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Charter School Association of Nevada
Legislative Outlook 2017
Chartering better education for Nevada
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Let us know if your school is in the news!
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American Preparatory Academy - Las Vegas, Nevada
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Our school’s mission is to ensure each student achieves maximum academic success by teaching skills to mastery levels, imparting valuable knowledge, transmitting the common culture that binds us as a nation, and exposing children to supreme examples of artistic and intellectual achievement.
"We are a classical education school that is academically rigorous, while also providing achievement level groups in reading math and spelling. Our classical ed model also includes an equally rigorous character development component. Our longer school day provides our elementary students a solid foundation for the rigor of our secondary educational programs, which prepare students for college and beyond."
-District Administrative Director,
Rachelle Hule
For more information on American Preparatory Academy click
here
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Charter School Association of Nevada
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Statement on A.B. 103 and A.B. 432
The
Charter School Association of Nevada
(CSAN) opposes A.B. 103 in its entirety and opposes A.B. 432, as written.
One of the toughest challenges Nevada and our entire nation faces is figuring out how to give all students an equitable chance of success in academics, career, and life. And as someone who has taught exclusively in schools serving students in low income communities, I know firsthand how challenging it is to push students to levels of high academic achievement while facing the serious, and sometimes paralyzing challenges that come with the territory. This is hard work. This is frustrating. And this is why we are still stuck in a fundamentally unfair reality that “demographics = destiny”: where students live and their families’ income remains far too much of a predictor in their individual academic success and the academic success of their schools.
We do not believe that the Achievement School District, nor any single intervention for that matter, is a silver bullet to creating more equitable opportunities for our students. We do believe, however, that the core of the ASD’s mission sets to challenge the “belief gap” in education, which is arguably a larger barrier to achievement than poverty, funding, or any other initiative.
Closing the belief gap requires two crucial mindset shifts. First, all stakeholders in education must fundamentally believe that all students can excel academically. And second, we (all stakeholders) must fundamentally believe that it is our job to make sure this happens. On the first point, this means that we need to stop looking at our students simply as “at-risk” and start seeing their unlimited potential for greatness. This does not mean we put on blinders to their realities, because this second point – ensuring that we do the work to ensure all students can achieve – necessitates a focus on systematically removing barriers to achievement.
In following a lot of the backlash to the ASD, what I saw was school communities coming together to start asking some of the big questions that can lead to a close in the belief gap. Questions like what does it mean for my child to be in a 1 star school? What does it mean if my child is not proficient on a statewide assessment? And most importantly, what can I do (as a parent, as a teacher, as a community member, as a school leader) to make this better?
This is why we oppose efforts to repeal or delay the ASD. If nothing else is clear, we know that the mere existence of the ASD motivates schools and school communities to recognize the power they have to ensure that academic achievement is possible for all students and take action to get results. So let’s continue to do the hard work necessary to close the belief gap. We could potentially support A.B. 432, if amended to include some of the language and spirit of R-108-15 to further protect students, empower parents, ensure collaboration, and honor local intervention efforts. But as it stands, CSAN opposes A.B. 103 in its entirety and opposes A.B. 432, as written.
Thank you.
Colin Seale
Board Chairperson
Charter School Association of Nevada
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Adam Johnson, Executive Director Democracy Prep,
Statement on Nevada's Achievement School District
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Good afternoon Chairman Thompson and members of the Assembly Education Committee.
My name is Adam Johnson and I am the Executive Director of Democracy Prep at the Agassi Campus or DPAC as many students and parents have come to call us. As a member of the Democracy Prep network, DPAC’s mission is to educate responsible citizen-scholars for success in the college of their choice and a life of active citizenship. To date, Democracy Prep has a 100% college acceptance rate among graduating seniors. 90% of our alumni are enrolled in four-year colleges and 30% study at top-tier universities like Dartmouth, Yale, Brown, Princeton, Boston College, Kenyon, and Duke.
Over the past few months, videos of Democracy Prep HS seniors have been circulating around the internet where viewers see the emotional reactions of students reading their college acceptance letters. One story in particular was exceptionally moving. Winston Gutierrez, a senior at Democracy Prep Harlem HS recently learned that he’d achieved his goal of gaining acceptance into an Ivy League school when Cornell University accepted him as a freshman for the fall of 2017. As the son of an immigrant mother who moved to the United States to provide better opportunities for herself and her family, Winston’s personal story is similar to many families at DPAC, in Clark County, and across the State of Nevada.
The current reality of many students who are from a low-income household and graduate from a Nevada HS is that they do not matriculate into a 4-year college, much less Ivy League college. According to the Nevada Dept. of Ed., between 2011 - 2014 only 54% of NV high school students from economically disadvantaged homes entered college within 16 months of graduating. Our work at DPAC will center around ensuring that each scholar is able to fulfill their potential and enter into and successfully graduate from the 4-year university of their choice. The work ahead will be challenging, but we are thankful for the opportunity to partner with committed students, families, and community members who are dedicated to maximizing their potential and unlocking various life opportunities made possible by the vehicle of education.
All of us at Democracy Prep are incredibly grateful for the work the Achievement School District has done to help bring Democracy Prep Public Schools to Nevada and make a partnership with Agassi Prep possible. We firmly believe our partnership with Agassi Prep will serve as a blueprint for leveraging resources and best practices to accelerate excellent academic outcomes for students. I hope the Achievement School District will continue to partner with other Nevada communities to provide vibrant, high-quality, in-neighborhood educational opportunities across our state. As DPAC’s systems and procedures are refined and we see a shift in the academic trajectories of our students, DPAC will serve as proof of how innovative interventions and legislation can significantly improve student achievement outcomes for children in our highest need communities.
