etc. that
other members of the School Employees International Union (SEIU),
Teamsters, Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) or Sacramento
City Administrators Association(SCAA) receive. We also propose that
the processes for employee unions/associations to assist their
members continue to exist. Teachers and classified staff, for
example, may still grieve contract violations that are pertinent and
have union advocates for any matter not described in this charter.
ADA generated from our student population will continue to go to
the district general fund. We will use what is allocated to our
school based on established formula, except as noted in this charter
petition. There are existing formulas for allocating general and
categorical funds to schools. In other words, we will work within our
proportional share of funds. We do, however, ask for control over how
to use that allocation to achieve our academic goals. For example, we
intend to reduce the student to teacher ratio by using our allocation
differently.
Section 47605 (h) of the Charter Schools Act calls for the school
district governing board to give preference to petitions that
demonstrate the capability to provide comprehensive learning
experiences to pupils identified by the petitioner or petitioners as
"academically low achieving". Our successful SB1274 grant serves as
the foundation of this charter petition. The capability of that grant
was validated by leaders in California education. Of the over 800
proposals submitted for a SB1274 grant, the state's leading
educational leaders selected only 138. These final 138 proposals
represented the work of some of the best practitioners in the state.
Our proposal scored 19 out of a possible 20 points. They felt that it
had the potential to successfully raise academic achievement among
traditionally low achieving students. This testifies to the quality
of the plan described in this petition as well as to its potential
for success.
II. DESCRIPTIONS OF
THE ITEMS FOUND IN 47605 (B) OF THE CHARTER SCHOOLS ACT OF 1992 AND
OF THE ITEMS REQUIRED BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
a. A description of the educational program of the
school,designed, among other things, to identify those whom the
school is attempting to educate, what it means to be an "educated
person" in the 21st century, and how learning best occurs. The goals
identified in that program shall include the objective of enabling
pupils to become self-motivated, competent, and lifelong
learners.
Key Features of the Educational Program When Fully Implemented:
Integrated thematic instruction
Efficacy instruction
Mastery of standards adopted by teachers, parents, and students;
Smaller student to teacher ratio
Students assigned to a team of teachers
An extended year round calendar of up to 210 days (with 180 regular days and 30 intersession days)
Preschool through 6th grade.
Students to be Served
With a third month enrollment of 814 students, Bowling Green is
the second largest elementary school in the district. Approximately
8% of our students are orthopedically handicapped (O.H.). Our limited
English proficient student population jumped from 10% two years ago
to over 20% this year. Our student body is 39% African-American, 22%
Hispanic American, 20% Asian American, 18% Caucasian, and 1% Native
American.
Most students come from families with large economic and social
needs. Over half are from homes receiving Aid for Families with
Dependent Children; three-quarters qualify for the Free or Reduced
Price Lunch Program. Many students come from home environments where
educational success is not a high priority. Many of our parents want
help and guidance in raising children. In addition, our attendance
area has a high crime rate, destructive gang activities, highly
transient students, and a significant problem with drug distribution
and use.
The Educational Program
Existing Inadequate Program. Low standardized test scores
from the last six years suggest that the existing educational program
is not working for our students. Between 1987-88 and 1989-90, the
declining scores on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) and
on the California Assessment Program (CAP) caught the attention of
both the district and the state. Bowling Green was identified by them
as one of four schools in the district in need of a special program
improvement plan. The plan that was developed focused on tightening
up the existing program. The drop in scores leveled off in 1990-91
and has remained low, as shown in the following chart.
The pattern shown in the chart is also applicable to our math and
language scores. The scores have been consistently below the
districtwide averages. [graphic not scanned]
Educational Goals
Recognizing that the traditional approach and even tightening up
on the traditional approach was not working, the staff began
committing itself to an alternative approach based on the premise
that every student could succeed and develop fully in spirit, mind,
and body. The philosophy behind our approach is grounded in the
Efficacy approach developed by Jeff Howard and in the Integrated
Thematic Instructional approach developed by Susan Kovalik. Both
approaches assume that all students can and will learn. Both
approaches are described below after we briefly describe what it
means to develop fully in spirit, mind, and body.
In developing their spirits, students will grow in
confidence of themselves as competent learners. They will know
how to initiate new learning experiences to satisfy their need to
know. They will understand that risk taking and requesting help are
part of the learning process. At the same time, students' feeling of
compassion for themselves, others at school, and members of
the broader community will increase.
They will come to understand the value of their knowledge
to positively benefit themselves and others. They will develop skills
to: work together cooperatively, use the healing power of
humor, and resolve conflicts in nonviolent ways.
In developing their minds, students will become master
learners. As such, they will excel in oral communication,
reading, writing, mathematics, and problem
solving. They will also develop conversational skills in a second
language. As the breadth and depth of their knowledge grows, they
will become complex thinkers and problem solvers.
In developing their bodies, students will become as
physically fit as possible and learn how to understand and take care
of their bodies through exercise, nutritious eating habits
and healthy practices, such as abstaining from drugs. They will,
for example, demonstrate their level of fitness by covering a mile in
ten minutes.
Efficacy Approach
The Efficacy model has its roots in developmental psychology and
social psychology. One of the major ideas is: smart is not something
you are, it is something you get by working hard; knowledge is
constructed. Efficacy assumes that everyone has the brains, but not
everyone knows how to get smarter. The first step is believing you
can get smarter. If you believe you can, then you will work hard. If
you work hard by keeping focused, by staying committed, and by
developing alternative strategies when you encounter an obstacle,
then you will get smarter.
Think you can -- Work Hard -- Get Smarter
keeping focused
staying committed
developing alternative strategies
The model also states that you don't get smarter unless you are
challenged in your Zone of Development (ZOD). This is an area a
little beyond your current abilities and knowledge. Goals in the ZOD
are difficult but they are something you can obtain if you work at
it. when you are successful, you will feel excited and proud of
yourself - because you know it was not easy. On either side of
the ZOD are the "Too Easy" Zone and the "Too Hard for Now" Zone. In
the former, you get bored. In the latter you get frustrated. The
Zone of Development is where you get smarter and develop.
Other strategies of the Efficacy approach which help you get into
and stay in your Zone of Development include:
using the strong side over the weak side, attribute theory,
using feedback to find your personal learning zone,
developing and using a support group.
The underlying theme of these strategies is that the
responsibility for development and the ability to develop rests with
each individual. The strategies are the skills and attitudes that we
are teaching at Bowling Green so that our students and our teachers
develop and get smarter in their personal Zone of Development.
Integrated Thematic Instructional Approach
If Efficacy is the motivational and self-empowering aspect of our
educational program, then the Integrated Thematic Instructional (ITI)
approach developed by Susan Kovalik is the pedagogical process that
we believe describes how learning best occurs.
The ITI approach combines the accumulated knowledge in the
following three areas: brain research, teaching strategies, and
curriculum development. When we use knowledge from these three areas
and incorporate them into lessons, there is a greater chance that
development will occur.
Moreover, the Life Skills that are part of the ITI approach are
also empowering. Those skills include: perseverance, patience, sense
of humor, curiosity, common sense, cooperation, effort, friendship,
problem solving, flexibility, caring, initiative, and responsibility.
Kovalik asserts that the curriculum and the instructional
strategies used in today's traditional classrooms are
brain-antagonistic. Traditional instruction is heavily weighed toward
using only two intelligences: logical-mathematical and linguistic.
There are at least five other intelligences that are often neglected
in schools. Howard Gardner identifies them as: spatial,
bodily-kinesthetic, musical, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. The
brain learns best when it can utilize all its intelligences.
Kovalik's Integrated Thematic Instructional (ITI) approach
suggests that learning best occurs when the following eight elements
are present:
Absence of Threat,
Meaningful Content,
Choices,
Adequate Time,
Enriched Environment,
Collaboration,
Immediate Feedback,
Mastery.
Not all are present in the traditional classroom setting. By using
the ITI approach, teachers develop year-long themes that serve as the
mechanism to pull together the year's instruction. Each month under
the theme, an important aspect of the theme is studied. Each week,
meaningful content is taught and learned via key points and
inquiries.
