Prospectus June 2007
Bay Arts & Sciences Public
Charter School
Calvert County, MD
Mission
The
mission of the Bay Arts & Sciences Public Charter School is to provide an
exceptional public education in an environment that supports creativity, imagination
and self-directed learning. Our
curriculum emphasizes the natural history, social history, cultures and ecology
of the Chesapeake Bay region, offering Calvert County students meaningful
connections to the Bay and the wider community in which they live.
Meeting Community Needs
Our
school meets the needs of Calvert County parents and students for choices in
middle school education. Charter
schools in general support innovative learning environments and nurture new
pedagogical approaches that enrich the education of all students. The activity on our website, the volume of
phone inquiries that we receive weekly, and the frequent correspondence from
members of our email list (which reaches more than 100 parents and teachers)
all demonstrate a growing interest in Calvert County for educational
alternatives.
The
particular educational approach of the Bay Arts & Sciences Public Charter
School – emphasizing hands-on, experiential learning - meets the needs of
students for an education that is rigorous yet flexible. It offers options for students with
different learning styles, allowing students to learn through interactive,
hands-on activities as well as traditional classroom-based teaching.
Parents
and teachers in Calvert County have responded enthusiastically to the idea of
an alternative middle school. Over the
past 18 months, we have held public meetings at sites throughout the county,
which have prompted lively discussions among parents about the kind of
education they envision for their children.
We have listened to those ideas in crafting our curriculum. Parents tell us that they want a school that
has high academic standards and yet can be responsive to the needs, talents,
and interests of individual students.
They want a school where everyone – teachers, parents, and students –
shares a deep sense of connection and commitment to the school community.
Calvert County’s first “Green” school facility
Our long-term vision is to build a fully sustainable or
“green” school facility. Considering
the impact of our building on the surrounding environment is critical to fulfilling
our mission of educating students about the environment and nurturing a sense
of stewardship for the land. Green
buildings are not only environmentally responsible, they have been shown to
lower long-term energy costs, and to reduce illness and raise productivity for
those who use them.[1] Perhaps most important are the potential
educational benefits of building green for students and the wider community
surrounding the school. We plan to
engage our students in the process of designing the school and recognizing the
decisions to be made along the way, from the selection of construction
materials to the production and transportation involved in offering school
lunches. Our hope is that the school
will provide a model of sustainability for our students, and that the building
process itself will become a catalyst for school and community conversations
about environmental issues in the Chesapeake Bay region.
Student Population and Class Size
We
are committed to keeping the school small – in terms of both class size and
maximum student enrollment. We believe
strongly that a smaller school nurtures a sense of community, where students,
parents, and teachers know one another and share an investment in each
student’s success and in the health of the school community as a whole. Many researchers have found that students’
self-perceptions (both academic and personal) are more positive in smaller
learning environments, and that small schools have the potential to re-engage
young people who have become disaffected.[2] This wish for a small, more personal school
community has been echoed in virtually every one of our public meetings and
conversations with parents.
In
its first year of operation (2008-2009), the Bay Arts & Sciences Public
Charter School will serve a maximum of 108 students in grades 6 through 8. We plan to keep our class size small (15-18
students) and to provide two classrooms per grade. Beginning in 2009, we expect to add one grade per year, growing
along with our students. By the
2012-2013 academic year, we will be operating at full capacity, offering both a
middle school and high school course of study for up to 252 students.
Please note: This prospectus describes the BASPCS middle school curriculum
only. Our high school curriculum and
staffing plan (for the 2009-2010 academic year) are in development now. If we are granted a charter, we plan to
submit the high school curriculum for CCPS approval by August 1, 2008.
Summary of Educational Plan
Educational Philosophy and Goals
The following are our
overarching goals for the learning experience at BASPCS:
The curriculum is rigorous yet flexible.
Our teachers will expect the best from each student, and at the same
time they will be equipped with flexible teaching strategies to reach students
who may be struggling to understand the subject matter.
Learning is inquiry-based. The learning process will be
driven by questions that students help to develop. The process of defining questions about a subject sparks
curiosity, enables students to organize knowledge meaningfully, and encourages
them to think critically.
Learning is
purposeful.
Students are motivated by the awareness that they will be doing something with
their knowledge, creating a product that demonstrates what they know to both
classmates and teachers. Teaching units
will typically culminate in large projects that enable students to organize and
present the information they have learned.
Learning is interdisciplinary. An
interdisciplinary approach to learning offers students a variety of ways to
become engaged with a subject, and provides them with the intellectual tools
for integrating new knowledge with what they have already learned.
