We are designing a new K-8 school (and hopefully preschool) for gifted students, with Best Practices in gifted education at the center. This includes flexible grouping, personal learning plans for each student, student choice for assignments, hands-on and active learning situations, expeditions and field trips, connections to local experts, and high-level critical and creative and logical thinking skills. These elements will occur within a welcoming atmosphere that encourages them to build confidence and/or maintain and develop the level they already have, find peers who challenge them, build personal and standards-based excellence, and build leadership skills that enable them to use their gifts.
For questions about charter schools in general, check out the Colorado Department of Education's F.A.Q. on Charter Schools.
For questions about charter schools in general, check out the Colorado Department of Education's F.A.Q. on Charter Schools.
What is a Charter School?
A Charter School is a free public school of choice. It is publicly-funded as an elementary and/or secondary school which has been waived from some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to district-run public schools in order to provide flexibility for a new, research-based approach to education. Charter schools like the Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning (AACL) are typically founded by parents and teachers who want to offer an innovative approach to education to the local community that is not already being offered by the existing public schools (including other charter schools).
All charter schools are still held accountable to provide educational outcomes which meet or exceed federal, state, and local standards. This includes administering standardized testing like the Colorado State Achievement Plan (CSAP). Many charter schools, including AACL, are governed by a Board of Directors and in all cases are operated independently of their local school district. Although located within its boundaries, AACL operates separately from Colorado Springs School District 11 as overseen by its Board of Directors and agreed upon by District 11. AACL is, in fact, open to students from the entire Pikes Peak region.
Charter schools vary widely in their approach, as each is dependent upon the guidelines of its own charter (the agreement between the charter school board and the charter school authorizer to provide a particular approach to education). All charter schools are not the same; each has a unique vision and mission for its program and the students it serves. AACL's vision is to create an academic home for advanced and creative learning, cultivate standards-based excellence and leadership skills in students and staff, and serve as a resource center for the Pikes Peak Region.
All charter schools are still held accountable to provide educational outcomes which meet or exceed federal, state, and local standards. This includes administering standardized testing like the Colorado State Achievement Plan (CSAP). Many charter schools, including AACL, are governed by a Board of Directors and in all cases are operated independently of their local school district. Although located within its boundaries, AACL operates separately from Colorado Springs School District 11 as overseen by its Board of Directors and agreed upon by District 11. AACL is, in fact, open to students from the entire Pikes Peak region.
Charter schools vary widely in their approach, as each is dependent upon the guidelines of its own charter (the agreement between the charter school board and the charter school authorizer to provide a particular approach to education). All charter schools are not the same; each has a unique vision and mission for its program and the students it serves. AACL's vision is to create an academic home for advanced and creative learning, cultivate standards-based excellence and leadership skills in students and staff, and serve as a resource center for the Pikes Peak Region.
A charter school is a public school of choice which is authorized by state statute and which is established by and operatees under the terms of a charter granted to school organizers by a public sponsoring agency to whom the school is thereafter accountable. -C. Blakemore, 1998
How much will it cost to send my student(s) to this new school?
As a charter school, this new school will be publicly-funded and therefore tuition-free for Half-day Kindergarten through 8th grade. (There will be an extra tuition charge for the full-day Kindergarten program.) We hope to offer a preschool program as well, but because of the lack of public funding for many preschool programs, we may have to charge tuition for the preschool program.
Other optional services may be offered for reasonable fees, such as before- and after-school programs, expeditionary field trips, and/or school clubs.
Other optional services may be offered for reasonable fees, such as before- and after-school programs, expeditionary field trips, and/or school clubs.
How do I enroll my child(ren) in AACL?
You would start by filling out an Online Enrollment Form for each child you wish to enroll. If we have more students enrolled than we have openings, students will be selected via lottery in early April, 2010 until all openings have been filled. Priority will be given to founding parents' children (up to 20% of total enrollment), so if you want to ensure your child is admitted to AACL, you can become a founding parent by helping us with preparing the school.
Do students have to be "gifted" to go to the Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning?
No. This will be an open enrollment charter school and in compliance with all of Colorado's charter school laws which invites all students to enter a charter school regardless of ability. We are designing an advanced learning environment that capitalizes on the innate desire of children to learn new things, and the passion of some of them to devour knowledge in areas of their strength and interest.
Open enrollment, open welcome
AACL uses an open enrollment policy, answers questions for parents concerning the program, and welcomes them to decide if this advanced and creative learning program is a suitable fit for their needs. Families pre-enroll with "Letters of Intent to Enroll" while AACL is in the application stage in order to demonstrate demand for the program and to build a waiting list. Upon approval, AACL will continue to build a waiting list for each division, and will hold a lottery to determine the enrollment of any oversubscribed classes. That lottery date will be posted soon!