Key points are concepts, facts, and skills worth knowing forever.
Inquiries are activities that give practice and real-world
application of the key points. Key points come out of the state
curriculum frameworks as well as from the teacher's knowledge of the
subject matter as it is related to the theme.
The ITI approach requires teachers to do research and to become
more knowledgeable about what they teach. Teachers must go beyond the
teacher's manual and their own, perhaps, limited prior experience.
Teachers must be willing to be "strong sided" and take the risk of
learning more themselves.
In the ITI model, the focus is on the learner making sense and
discovering for him/herself the important concepts that need to be
mastered. This is done by doing teacher-designed inquiries or
activities that are brain compatible. To ensure that inquiries or
activities are not limited to one or two intelligences, teachers
design inquiries to be accomplished using Gardner's seven
problem-solving intelligences. Using all seven of the intelligences
insures that all student learning styles have been accommodated.
Ideally, at least 50% of the inquiries are what Kovalik calls "being
there" or real-life experiences. Rather than reading about lizards,
for example, students would actually study lizards in their habitat.
Teachers using the ITI model spend less time lecturing. As a rule
of thumb, the amount of lecturing per hour is limited to the number
of minutes that corresponds to the learner's age. Fourth graders, for
instance, would have about 10 minutes of lecture or direct teacher
instruction per hour. The remaining 50 minutes is engaged in doing
inquiries designed by the teacher. During these fifty minutes, the
teacher can serve as a coach with the class.
Class periods would also be longer. The ITI model requires
adequate time, for example, to observe and study the habitat of
lizards. The ITI method of teaching requires extensive preparation.
There is much less reliance on text books and worksheets which
require much less preparation. The ITI method requires teachers to do
research by talking with knowledgeable people, by seeking outside
resources, and by reading widely. This is crucial since the human
knowledge base is doubling at an ever increasing rate. That means
that there is probably new information about even lizards every year.
Since the ITI process focuses on teaching and learning concepts,
reading, writing, math, and visual performing arts are used as tools
when studying the concepts. It takes time and collaboration with
other teachers to develop inquiries that do all this. Last summer, 27
of our teachers attended a week long institute led by Susan Kovalik
and Associates. Now, we are using our SB1274 funding to pay for a
curriculum coach from Susan Kovalik and Associates to work with our
staff six days each month. This coming summer the remaining teachers
will be among the approximately 30 teachers we send to the annual
Kovalik institute. We feel strongly that all students can learn and
that as educational professionals it is our duty to learn how to
create a brain compatible learning environment that makes it happen.
Context of the Educational Program
Initially, the educational program, will be conducted in context
of a 180-day single track year round schedule, with the option of
students and teachers participating in an additional 30-day extended
year program on a voluntary basis. The 30 days will initially be run
like summer school with a three hour daily session in the morning.
Moreover, the 30 days will be spread throughout the year and held
during intersessions.
During the life of the charter school, we will look for full
funding from sources beyond the general fund (e.g., grants) to extend
the school year to 210 full days. The current nine month school
schedule worked for agricultural communities 100 years ago. A single
track year round schedule with the option of extending the school
year through intersessions is more appropriate today for at-risk
students attending large urban schools. R. D. Alcorn, for example,
reported in the April 1992 issue of Thrust for Educational
Leadership that "year round education which substitutes several
shorter vacation breaks for the traditional 3-month summer vacation
enhances the momentum and continuity of instruction and produces high
pay offs for educationally and economically disadvantaged students."
We are proposing an instructional year that may, for example, start
in September and have a sequence of three months on and one month
off.
During each of the off months, a two week instructional
intersession will be conducted. These intersessions are much like
summer school except that they occur throughout the year. Attendance
at the intersessions is not mandatory, although we expect it to be
high. They provide students an opportunity to catch-up or to jump
ahead In addition to higher academic achievement we expect reduced
teacher burnout.
The student to teacher ratio will be reduced to approximately 25:1
to increase the opportunity for establishing relationships between
teachers, students, and parents at the proposed charter school. The
budget in Part VII of this petition details how the reduction will be
accomplished by using funds allocated to the school differently.
Initially teachers will be organized in grade level teams. As a team,
the teachers are responsible for all the students assigned to that
grade level. Close collaboration between teachers is the key to
making the proposed charter school work.
The reduction in the student to teacher ratio is also consistent
with the state's recommendation for teaching young children as
described in Here They Come: Ready or Not. In addition, the
reduction will facilitate the integration of our many orthopedically
handicapped students into general education classrooms. This helps
the school move towards becoming one seamless educational system
rather than a system fragmented into "regular ed" and "special ed."
b. The measurable pupil outcomes identified for use by the
charter school. "Pupil outcomes," for purposes of this part, means
the extent to which all pupils of the school demonstrate that they
have attained the skills, knowledge, and attitudes specified as goals
in the school's educational program.
This section begins by describing five specific site-adopted
targets. When a student reaches all five of the targets, he/she will
have attained, by design, the educational goals described above in
section "a." The five targets are actually outcomes. The term
"target" is used because it provides a clear mental picture of what
students are working towards. They also give teachers clear direction
of what to teach towards. The section ends by describing the six
Board-adopted targets.
Site-Adopted Targets
The Efficacy Institute uses three indicators to identify a high
school graduate who is adequately prepared to participate in the 21st
century. They are: using calculus, writing a 25 page paper, and
speaking a second language. Taking the institute's lead in preparing
students for the 21st Century, we feel that each of our students
should be able to do the following by the time he/she completes 6th
grade at Bowling Green:
1. Use algebraic skills and concepts.
2. Be fluent in one language (e.g., English or Spanish) and be
conversational in a second language (e.g., Spanish or English).
3. Walk run, or use a wheelchair to cover a mile in 10 minutes.
4. Read and interpret a variety of materials from different
sources to gain useful and applicable information.
5. Identify an opportunity to serve the community. In the course
of doing research, read and comprehend what others have done that is
related to the opportunity. Develop a written proposal that describes
the opportunity and which persuades others that what you intend to do
is a worthwhile service. Provide the service. Finally, describe the
process in writing as well as through another medium including but
not limited to: video, music, speech, paint, or dance.
Refining and Using Site-Adopted Targets and Benchmarks
During the first year of the proposed charter school, with the aid
of an assessment coach funded though our SB1274 grant, teachers,
students, and parents will work together to operationally define each
of the targets. We will also break down each of the five targets
listed above so that each has a series of benchmarks. The benchmarks
serve as milestones on the way to the targets. The benchmarks will
include the educational goals that are described in section "a." We
will operationally define these goals and then integrate them into
the benchmarks. In covering a mile in 10 minutes, for example, we
might end up with the following benchmarks for students:
Identify a mile long course.
Complete the course - no time limit.
Understand the importance of physical endurance in everyday
life.
Understand how healthy eating habits and healthy practices
contribute to endurance.
Run, walk, or use a wheel chair to complete 1/4 of the course
without stopping.
Run, walk, or use a wheel chair to complete 1/2 of the course
without stopping.
Run, walk, or use a wheel chair to compete the whole course
without stopping.
Run, walk, or use a wheel chair to cover a mile in 10 minutes.
By using these benchmarks, students can see where they are in
relation to the target. Teachers can also see this and design their
curriculum accordingly. As such, the benchmarks in this example might
be used as performance indicators. Since the benchmarks are not tied
to grade levels they might also be used in non graded classrooms. Non
graded classrooms are a possibility for the second or third year of
the charter. The benchmarks also let parents see where students are
in relationship to a proficiency standard.
In doing this work, we will follow the lead of the new California
Assessment Program (CAP). The CAP will initially report the
proportion of students who reach a statewide proficiency standard.
Starting in 1993-94, the new CAP will report individual scores in
relationship to the proficiency standard. We will use the same
approach in reporting student mastery of our targets.