The entire DPAC community is thrilled to be one of the first schools in the Achievement School District that will help create the ‘New Nevada.’ The hundreds of families who have already engaged with us during this process reaffirm our belief that families want great neighborhood school options for their children. We are proud to be an option families in West Las Vegas can leverage to help their children achieve their own academic potential and intend to be a reliable resource to our community for years to come.
Thank you for your support of education in the state of Nevada and all the hard work you do to help provide excellent educations to our state’s children.
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Las Vegas Review Journal – April 5th, 2017
Nevada charter schools that comply with class-size requirements would be eligible to receive money from the state, under a bill introduced Tuesday in the Legislature. Sen. Scott Hammond, R-Las Vegas, said the bill would create equity. Many charters in the state comply with the rules but are not eligible for funding for being in compliance. The bill includes a “hold harmless” provision, meaning the bill will not go into effect unless additional money is set aside to offset the increased cost so that districts do not receive less money because charters opt in.
The Washington Post – April 3rd, 2017
A local philanthropic group wants to revamp low-performing public schools and open others, 25 in all over the next five years. There are 233 public schools in the District with 90,000 students, counting city and charter schools. But Mieka Wick, chief executive of CityBridge Education, said last week that there are not enough schools with “high-quality” seats where students are meeting or exceeding academic standards.
The Washington Post – April 5th, 2017
First lady Melania Trump and Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan paid a visit to an all-girls D.C. charter school
on Wednesday, an event that served to promote the empowerment of young women and to highlight the Trump administration’s interest in promoting alternatives to traditional public schools. Students greeted the women with flowers as they arrived at Excel Academy Public Charter School, which serves nearly 700 mostly African American girls in preschool through eighth grade. The school is east of the Anacostia River in one of Washington’s poorest neighborhoods.
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Opinion/Commentary Articles
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Please Note: The following is a sampling of opinion articles about charter schools that appeared in the media. The opinions in these articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Charter School Association of Nevada (CSAN).
Before the Nevada Legislature
Assembly Committee on Education
April 5, 2017
Chairman Thompson and Committee Members, I am Don Soifer, representing the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, widely regarded as one of the nation’s most successful charter school authorizers, as its Vice Chairman. I am grateful for this opportunity to testify before the Assembly Committee on Education this afternoon.
I’d like to share a few observations on the importance of rigorous public school accountability systems, the benefits they bring when implemented with fidelity, and why Nevada’s Achievement School District (NV ASD) is well suited to play an important role in this critical education work.
In my home in the nation’s capital, we recently marked the 20th anniversary of public charter schools. Our board oversees 65 local education agencies operating 118 schools, serving more than 41,000 students, just under half of all public school students.
Our charter schools serve a student population that is equally or at times more economically disadvantaged than the city average, while outperforming DC averages on our PARCC standardized tests for nearly every subgroup of students, and producing graduates at a higher rate as well.
As the city’s sole charter school authorizer, our emphasis on accountability and results is paying off in big ways for students and families. Since 2010, we have removed 1,966 tier three (lowest) seats in public charter schools, and by the end of the 2015-16 school year we added 6,293 tier one (highest) seats. Our tiered system, like the star rating system in the Nevada School Performance Framework, leverages student growth, proficiency and other indicators to measure school performance.
The New Nevada Plan for public education, presented to the federal Department of Education this week, represents a strong and essential commitment to improving educational opportunities for all children. It builds on strengths, such as Nevada’s progress outperforming the national growth average in reading and science since 2009.
It is crucial that all students, including those served by the lowestperforming five percent of schools in Nevada, have real opportunities for academic success. The NV ASD has a vital role to play in the New Nevada Plan through the State Turnaround process. The regulations proposed by the Department of Regulation hold promising potential to benefit families served by those eligible schools selected by the State Board of Education for conversion to achievement charter schools, entering into a performance compact under the New Nevada Plan, or through the petition process articulated in the Department’s proposed regulations.
The intensive, collaborative effort of matching transformation teams and high-quality school operators with these schools is a crucial one. Nevada communities and families are strongly positioned to benefit from the established work of exemplary charter school operators around the nation. The leadership of the NV ASD is well versed in established best governing and authorizing practices like those which have produced the strong academic gains in Washington, DC and other high-performing charter sectors, and which hold strong promise for potential benefits for Nevada families.
In our own work we have seen multiple examples of how these process can work well. It is hard work, to be certain, and progress cannot always be measured in even increments. But what its success can deliver for a school community, and for the entire education ecosystem in which it operates, is as powerful a transformational tool as any I’ve seen in a government’s toolbox. I hope that this Committee will give that opportunity the chance its communities deserve.
To be certain, the sort of progress needed to achieve all of Nevada’s priorities, such as those put forward in the new state plan, must represent the culmination of a broad and robust commitment, and multiple strategies are needed.
For example, the plan’s advisory group recommendation that End of Course Exams be evolved into a true end of course assessment students can take immediately after they finish a course regardless of time of year, represents a substantial move toward a true competency-based accountability system, one which would hold long-term value. School districts I have studied and observed around the country which are leveraging competency-based learning to implement high-quality personalized blended learning instructional models to scale are producing the sorts of strong outcomes in student growth and consistency gains consistent with the objectives in the New Nevada Plan. I am encouraged by the potential for growth in these areas in both district schools and schools of choice across Nevada.
I deeply appreciate this opportunity to speak with you this afternoon, and I look forward to any questions you may have.
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Education Blogs, Forums and Resources
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Below are some other great education reform news, blog and discussion sites that may be of interest:
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The following is a list of events put on by Schools and organizations throughout the state:
Mater Academy of Northern Nevada's Family Festival 2017
Date:
Wednesday, April 12th
Time: 5
:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Where: 2680 E. Ninth Street
Reno, Nevada
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