Once the lottery is held, families will be contacted to confirm their enrollment. When families enroll their students in a particular division, they will be given an enrollment packet of information that includes the family handbook and supplementary materials that include required forms for immunization, health records, release of records from another school, et cetera. Additionally, they will be given a form that allows them to provide information about their students that AALC staff will use to begin the design of each student’s personal learning plan.
We care about all children at AACL. All children are precious and amazing, and every single one of them can teach us something. We also recognize that children and families vary widely in their needs, and families with gifted children often require even more variety of programs available to them and have difficulty finding the right fit. We are seeking to supplement local programs by providing a new preK-8 model based on best practices in gifted education, general education, and brain research. This program will work well for many if not most gifted learners, multi-exceptional learners, and typical learners (including 'advanced' and 'creative') who relish the opportunity to work with personal learning plans and achieve personal and standards-based excellence in a challenging and encouraging environment.
We will also function as a resource center, gradually adding educational camps, databases of information on other programs, parent support groups, and other programs that will benefit students and their families, so that even families who choose not to enroll in the school can still be connected to helpful information in the community.
Open enrollment, open welcome
AACL uses an open enrollment policy, answers questions for parents concerning the program, and welcomes them to decide if this advanced and creative learning program is a suitable fit for their needs. Families pre-enroll with "Letters of Intent to Enroll" while AACL is in the application stage in order to demonstrate demand for the program and to build a waiting list. Upon approval, AACL will continue to build a waiting list for each division, and will hold a lottery to determine the enrollment of any oversubscribed classes. That lottery date will be posted soon!
Once the lottery is held, families will be contacted to confirm their enrollment. When families enroll their students in a particular division, they will be given an enrollment packet of information that includes the family handbook and supplementary materials that include required forms for immunization, health records, release of records from another school, et cetera. Additionally, they will be given a form that allows them to provide information about their students that AALC staff will use to begin the design of each student’s personal learning plan.
We care about all children at AACL. All children are precious and amazing, and every single one of them can teach us something. We also recognize that children and families vary widely in their needs, and families with gifted children often require even more variety of programs available to them and have difficulty finding the right fit. We are seeking to supplement local programs by providing a new preK-8 model based on best practices in gifted education, general education, and brain research. This program will work well for many if not most gifted learners, multi-exceptional learners, and typical learners (including 'advanced' and 'creative') who relish the opportunity to work with personal learning plans and achieve personal and standards-based excellence in a challenging and encouraging environment.
We will also function as a resource center, gradually adding educational camps, databases of information on other programs, parent support groups, and other programs that will benefit students and their families, so that even families who choose not to enroll in the school can still be connected to helpful information in the community.
What types of students will fit well into this new school?
The following types of students will do well in this environment:
We recognize that students with an official 'gifted' label are not the only ones who would excel with this type of program. Because our program is designed to respond to a variety individual learning needs such as alternative lighting, flexible seating arrangements and room to move around and use focused, hands-on illustrations for highly kinesthetic learners, students who have both high ability with unique learning needs may find this program a good fit, but overall this program is designed to provide high level challenge within an atmosphere that develops personal responsibility and teamwork between students, teachers, and families.
- Students who meet the definition of Gifted according to the criteria set forth by the Colorado Department of Education, including:
- General or specific intellectual ability.
- Specific academic aptitude.
- Creative or productive thithinking.
- Leadership abilities.
- Visual arts, performing arts, musical or psychomotor abilities.
- Students who appreciate accelerated and advanced content and enjoy new challenges.
- Students who are very creative. Under Colorado's definition 'Creative' is also an area of giftedness. Formal identification of these students is difficult, because they tend to have high ability but may or may not score as 'intellectually gifted' with an IQ of 132 or more because of their divergent thinking patterns.
- Students who are gifted and have an area of difficulty such as a specific learning disability, dyslexia/dysgraphia/dyscalculia, or AD(H)D. Students with mild Asperger's Syndrome and giftedness might also do well with this program, as several did at Renaissance. Please note that we are not trying to duplicate the work of Beth Busby as she prepares a truly unique program for students who are twice-exceptional and on the autistic spectrum.
We recognize that students with an official 'gifted' label are not the only ones who would excel with this type of program. Because our program is designed to respond to a variety individual learning needs such as alternative lighting, flexible seating arrangements and room to move around and use focused, hands-on illustrations for highly kinesthetic learners, students who have both high ability with unique learning needs may find this program a good fit, but overall this program is designed to provide high level challenge within an atmosphere that develops personal responsibility and teamwork between students, teachers, and families.
Where will the school be located?
We have not yet secured a location for the school, as we have not yet been granted a charter. However, we are looking for a property to buy or lease that is within 3-4 miles of Interstate 25, between the Garden of the Gods Road and Tejon Street exits (i.e. within District 11’s boundaries, close to I-25). We have viable options at either end and in the middle of this area.
How will my student(s) get to this school?
AACL will not offer regular bus service, but we hope to offer a shuttle service which will pickup/drop-off students at a handful of outlying locations (such as Park-N-Rides). Additionally, one consideration for our location selection is proximity to city bus routes so older students can ride city buses to school.