Also during the first year of the proposed charter school, we will
develop scoring rubrics,operationally define our educational goals
such as compassion, and more clearly define the targets. One resource
for this process will be the assessment framework presented in
Dimensions of Learning by Bob Marzano (1992). Student surveys
may also be used. Once the operational definitions and rubrics are
established, assessment of these outcomes will often be integrated
with other desired outcomes. As the assessment process builds and the
various types of assessments are defined, implemented, revised, and
implemented again, we will be creating alternative reporting forms to
the current report cards that will better communicate to parents the
multi-faced growth their students have made.
Finally, as we indicated in Part III section 2.11 of this
petition, each May the principal will report to the Board on the
status of the school. In May 1994, our "state of the school" report
will include a description of the benchmarks, the proportion of
students and teachers who have arrived at each benchmark, and a more
refined operational definition for each of the five targets.
During the second year of the charter, we will invite parents to
join their child and the staff in personally aiming for each of the
five targets themselves. In May 1995, our "state of the school"
report will include the number of parents and teachers who have
accepted the challenge of aiming for the five targets and who have
reached the targets.
Board-Adopted Targets
Our program will also work towards six targets adopted by the
Board of Education. The Board has spent the past year working to
identify their targets and agreeing on their operational definitions.
One of the targets, student achievement, is incorporated into our
site-adopted targets. The Board's six target areas are:
Student Attendance. The Board's target is 96% actual
attendance and 98% ADA. Shown below is a record of the school's
actual attendance by month over the last four years. There has been
improvement, but not yet to the degree that we desire. The activities
described in this petition are intended to increase attendance. They
include: a single track year round schedule that's extended to 210
days, the employment of additional community workers, the reduction
in the student to teacher ratio to foster relationships, use of the
Efficacy approach and using integrated thematic instruction.
Drop-Out Reduction. At Bowling Green, both retention and
suspension of students will be minimized toward a target of zero.
Also, a procedure will be created to follow up students who leave the
school to determine if any of these students are dropping out. The
following chart shows our contribution to reducing the likelihood of
dropping out by reducing the number of suspensions during the last
three years.[chart not scanned]
Parental Involvement. This means increasing their
participation at all levels, through governance of the school,
setting social and academic standards, and helping in classrooms. We
see ourselves seeking to fully develop a student's body, mind, and
spirit by showing parents, if needed, how to be a more powerful
member of their child's support team. This will be done, in part, by
the additional school community workers that will be employed at the
charter school. As indicated above, we will be asking parents to join
their children and the staff in aiming for the five site-adopted
targets.
Employee Relations. The Board would like to see all
employees have an opportunity to participate in a governance process
at their school or department. Our proposed charter school will be
using the Continuous Improvement Process (CIP) that was started three
years ago. The process involves certificated staff, classified staff,
and parents. During the first year of the proposed charter school, a
process will be developed to include student input in the CIP.
Students Can and Will Learn. This is essentially higher
expectations for all students.
Student achievement. The Board wants to see a year's growth
for a year's worth of instruction. More specifically, the Board
expects all students to "learn how to read" by the time they complete
third grade and begin "reading to learn" in the intermediate grades.
Summary of Targets Identified by the Board of
Education
Target
Goal
Measuring Device
96% actual attendance and 98% ADA
attendance
Student attendance
-Monthly attendance reports from
Business Services
0 suspensions
0 retentions
Drop-out reduction
-Suspension records at school
-Retention records at school
95% of parents feel as if they
are "empowered" members of child's support team
Parental involvement
-Parent participation in
parent-teacher conferencing
-Parent survey
-Interviews with parents
Develop a participatory process
which engages stakeholders, especially employees
Employee Relations
-Problems solved with the
site-based Continuous Improvement Process
-Number of grievances filed by employees
Higher student
expectations
All students can and will
learn
-Mastery of the curriculum by the
students
Every student will receive and
master the core curriculum/
Students learn to read by 3rd grade.
Student achievement
-Quality of inquires and key
points that students use
-Reading ability
c. The method by which pupil progress in meeting those pupil
outcomes is to be measured.
Assumptions about Assessment
Our choice of methods to assess pupil progress is based on the
following four beliefs about assessment:
1. In order to have a complete picture of a student's
growth different types of assessments must be used. Assessments
should focus on a student's growth towards a proficiency standard
rather than comparing a student's performance - against other
students.
2. There should be a close relationship between a desired student
outcome and the means used to assess it.
3. Assessing what students do with knowledge is as important as
assessing what knowledge they have.
4. Assessment should promote and support reflection and
self-evaluation on the part of students, staff, and parents.
Based on these beliefs, we will use a variety of performance-based
assessments such as portfolios, demonstrations, and integrated
performance tasks. We will also use the statewide California
Assessment Program (CAP), a standardized test that compares
individual student progress to state standards. The CAP is also
intended to report the proportion of students at Bowling Green who
have reached the state proficiency standards in math, reading,
writing, science, and social studies.
Description of Assessment Tools
Portfolios will provide one perspective for assessing
student growth. A portfolio is a collection of representative work.
Literacy portfolios, for example, will contain results of student
performance on a variety of literacy assessments in writing, reading,
and oral communication. Scoring rubrics will be developed and staff
will receive training on using the rubrics. Student reflection will
be an integral part of the portfolio. In addition, the portfolios
will serve as one tool that lets us determine how well we meet our
site-adopted target of mastering one language and being
conversational in a second.
Demonstrations provide another means of assessing students
growth. Demonstrations will, for example, be used to assess the
school target that students travel a mile within 10 minutes.
Demonstrations may also be a part of a Literacy Portfolio or a
mathematics assessment. The key element will be students
demonstrating their attainment of specified standards to a panel of
judges. These standards or desired outcomes will be established based
on the state-adopted curricular frameworks.
Integrated Performance Tasks (IPT) are another means that
will be used to assess students growth. Based in, but not limited to
the curricular area of social science, teachers will identify 8 to 10
important performance tasks that "effectively and efficiently 'map'
the essential content" that they will cover in the year (Wiggins, G.,
1992, "Creating Tests Worth Taking." Ed. Leadership 49:8, p.
29). Contextual rich tasks will then be designed along with a scoring
rubric that specifies the requirements of task mastery. These tasks
will be designed to measure what students knows and how well they
apply what they know.
The school, for example, has set a target that will be assessed as
a Integrated Performance Task. This complex task represents the
integration of several highly desired outcomes for students. The task
is as follows:
Identify an opportunity to serve the community. In the course of doing research, read and comprehend what others have done that is related to the opportunity. Develop a written proposal that describes the opportunity and which persuades others that what you intend to do is a worthwhile service. Provide the service. Finally, describe the process in writing as well as through another medium including but not limited to: video, music, speech, paint, or dance.
Standardized Test Assessments that compare student progress
to a proficiency standardized will be used. These tests include the
California Assessment Program (CAP) to measure reading, writing,and
math proficiency in 4th grade, and history and science proficiency in
the 5th grade; the Language Assessment Scale for measuring gains in
English proficiency; and the Student Attitude Measure (SAM) to
measure student motivation, student academic self-confidence, student
sense of control over performance, and students sense of
instructional mastery.
The Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) will only be used to
qualify students for the district's Chapter 1 program. This is the
current districtwide method for identifying 2nd through 6th grade
students for Chapter 1 services. We feel that tests such as this
which compare students to one other rather than to a proficiency
standard is counter productive when nationwide, half of all the test
takers are expected to score below the 50th percentile and
essentially "fail."
Expected Results
We expect each student to grow and show improvement towards each
of the five site-adopted targets and on the CAP. We expect students
to aim for and hit each of the site-adopted targets and the state
proficiency standards for the CAP.
Method for Measuring Site-Adopted Targets and Goals
Target
Goal
Method*
S P I R I T
Identify an opportunity to serve the community.
Compassion
Confidence
Knowledgeable of one's learning process (i.e. meta-cognition)
Self-initiation (motivation)
Work cooperatively
Use humor
Non violent conflict resolution
IPT, D
IPT, D
IPT, D
IPT, D
P, IPT, D
P, IPT, D
IPT, D
M I N D
Use algebra skills & concepts
Fluent in one language and conversational in a second
Read & interpret a variety of materials from different sources to gain useful and applicable information.
Identify an opportunity to serve the community.
Math and Science
Fluent in one language; conversational in a second
Read
Oral communications
Writing
History/Social Studies, Visual Performing Arts
P, IPT, D, CAP in 4th
P, IPT, D, CAP in 4th & 5th ST
P, IPT, D, CAP in 4th
P, IPT, D, CAP in 4th
IPT, D
P, IPT, D, CAP in 4th
P, IPT, D
B O D Y
Walk, run or use a wheelchair to cover a mile in 10 minutes.
Regular exercise
Healthy eating habits
Healthy practices - e.g., abstain from drugs and alcohol.
D
D
D
*
P = Portfolio, a collection of representative work
in language as well as in math and other areas.
ST = Standardized Test that compares student's
growth to a proficiency standard.
CAP = California Assessment Program which is a
standardized test
IPT = Integrated Performance Task such as the one
described for 6th graders in this petition
D = Demonstration such as traveling a mile in 10
minutes.
d. The governance structure of the school, including, but not
limited to, the process to be followed by the school to ensure
parental involvement.
The Board of Education establishes district goals. We will use
these goals. The site based-discussion process identifies problems
that get in the way of achieving the goals and develops solutions.
The Steering Committee and principal report directly to the Board of
Education.
The Board of Education has approved Site-Based Decision-Making
(SBDM) in concept. At Bowling Green, SBDM is through a Steering
Committee process made up of representatives from administration,
certificated staff, classified staff, support personnel, and parents.
We pioneered this concept in our district three years ago as part of
the Continuous Improvement Process.
The Steering Committee facilitates the identification of problems
and the consensus building needed to identify and implement solutions
that will help achieve the school's mission. Consensus is defined as
agreement to a solution by all those involved. Agreement means that
the participants can live with a solution, even though some may not
like it. On major issues, such as a schedule change, we routinely
survey parents to determine if the solutions have their support.
Moreover we encourage parent input by reserving at least two seats on
our Steering Committee for them.
When solutions are outside of the authority of this charter, the
Steering Committee will inform the Board of Education. Unless the
Board vetoes the solution within 30 school days after it first
appears on a Board agenda and is presented by the principal at a
Board meeting, the solution will become a part of this charter and
will be reflected as an amendment that will be attached at the end of
this charter in sequence as "Amendment 1, Amendment 2, etc."
In our SB1274 proposal, we described our site-based decision
making process and our experience with it during the last three years
as follows:
To move forward to ensure that every student succeeds,
requires changing the current system. We feel that a bottom up
collegial approach, such as the Continuous Improvement Process (CIP),
in which ownership is pushed to the lowest organizational levels will
increase academic achievement. We have had success with that approach
in dramatically improving our learning environment. We can have even
more success when we have the opportunity to extend our approach to
its logical end. That end would result in empowering teachers with
knowledge, giving them the time to create solutions together, and
giving them the authority and resources to act on their solutions. As
Jeff Howard of the Efficacy Institute points out: "All students can
learn, if the process is effectively organized and managed by
adults." We believe that learning can best be organized at the site
level by empowering the teachers and administrators who work the
closest with the children and their families.
The Continuous Improvement Process (CIP) provides a means for
everyone in our school community to have input in identifying
problems and inventing solutions so that we can reach our goal. The
Continuous Improvement Process starts by comparing the desired state
of affairs with the actual state of affairs. Then, those involved in
the process
1) identify problems that stand in the way of closing the gap,
2) invent solutions, and
3) implement those solutions. There is a continuous feedback loop
that informs them of their progress towards the desired state of
affairs. With updated information, additional problems are
identified. More solutions are then invented and implemented. We
realize that not all solutions will work. Utilizing the continuous
feedback loop and keeping focused on our goal, however, will help us
generate additional solutions until we find ones that do work.
At Bowling Green, the CIP is facilitated by a steering committee.
The 12 members of the committee are elected by different
constituencies including teachers, aides, support staff and parents.
Schoolwide problems are identified by means of a suggestion box or by
constituents through their representatives. The steering committee is
the forum where these problems are first publicly discussed. The
representatives share the discussion after the meeting in constituent
meetings where the steering committee solutions are accepted or
modified. If they are modified, the feedback goes back to the
steering committee. This process continues until consensus is reached
or until all objections have been addressed.
A key assumption in the Continuous Improvement Process is that 95%
of an organization's problems are created by the routines that make
up the system and 5% by the people who are members of the system.
This suggests that 95% of the reason for low student achievement
stems from the way that the school and community are organized.
Accordingly, the key elements of our proposal revolve around changing
the organizational structure of our school and district.
In addition to the CIP/Steering Committee, we will continue to
operate other committees/councils at school that have authority over
our Compensatory Education Program, School Improvement Program (SIP),
and our Bilingual Program. Each of these committees/councils has
staff and parent representatives. Except where prohibited by federal
law, these committees will act as sub committees to the Steering
Committee.
Finally, during the first year of the proposed charter school, a
process will be developed to include student input in the CIP.
e. The qualifications to be met by individuals to be employed
by the school.
Each certificated employee at the charter school will meet the
state licensing requirements for the position that he/she holds.
Verification will be done in the established manner though the
Personnel Department. When no state licensing requirements exist, as
in the case of most classified positions, the employee needs to meet
all performance specifications required for the position as described
in the notice of vacancy. Exceptions to today's standard operating
procedures are listed below in Part III of this charter petition.
f. The procedures that the school will follow to ensure the
health and safety of pupils and staff. These procedures shall include
the requirement that each employee of the school furnish the school
with a criminal record summary as described in Section 44237.
There will be no change to existing procedures used in the
district. If funds are available, the Steering Committee will
consider a full-time hall monitor who will be employed to patrol our
eleven acre school site. The hall monitor will also provide
additional supervision on the playground before and after school. The
monitor's duties will also include supervising dismissal of students
who walk home, and when necessary walking groups of students home in
the attendance area north of the school.
g. The means by which the school will achieve a racial and
ethnic balance among its pupils that is reflective of the general
population residing within the territorial jurisdiction of the school
district to which the charter petition is submitted.
During the last three years, our ethnic and racial mix has
remained balanced and rather stable. There has been a slight increase
in the percentage of Asian and Hispanic students and a 3% decrease in
Caucasian students. At the end of the second school month of the
current school year, there were approximately 39% African-American,
22% Hispanic, 20% Asian-American, and 18% Caucasian students enrolled
at Bowling Green. Initially, we will maintain this balance by
continuing to enroll students from our current attendance area. We
will try to move towards the district averages shown in the following
table by inviting students from groups in which we are low. The
current district distribution and our current school distribution, as
shown in the table below, will serve as the range that we will stay
within. If we go outside the range, the Steering Committee will
identify a solution to get it back within it.
Comparison of Ethnic Distribution Districtwide at the
Elementary Level and at Bowling Green
Ethnic Group
Districtwide
Bowling Green
African-American
21.4%
38.5%
Hispanic
20.8%
22.1%
Asian American
24.9%
20.4%
Caucasian
31.6%
18.2%
American Indian
1.3%
0.9%
* From Ethnic Composition of the Student
Population of the Elementary Schools, Fall 1992
h. Admission requirements, if applicable.
Section 47605 (d) of the Charter Schools Act of 1992 states that:
In addition to any other requirements imposed under this part, a
charter school shall be nonsectarian in its programs admission
policies, employment practices and all other operations, shall not
charge tuition, and shall not discriminate against any pupil on the
basis of ethnicity, national origin gender or disability. Admission
to a charter school shall not be determined according to the place of
residence of the pupil, or of this or her parent or guardian, within
this state, except that any existing public school converting
partially or entirely to a charter school under this part shall adopt
and maintain a policy giving admission preference to pupils who
reside within the former attendance area of that public school.