When will this new school open?
We are developing the charter application and seeking approval to open the Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning for the 2010/2011 school year.
How will this new school be different from the former Renaissance Academy?
There are several aspects of the former Renaissance classrooms that we want to keep, and several things that we want to do much better.
From conversations with various groups of former Renaissance Academy parents, we have identified the following elements that we want to retain:
From those same conversations, we also want to do an excellent job with the following (in no particular order):
From conversations with various groups of former Renaissance Academy parents, we have identified the following elements that we want to retain:
- smaller class sizes
- differentiated learning
- expeditionary learning
- project-based instruction
- thematic units
- teacher awareness of the needs of gifted students
- positive and frequent contact with teachers
- a sense of community
- specials classes that encouraged abilities
- foreign language/Spanish
- flexibility for students' needs
- large rooms with open layout
- a focus on strengths rather than only on weaknesses.
From those same conversations, we also want to do an excellent job with the following (in no particular order):
- accountability to Colorado Standards so that parents know exactly how far advanced their students are and where they're struggling
- positive communication between the administration and parents
- strategies targeted to meet the needs of weak areas such as a learning disability
- classroom management strategies that guide these students—often with strong and active personalities—to work together and enforce a positive and effective learning environment for everyone
- a gym for P.E. classes
- music classes
- a stage
- a library
- positive coping skills for dealing with stress and providing sufficient challenge that students also build good work habits
- having a high retention rate of teachers and of families
- parental involvement welcomed from the administration.
How will this new school be different from the programs already offered by area School Districts?
From examining the current programming targets in the area, we believe that our niche particularly supplements the following areas:
- instruction that targets the strengths of each student and develops it to a high level while using those strengths to address any weaknesses with personal learning plans
- young gifted children not eligible for current gifted programs until 3rd or 4th grade
- gifted writers
- creative students who aren't necessarily into visual arts or music but 'think' creatively
- meeting social/emotional needs with similar intellectual peers and with highly trained teachers
- twice-exceptional students as described here
- middle school students who are sensitive to the typical emotional turmoil of most middle school programs and/or would do well with a more advanced, more focused, more integrated program including fewer teachers with whom to build solid and positive relationships
How will this school meet the needs of highly and profoundly gifted students?
This school is primarily designed to align with Best Practices in gifted education and every student has a personal learning plan that targets individual goals. It is designed with block scheduling for math and language arts so that students can work both within and between divisions according to their personal learning plans and level of accelerated content that they need. Furthermore, all teachers will be fully trained initially and on an on-going basis to meet the intellectual, social, emotional, and developmental needs of gifted students within the classroom setting and to work in positive partnerships with parents.
How can you create such a radically different public school?
As a charter school, this school will be controlled by a Governing Board which is independent of any school district's administrations. This board—which will be comprised of parent representatives, staff representatives, and other community members—will be responsible for designing, implementing, and overseeing the operation of the school. This includes selecting and evaluating school staff (including the principal/director), setting school policies, and overseeing the implementation of the curriculum, school structure, and instruction designed for use at the school. The board will not be involved in day-to-day operation of the school, but is a procedure-setting organization.
This active "working" board will provide the necessary leadership to ensure the school remains true to its original vision and mission, as well as being responsive to parent and staff input.
As we began working on this school process, there was an initial possibility of working as a partnership school with District 11. We appreciate the work of the local public schools, and wish to supplement their efforts. There is a very successful model of this type of partnership with the Challenge School in the Cherry Creek School District in Denver. However, due to the amount of transition and budget constraints that District 11 was undergoing at the time, it became apparent that an official “partnership school” was not possible.
A charter school route will have an open enrollment due to charter school law and requirements. There are models of charter schools doing great work with their gifted students as their target students, even while not everyone in the school is officially identified gifted students. (See Challenge School in Cherry Creek, Polaris at Ebert in Denver, and Satori School in Tucson for examples).
This active "working" board will provide the necessary leadership to ensure the school remains true to its original vision and mission, as well as being responsive to parent and staff input.
As we began working on this school process, there was an initial possibility of working as a partnership school with District 11. We appreciate the work of the local public schools, and wish to supplement their efforts. There is a very successful model of this type of partnership with the Challenge School in the Cherry Creek School District in Denver. However, due to the amount of transition and budget constraints that District 11 was undergoing at the time, it became apparent that an official “partnership school” was not possible.
A charter school route will have an open enrollment due to charter school law and requirements. There are models of charter schools doing great work with their gifted students as their target students, even while not everyone in the school is officially identified gifted students. (See Challenge School in Cherry Creek, Polaris at Ebert in Denver, and Satori School in Tucson for examples).
How can I help?
We welcome all comments, questions, and offers of assistance. If you are enthusiastically in favor of our school and have time to help us in our efforts, we would love to have you join us. This is an exciting endeavor for which there is great need from our children, and we welcome your expertise.