We will follow these guidelines.
Admission to the general education program is open to:
1. students living in the current attendance area and
children of staff members employed at the school,
2. students who attended Bowling Green then moved away, and
3. any student living in California.
Preference will be given to students who currently live in the
attendance area and to children of staff members now employed at the
school. Students in categories two and three may apply to attend
Bowling Green on a space available basis using the district's permit
process, except that permits may be approved at anytime during the
year. Before a permit or enrollment is canceled, a hearing will be
conducted. The members of the hearing board will include a parent, a
teacher, and the principal or his/her designate.
Parents of students on permit are responsible for transporting
their students to and from school. If it is possible, transportation
will be provided to students on permit if there is room on a bus that
serves Bowling Green. For example, if there is room on a Special
Education bus that transports a Bowling Green student then it might
be possible for that student's non Special Education sibling or
neighbor to ride the same bus to attend the general education program
at Bowling Green.
Admission to the school's Orthopedically Handicapped program is
open to all students now enrolled in the program as well as to
students not yet enrolled who would normally be eligible to
participate as determined by an IEP. Students now enrolled come from
throughout the entire SCUSD and from neighboring districts such as
Elk Grove and Folsom-Cordova.
Tuition will not be charged.
Admission to both the general and special education programs will
be limited by class size restrictions and by the number of classrooms
available at the school as shown below.
UTILIZATION OF CLASSROOM SPACE
[graphic not available]
i. The manner in which an annual audit of the financial and
programmatic operations of the school is to be conducted.
Annual fiscal audits will be conducted in the same manner as they
are now conducted in the SCUSD, which are done in accordance with
standard accounting procedures.
In regard to financial operations, The Internal Audit Department
of the SCUSD will conduct their annual audits. Outside audits are now
conducted by an independent auditing firm. Program audits will take
the form of established Program Quality Reviews. A Program Quality
Review is scheduled to be conducted during the 1993-94 school year.
In addition, the school will participate in the state's California
Assessment Program.
Moreover, we will contract with either the Multilingual Department
or an outside consultant to conduct an annual audit to ensure that
our services to Limited English Proficient students meet federal and
state guidelines.
The charter school may still be audited by means of a Coordinated
Compliance Review conducted by the State Department of Education.
In addition, the Steering Committee will appoint an Academic
Success Committee made up of staff and parents and older students to
determine the impact of schoolwide programs on achievement. These
schoolwide programs include: Writers' Workshop, Class Meetings,
Integrated Thematic Instruction, Efficacy, and Positive Discipline.
This information will contribute to the updating of the school's plan
each year in March.
j. The procedures by which pupils can be suspended or expelled.
The established district procedures will be used when suspending
or expelling students. This includes procedures for both teacher
suspensions and principal suspensions. During the last four years,
suspensions have been reduced from a high of over 213 in 1988-89 to
21 in 1991.
k. The manner by which staff members of the charter schools
will be covered by the State Teachers' Retirement System or the
Public Employees Retirement System or federal social security.
There will be no change in the way employees will be covered. The
established system will be used. The certificated and classified
staff at the charter school are employees of the SCUSD.
l. Public School attendance alternatives for pupils residing
within the school district who choose not to attend the charter
school.
47605 (f) No governing board of a school district shall require
any pupil enrolled in the school district to attend a charter
school.
Independent of charter status, Bowling Green is now overcrowded.
Next year, again, independent of charter status there will be a
leveling off of enrollment. The current kindergarten enrollment
suggests that number of classes at kindergarten and first grade will
be reduced by one at each grade level. This means that there will be
fewer students who may need attendance alternatives if they choose
not to attend the charter school.
General education students whose parents choose for them not to
attend Bowling Green, have the following options available to them:
1. Apply at a magnet school such as John Still, John
Sloat, da Vinci, or Camellia.
2. Request a permit at another district school that has room
available.
3. Accept enrollment at another school as identified by the
district's Concap program.
Transportation is provided with this option. During the last two
years, Harkness Elementary has taken our overflow enrollment. It also
takes in students from Mark Hopkins and Woodbine.
By limiting the general education enrollment to 680 students as
shown in the following table, attendance alternative will be needed
for approximately 70 students. Most of them will probably be
concapped. Last year, over 60 students were concapped to Harkness
from Bowling Green. This year, we added room for 60 students and
found that when we went over 750 student at this converted junior
high school site, it severely taxed the facilities and deteriorated
the quality of the program at the school. The increased student
population, for example, required 2.5 hours to serve lunch and three
separate 10 minute recess periods in the morning. It was difficult to
find time for all classes to use the playground for physical
education activities.
m. A description of the rights of any employee of the school
district upon leaving employment of the school district to work in a
charter school and of any rights to return to the school district
after employment at a charter school.
Since our petition does not require Bowling Green to be separated
from the SCUSD, staff members at the charter school will continue to
be employed by the school district. Therefore, no rights will be lost
when coming to work at the charter school or when leaving the charter
school to work at another school.
When an employee chooses to leave the charter school, he or she
will do it in the manner described in the applicable collective
bargaining agreement.
When an employee who is hired by the charter school leaves the
charter school, his/her return rights to the school district is based
on seniority that corresponds to the date that person was hired and
if that person meets district qualifications on the date that he/she
began work at the charter school.
Additional and pertinent information related to this item is found
in Part III Section 2 of this petition. That section is titled:
Staffing.
n. A listing of the specific services for which the school
would like to contract with the district.
As a district school, we intend to continue using those general
funded services that have always been available to the school. We
will continue to use payroll, accounting, internal audit, food
services, insurance, transportation, maintenance, operations, risk
management, personnel services, multilingual, curriculum, etc. The
arrangement that we have had in the past with these and other support
service departments will not change.
With regard to categorically funded services from SIP, Chapter l,
and state bilingual, however, we will pay for those services as
needed. In the past, an overhead charge was taken from site funds.
Last year this amounted to over $40,000 from Bowling Green. Now that
the overhead will be returned to the charter school, it is only fair
to pay for services in the district now supported by those funds. If
for example, we have a need for staff training from a district
employee funded by SIP or Chapter 1, then we should pay a reasonable
charge. Or if we send in a requisition that needs to be processed by
the Consolidated Programs Office, we should pay a reasonable charge
for each requisition.
o. A description of how the school's insurance needs and
liability responsibilities will be handled.
There will be no change in existing practices because the charter
school remains a member of the school district.
p. A discussion of the relationship to be maintained with the
district including utilization of district resources and compensation
for these resources.
As indicated in Part I of this petition, our charter school
remains a school in the SCUSD. The certificated and classified staff
are employees of the district. We intend to be a school that
demonstrates what can be done when some of the bureaucratic rules are
changed. The diagram shown below indicates that we will report
directly to the Board of Education. [graphic not scanned]
During the life of the charter, the school may choose to associate
itself informally with an administrative area or office so that it
can do two things:
1. keep in touch with what's happening in the
district.
2. share information from the charter school with the rest of the
district.
Initially the charter school will remain associated with the
Vanguard Cluster for informational purposes except for those
activities that are funded through Consolidated Programs.
As noted in response to item "n," as a district school we intend
to continue using those general funded services that have always been
available to the school. We will continue to use payroll, accounting,
internal audit, food services, insurance, transportation,
maintenance, operations, risk management, personnel services,
multilingual, curriculum, etc. The arrangement that we have had in
the past with these and other support service departments will not
change.
Also as noted in response to item "n" with regard to categorically
funded services from SIP, Chapter 1, and state bilingual, we would
pay a reasonable price for those services as needed.
q. A discussion of how fiscal accountability will be handled
including identification of who would serve as financial officer and
how payroll would be handled. The proposal should also include a
preliminary budget.
No change from current district process. A preliminary budget can
be found in Part VII.[budget not scanned]
r. Identification of the general fund dollars to be allocated
per student.
This is shown in the budget found in Part VII.[budget not scanned]
The budget shows that we intend to use what we have in a different
way.
s. Description of how the Charter School will meet the criteria
for all district schools of choice: 1) effective instruction
(research based); 2) safe and orderly campus; 3) training for parent
involvement; 4) committed to continuous improvement (data driven); 5)
inclusion and belief in all children; and 6) equal district per
student funds.
Effective Instruction. In choosing to attend the
charter school at Bowling Green, parents and students are selecting a
brain-compatible instructional program that is on a year round
schedule. As described earlier in this petition, our instructional
approach is based on a combination of the Efficacy model developed by
Jeff Howard and the Integrated Thematic Instructional model developed
by Susan Kovalik. Data from Efficacy's Kansas City project show that
improvement on standardized tests occurred during the third year of
implementation.
Kovalik's model evolved out of action research by her and by
fellow practitioners as they studied brain research and then tied it
to curriculum development and teaching strategies. Kovalik relies
heavily on the work of Leslie Hart, Howard Gardner, and other
proponents of brain-compatible learning. Locally, her model has been
adopted by the Mid-California Science Project (sponsored by the David
and Lucille Packard Foundation) and is consistent with the
recommendations from the State Department of Education on creating
brain compatible schools. Recently four of the seven elementary
schools in the Alisal School District in Monterey County were awarded
prestigious SB1274 grants to demonstrate restructuring. Kovalik and
her associates have been working closely with those schools for
several years.
Safe and Orderly Campus. During the last two and a
half years, the staff has worked hard to make Bowling Green a safe
and orderly campus. Three years ago, the campus was characterized by
some as being out of control. That we have reduced suspensions from a
high of 213 just four years ago to twenty-one last year, suggests
that we have come a long way in improving the learning environment.
The consistently lower number of suspensions during the last three
years points out that our success is for real.
Student Suspensions between 1985 and 1993
Year
Total Year
Number by Principal
Number by Teacher
By Principal-Teacher
1985-6
115
41
69
5
1986-7
169
51
118
1987-8
125
37
86
2
1988-9
213
52
159
2
1989-90
145
39
106
0
1990-1
33
32
1
0
1991-2
21
19
2
0
1992-3
through 1st semester
16
14
2
0
The recent addition of telephones to each general education
classroom also improves safety on campus.
Training for Parent Involvement. Parent involvement
has traditionally been low at Bowling Green during the last several
years. It is starting to improve. Two years ago, we began a family
math, family science, and family reading programs after school to
show parents how they could help their children learn better. Last
year, for the first time, a bilingual advisory committee was started
to help guide our bilingual program. Hiring Spanish speaking teachers
assigned to either the classroom or to a resource position helped
facilitate the involvement of those parents. Next year, we intend to
increase parent involvement by employing several school community
liaisons. The focus will be on training and showing parents how they
can become even more effective members of their children's support
team as they move through our public school system. Each of the
liaisons will be responsible for the coordination of a schoolwide
parent function such as room mothers, tutoring, coaching parents on
committees such as the Bilingual Advisory Committee, or setting up
parent workshops. In addition, each of the liaisons will be assigned
to work with a grade level on maintaining good attendance.
Committed to Continuous Improvement. Since it's
introduction three years ago by Conal Lindsay, the staff has remained
committed to the Continuous Improvement Process (CIP). Each Monday,
the school Steering Committee meets. The Steering Committee
representatives then meet with their constituents. Earlier in this
document, we described how that process works.
During the first year after the CIP's introduction, the staff
focused on improving schoolwide discipline and improving
communications among themselves (1990-91). The results of that first
year are reflected in the dramatic reduction in suspensions and in
the reduction of broken windows from over 100 the first summer to
less than 20 the next summer.
For the second year (1991-92), the staff identified writing as a
curricular area in need of improvement. After getting trained, the
staff implemented the Writers' Workshop program schoolwide.
Periodically during the year, our Schoolwide Assessment Team (SWAT)
collected writing samples and provided feedback to teachers on what
they saw in student writing. As a result, writing is becoming one of
our strengths.
During the second year, the Coordinated Compliance Review was
conducted by the State Department of Education. Their findings showed
that our program for limited English proficient students was weak. In
response we designed a program for those students and implemented it
this year. Many teachers responded by studying for the Language
Development Specialist Certificate. We also began an aggressive
program to recruit bilingual teachers at those grade levels where
they were needed. We were successful in hiring five bilingual
teachers during the last two years.
In the middle of the second year after reviewing data on student
progress, it was agreed that there was a need to reexamine the whole
instructional process at Bowling Green. This lead to submitting an
application for a state restructuring grant. Our proposal was
accepted. The limited funds from that grant are being used almost
exclusively for training teachers to use the Integrated Thematic
Instructional (ITI) approach. This is a different approach from what
was used before. One of the major differences is that we are trying
now to make the curriculum and instruction compatible with the brain.
Some of the grant award, for example, is being used to support visits
from a certified ITI curriculum coach six time a month. Another part
will be used to send staff members to a week long Integrated Thematic
Instruction Institute this summer. Last summer, we sent 27 teachers.
So far this year (1992-93), we have received training in ITI and
in the Efficacy approach. Teachers are beginning to use both methods
to help students to improve academically. We have also listened to
high school teachers comment on what we could be doing differently so
that our students will be better prepared for middle school and high
school.
Inclusion and Belief in All Children. One of the
central premises of the ITI model is that inclusion is necessary
before students learn. Since their return from the ITI training last
summer, and more teachers are practicing inclusion activities each
day. Teachers, for example, are using the Tribes materials.
In addition, our staff was among four schools this year that
voluntarily belief that all children can learn also play a central
part in the Efficacy model. The focus of the training is on helping
students see that they have control over what happens to them at
school. The nature of the training also forces teachers to confront
themselves with two questions: Do I believe all children can learn?
Do I believe I am capable of teaching children?
Next year, with the approval of this charter petition, we intend
to increase our ability to include students by reducing the student
to teacher ratio on campus. This helps create more time for students
to have a relationship with a teacher.
Equal District Per Student Funds. The charter school
that we are proposing does not intend to take all the ADA generated
by students attending the Bowling Green. As stated earlier in this
petition, we intend to use the funds and resources normally allocated
to our school. The major exception is our request later in this
petition to swap eight of our old portable classrooms for eight newer
models with air conditioning. It is our understanding that there are
approximately 32 of these newer portable classrooms that are now
sitting vacant throughout the district.
The swap will allow us to increase the number of air conditioned
rooms to 21 out of 31. This will also give us a boost as we seek to
find outside funds to put air conditioning in the remaining rooms.
The swap will be seen as the district's contribution to prepare
Bowling Green to go on a single track year round schedule that will
eventually lead to an extended year schedule of 210 days for
students. Current state incentives for air conditioning require
schools that accept the incentives to go multitrack. A multitrack
schedule, however, would make it extremely difficult to extend the
school year to 210 days.
III.
OTHER CHANGES TO CURRENT RULES, REGULATIONS, AND POLICY
In our SB1274 proposal we stated that: "Achieving our
goal requires shifting authority and responsibility to the site for
making decisions. Instead of implementing top down administrative
decisions that cover the entire district, decisions need to be
tailored to the unique needs of each school by a well-trained and
focused staff. We feel that once the Board has set the high standard
s for us to reach, it is the responsibility of each school staff to
find a way to get there, provided that they have the authority to use
the resources available to them as determined by the school's
site-based decision making process."
With that in mind, we ask that the changes described on the
following pages be made at Bowling Green as part of our charter so
that we can implement our SB1274 grant and implement additional
reforms that will lead to a higher level of academic achievement and
social responsibility among our students.
1. Organizing the Work Place
1.1 By consensus, the staff at the charter school may organize
themselves to provide instruction in a manner that will increase the
likelihood of attaining our academic and social goals.
Teachers may for example, choose to
create non graded classes (e.g., non graded primary with students now
enrolled in 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade). As another example, seven teachers
who work together in a collaborative work group may decide to divide
their students into six instructional groups in order to free up the
seventh one to serve as a resource teacher for the other six in the
afternoon. As a third example, the staff may agree to have seven
resource teachers, each teaming with a grade level group in grades K
through 6.
1.2. By consensus, the certificated staff sets the daily schedule
after consulting with parents. Done by MAY of the preceding year.
This year, for example, we eliminated
the early-late schedule. As a result, there are 22 minutes more each
day for instruction for primary students and 17 minutes more each day
for intermediate students. Moreover, there is more time for teacher
planning during the day.
1.3. By consensus, the certificated staff sets the yearly schedule
after consulting with parents. Done by APRIL of the preceding year.
The staff, for example, may agree to start the 1993-94 year on September 1 and use September 1,2,3 as planning days to outline the course of instruction for the entire year. Instruction would then start on the day after Labor Day. The first three days would be akin to release days currently authorized under School Based Coordinated Plans.
1.4 When a support service employee is assigned to work at the
charter school, as in the case of Food Service or Transportation, the
support staff supervisor and the principal will work together to
develop schedules that support the school's program. They will also
work together to conduct evaluations of these employees using the
district's standard format.
2. Staffing
2.1 When there is a vacancy, any person meeting the minimum
requirements, including temporary and probationary employees of the
district, may apply for a vacant classified or certificated position.
Posting the position is still a Personnel Department function as is
checking for minimum requirements. The Personnel Department, however,
will forward a list of all applicants to the principal. The principal
and a selection committee appointed by the Steering Committee will
select a finalist from the applicants. The committee will consist of
the principal, parent(s), teacher(s), and classified staff member(s).
The finalist's name will be forwarded to the site Steering Committee
for consensus after the selection committee has checked references.
2.2 Positions cannot be filled administratively by the central
office. This goes for teachers as well as for classified employees
such as custodians, bus drivers and food service personnel who work
at the school. As an example, a surplused teacher from elsewhere in
the district cannot be unilaterally assigned to fill a vacancy at
Bowling Green.
2.3 Temporary positions, positions filled by surplus, and
positions administratively filled at Bowling Green since June 1,
1992, will be declared vacant at the end of the 1992-93 school year
and will be posted and filled according to the above procedures.
2.4 Volunteers may be used as long as they do not displace a
salaried person at the school.
2.5 As a hiring guideline, we will look for people who are willing
to "challenge the process," who have a vision that is consistent with
the school mission, who model what we intend to accomplish. At the
same time, to the extent possible, we intend to create a
multi-cultural and multi-ethnic staff that reflects the diversity of
the residents in our school district in terms of ethnicity, language
skills, and gender. We will use district guidelines, for example, in
staffing to meet the needs of language minority students.
2.6 If surplusing of a charter school staff member is necessary it
will be done based on program needs and seniority.
2.7 Charter School staff will not be transferred due to a
districtwide reduction in force during the life of the charter. That
means that there will be a bubble around our staff; they cannot be
bumped by a more senior staff member from elsewhere in the district.
2.8 Teachers have the option of calling for substitutes when they
are ill or with the prior approval of the principal, having
colleagues cover for them and then having the daily pay for the
substitutes go to the school's budget.
2.9 The principal is selected by a committee appointed by the
Steering Committee that includes teachers and or classified staff
assigned to the site and parents of students going to school at
Bowling Green. The names of the finalist will be submitted to the
Steering Committee for final consideration. Selection is by consensus
of the Steering Committee. The selection committee will check
references.
2.10 The principal serves as long as he/she has a vote of
confidence. A vote of confidence is taken in March of each year
ending in an odd number. Full-time certificated staff members are
eligible to vote. The question will be: Is the principal adequately
contributing to the improvement of the school? If 80% of the voters
agree, then the principal shall continue serving. It is the Steering
Committee's responsibility to see that there is adequate public
discussion before calling for a vote. When there is not a vote of
confidence, the principal continues to serve until the end of the
school year. The principal will continue to have administrative
responsibility with regard to, but not limited to, making teaching
assignments, making room assignments, supervising staff, disciplining
staff, recognizing staff, initiating spending that is described in
the school plan, and filing reports. The responsibilities of the
principal may change during the life of the charter. Changes will be
agreed upon by the Steering Committee and the Continuous Improvement
Process.
2.11 In place of the evaluation process described in the employee
union contracts, each May, the principal will report to the Board on
the state of the school with information pertaining to, but not
limited to students, staff, and the community the school serves.
Student achievement information should include an analysis of the
proportion of students reaching the targets established by the school
and the targets established by Board. The focus of the report will be
on improvement in quality at the school.
2.12 It will be the policy of the charter school to encourage and
support each staff member's continuous improvement though education,
training, coaching, supervision, and self-study. A committee
appointed by the Steering Committee will develop checklists of
skills, abilities, and attitudes for each program at the school.
These skills need to be mastered by all teachers before full
implementation is in place so that we can achieve the goals of the
charter. The lists will be adopted by consensus of the certificated
staff for programs such as Class Meetings, Efficacy, Integrated
Thematic Instruction, English Language Development, Continuous
Improvement Process, Sustained Silent Reading, and Writers' Workshop.
Criteria for Determining Level of Implementation:
Percentage of Teachers Mastering the Check List
No implementation
Beginning Implementation
Growing Implementation
Almost Full Implementation
Full Implementation
20%
50%
80%
100%
2.13 When the charter school's authorization expires, staff
members who have changed assignments within the charter school will
return to their positions that existed at the school before it became
a charter school. In the event that there are not enough positions at
the site, staff members will be surplused from the former charter
school based on the procedures in the contract. For example, a
classroom teacher who takes a resource/team teacher position during
the life of the charter has return rights to a classroom position
when the charter is not renewed.
2.15 Employees currently assigned to Bowling Green who do not wish
to remain with the charter school shall be included in the Phase I
referral list for other vacancies in the district. Teachers may also
voluntarily surplus themselves from the proposed charter school.
3. Alternative Use of Resources or Funds Allocated to the
School
3.1 By consensus, the certificated staff may reallocate the funds
from classified positions (e g, clerk, custodian) and certificated
positions (e g., prep specialists) paid from the general fund in
order to support instructional activities that help us reach our
goals.
The staff may, for example, decide to
surplus four hours of existing clerk time and 4 hours of custodial
time. The money saved from the surplusing might be applied to
implementing the instructional technology portion of our SB1274
grant. Or it might be used to pay for "being there" experiences that
are so important to the integrated thematic approach that we are
implementing.
3.2 Non-ADA state funds that are allocated to schools based on the
number of general education students (e.g., Compensatory Education,
School Improvement, Bilingual, "590" text book allocation) may be
used, for example, to reduce the student to teacher ratio, and to
carry out other activities described in this charter.
3.3 All categorical funds generated by students at the site will
be allocated to the site. The site will buy back services as needed.
For example, in the 1992-93 school year, approximately $40,000 in
overhead was taken from the consolidated program funds that Bowling
Green students generated. The overhead went to Staff Development,
Evaluation, and the Director's Office. Control of these funds would
return to the site. The site would buy back services as needed from
the Materials Lab, etc.
3.5 When it is more cost effective to buy a product or service
from a non district source, the charter school may do so.
3.6 The cafeteria manager assigned to the charter school will work
with the principal and the Food Services Department to design menus
that best support the goals of the school. This includes looking at
alternative ways of running the cafeteria, alternative menus, and
ways to stretch the money allocated to feed Bowling Green students.
4. Reporting to Parents
4.1 Staff and parents will determine a method of reporting student
progress to parents and guardians that focus on individual
improvement towards established proficiency standards to be mastered
by all students at the charter school. The standards will be
developed by staff, parents, and, when applicable, by students. The
standards will be presented to the Board of Education for its review.
The length of this charter will be three years starting July
1,1993 and ending June 30, 1996, plus the remainder of the 1992-93
school year. The charter may be renewed at the discretion of the
Board of Education.
Preparations for making the transition to charter school status
will begin upon approval of this charter by the State Board of
Education. At that time, for example, we will begin the staff
selection process for vacant positions. New staff, however, will not
be assigned officially until after the close of the current school
year on June 17, 1993.
In Part II Section "d" of this petition, we stated that our site
based-discussion process identifies problems that get in the way of
achieving the goals and develops solutions. At Bowling Green, the
Steering Committee facilitates the identification of problems and the
consensus building needed to identify and implement solutions that
will help achieve the school's mission.
When solutions are outside of the authority of this charter, the
Steering Committee will inform the Board of Education. Unless the
Board vetoes the solution within 30 school days after it first
appears on a Board agenda and is presented by the principal at a
Board meeting, the solution will become a part of this charter and
will be reflected as an amendment that will be attached at the end of
this charter in sequence as "Amendment 1, Amendment 2, etc."
Section 47605 of the Charter Schools Act states that a school
district governing board may grant a charter if it determines that
the petition contains the signatures of not less than 50 percent
of the teachers employed at one school in the district. There are
43 certificated teachers who hold 38.8 FTE positions at Bowling Green
as shown in the following chart[not scanned].
If approved, this charter may be revolved if any of the following
are done by the school staff:
1. Commit a material violation of any of the conditions, standards, or procedures set forth in this document,
2. Fail to meet or pursue any of the pupil outcomes identified in
this document,
3. Fail to meet generally accepted accounting standards of fiscal
management,
4. Violate any provision of law.
In applying to become a charter school, we, as teachers, support
and agree that:
1. The focus of all restructuring efforts should be on
students; it should not be for the convenience of adults,nor change
for change's sake.
2. Restructuring means moving from a rule-based to a
performance-based accountability system. Schools need to be held
accountable for outcomes and for student learning, in return for
increased deregulation and flexibility.
3. Assessment practices need to be modified to reflect the
emphasis on a thinking, meaning-centered curriculum which requires a
shift away from multiple choice tests to those that are
performance-based. My signature below indicates that I am now
employed in a certificated non-management position at Bowling Green
Elementary School and that I support this petition for creating a
charter school at Bowling Green Elementary School. If this charter is
granted and if I continue in an assignment at the charter school, I
accept the responsibility for implementing the activities described
in this document and for working towards the goals stated in this
petition.
In order to clarify how limited English proficient (LEP) students
will be educated at the proposed charter school, this amendment is
being added to the charter. During the last three years, the total
number of LEP students at Bowling Green has increased from 101 in
April 1991 to 216 in February 1993. As the following table shows,
that's an increase of 115 students. Percentage wise that's an
increase from 14% to 27% of the student body.
Language
Total
April 1, 1991
Total
April 1, 1992
Total
Feb 26, 1992
Spanish
28
53
64
Cantonese
21
29
44
Vietnamese
17
34
39
Hindi
9
15
15
Hmong
8
19
33
Tagalog
5
5
3
Filipino
3
4
2
Mien
3
6
8
Russian
2
2
0
Other
5
8
8
Total
101
175
216
Three years ago, there was no bilingual program. In the spring of
1991, as we put together our school plan for the next year, we
recognized that fact. A state Coordinated Compliance Review (CCR)
validated our conclusion early the next calendar year.
Recognizing the increasing limited English proficient (LEP)
student population at Bowling Green, the proposed charter school will
make every effort to see that each LEP student has content area
instruction in his/her primary language and an opportunity for
structured English language development. Our strategy to meet these
goals has two parts:
1. staffing to provide content area instruction in L1 and
2. creating and refining a program of English language
development.
Staffing to provide content area instruction in
L1. In the three years since 1991, we have gone from a
staff of zero to five bilingual teachers. Four are Spanish bilingual;
one is Cantonese bilingual. Four of the five earned bilingual cross
cultural credentials form CSUS' Multicultural Teacher Education
Center. Harold Murai is the director. Three years ago there were only
two seven-hour Spanish bilingual aides serving the LEP students.
Using the "10 or more at one grade level" trigger, we will surplus
teachers without the proper bilingual or language development
specialist certificates and hire in their place bilingual teachers
when the opportunity arises. Before the end of this school year, for
example, we will surplus junior teachers as needed in order to bring
on board two Spanish bilingual teachers. For the 1994-95 school year,
there is a projected need to surplus two additional teachers to bring
on board two additional Spanish bilingual teachers.
The Spanish bilingual teachers help solve the problem of providing
content area instruction in L1 to our Spanish speaking LEP students.
This is a fast growing segment of our student body. Content area
instruction using Hmong, Vietnamese, Cantonese, and Hindi will be
done with CSUS interns or CSUS student teachers. Professor Harold
Murai, when addressing the Board of Education on March 16, indicated
that he was prepared to send bilingual student teachers and interns
to the proposed charter school. He has already provided interns this
year who have worked with Hmong and Spanish speaking students. We
look forward to expanding that relationship.
Languages that we cannot cover with teachers or interns will be
given priority when we hire classified employees as bilingual
community workers. At least three of the five community worker
positions described in the charter will be used this way. That means
we will need to surplus the two seven-hour Spanish bilingual aides
that are now on staff. The money from those two positions will be
used to help fund the bilingual community workers. The bilingual
community workers will play two roles. One is to help build a bridge
between the L1 community and the school. The other role is providing
content area instruction in L1 under the direction of a certificated
staff member.
Related to instruction in L1 is our position that academic
achievement needs to be measured using the student's primary
language. It makes no sense, for example, to measure academic
achievement using a tool that is heavily dependent on a language that
the student has not yet mastered.
Refining the English Language Development Program
The biggest single refinement that we have made involves
increasing the number of trained teachers. Two years ago, only two of
our 32 classroom teachers had language development specialist (LDS)
training. Today, six have the LDS certificate. Three more have passed
the test and are doing their language requirement. Eleven more have
completed the training or are now in training. That's twenty
teachers.
The program will be further refined as we increase the knowledge
of the entire staff. During the 1993-94 school year, we are looking
at undergoing 44 hours of training for the entire staff of the
proposed charter school. This would be done during a series of
release days. The course work is patterned after what the Modesto
City Schools offer their LDS trained teachers. We may even use their
trainers. Or we will work with Professor Harold Murai and the CSUS
Multicultural Teacher Education Center to create training that
includes the following:
6 hrs Culture
8 hrs Theory
16 hrs Methods
3 hrs Compliance
3 hrs Cooperative Learning
8 hrs Whole Language for LEPs
Our current ELD program was written last year in response to the
state CCR. We are not happy with the results that it is producing.
That is one reason that we recently invited Dr. Edmund Lee, Director
of Bilingual Education in Modesto City Schools, to give us an outside
opinion of what we could do as a next steps to improve our current
program. He was our guest on March 29. He visited classrooms, talked
with teachers, and gave us some solid suggestions. Among them:
- develop some specific performance-based language
goals for LAS Level 1 and 2 students;
- consider using one of the two state adopted series for English
Language Development; and
- engage in staff development beyond the LDS training.
During the life of the proposed charter school, we expect to
continue a relationship with Dr. Lee and other experts in the area of
bilingual education. We appreciate his pro bono work.
At our April 1 staff meeting we discussed Dr. Lee's suggestions
and agreed that training beyond the LDS was necessary. A committee is
examining the other two suggestions and will consult with the
school's Bilingual Advisory Committee. His first suggestion is very
consistent with the performance-based approach that the charter
school is taking. Discussing prospective goals for our LAS Level 1
and 2 students will be on the next agenda of the Bilingual Advisory
Committee.
Finally, the principles that underlie the integrated thematic
instructional (ITI) approach will heavily influence us as we refine
the ELD program at Bowling Green. In the ITI model, learning is most
likely to happen when all eight of the following exist: meaningful
content, interesting content, choice, collaboration, absence of
threat, enriched environment, adequate time, and mastery. Similar
ideas also appeared in Krashen's discussion on second language
acquisition.
Recently, the California Association of Bilingual Education (CABE)
recognized the Alisal School District in Salinas for its exemplary
program for teaching LEP students. They use the ITI approach to teach
LEP students. Pattie Mills described this to the Board on April 13.
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