Educational Philosophy and Goals – What BASPCS
offers that is innovative
“As we consider the kinds of
education that will meet the challenges of the decades ahead, we speculate as
to what will best serve our young people and the place they call home. Many
emphasize a desire for young people to feel connected – connected to people of
different ages and backgrounds; connected to the history of their families,
communities and environment . . .
connected to ideals that encourage them to take responsibility for the
place in which they live.”
-Carla Littrell Fontaine, Harvard School of Education[3]
Our
school curriculum offers young people meaningful connections to the Chesapeake Bay region
and the Calvert County community. Our aim is not only to impart specific
skills or educational content, but to create habits of mind that will help
students throughout their lives; to empower every student to become an active
learner who recognizes his or her responsibility to play a meaningful role in
the world. Through a curriculum that
emphasizes the history and ecology of the Chesapeake Bay, the school nurtures a
sense of stewardship for the environment and for the community of which we are
all a part.
A great school can make a difference to our entire
community. Teaching our children to be
thoughtful, intelligent, engaged citizens benefits us all. When students get excited about learning,
they imagine new solutions to community problems, contribute new ideas, and
enrich the community in which they live. The Bay Arts & Sciences Public Charter Schools offers an
innovative curriculum focused around the following:
·
Hands-on, experiential learning
At the center of the BASPCS educational approach is
an emphasis on active, experiential learning.
Research shows
that when students are actively involved in shaping their investigation into a
subject – posing their own questions and developing strategies for answering
them – they retain more of what they learn.
This approach encourages focused, directed attention to a subject. Discovery-based
learning (sometimes referred to as generative learning) sharpens
problem-solving and critical thinking skills and deepens students' engagement
with a subject.[4] Experiential
learning has also been shown to be effective for students with a wide range of
learning styles and abilities. It
offers visual and sensory reinforcement for students who may have limited
verbal skills.
Learning
at the BASPCS will be inquiry-based and purposeful, structured around questions
that students have helped to define and that they will actively seek to
answer. The BASPCS teaching approach
allows students to acquire new skills and understanding through interactive,
hands-on activities as well as traditional classroom-based teaching. In all subject areas, classroom learning will
be complemented by frequent hands-on experiences, which might include, for
example, participating in archeological field work at Jefferson Patterson Park;
identifying and classifying marine life on the Patuxent River at the Morgan State
Estuarine Research Center; learning paleontology with the staff of the Calvert
Marine Museum, constructing a rainwater cachement system or planting a garden
on the school campus.
A key aspect of our school mission is to give students
meaningful connections to, and a sense of responsibility for, the Chesapeake
Bay region. We have drawn here on the
theory of place-based education, which roots curriculum, whenever possible, in
the particularities of the geographic region that surrounds a school. The central tenet of place-based learning is
to use the local community and environment as a teaching laboratory and as an
integrating context for learning. One
of its core objectives is to “look at how landscape, community infrastructure,
watersheds, and cultural traditions all interact and shape each other.”[5] For students, this means offering them a way
to see their classroom learning as deeply connected to their own place in the
human and natural worlds.
According to David Sobel, a leading advocate of education
that is rooted in place, “this approach to education increases academic
achievement, helps students develop stronger ties to their community, enhances
students’ appreciation for the natural world, and creates a heightened
commitment to serving as active, contributing citizens.”[6] Evaluations of environment-based school
programs indicate that they improve reading and math scores as well as student
performance in science and social studies.
Perhaps most significant, students in those programs “develop the
ability to make connections and transfer their knowledge from familiar to
unfamiliar contexts.”[7] The goal of place-based learning at BASPCS
is to offer students new habits of thinking, rooted deeply in a sense of
connection to – and responsibility for – the natural environment.
The BASPCS curriculum is interdisciplinary, approaching
every subject from multiple perspectives.
Students and teachers will be encouraged to make connections across
content areas and between the school curriculum and their own lives. Such connections should be an ongoing part
of the learning experience in all subject areas.
There is a large body of literature demonstrating that
students learn better when they are able to perceive connections across
different areas of their knowledge and experience.[8] The most effective teaching asks students
actively to generate knowledge by making connections, thinking creatively and
applying what they know in one subject to investigate a problem in another
subject.
The
attached Curriculum grids for grades
6 though 8 (see Attachment A)
provide a visual map that illustrates our approach to teaching. Teaching units in each core subject area
have been designed to overlap conceptually with teaching units in other areas
of the curriculum, allowing teachers many opportunities to present material in
an integrated, cross-disciplinary format.
For example, in grade 6, when students explore the history and formation
of ancient civilizations (Social Studies), they will also study the art and
architecture of the ancient world (Art); they will examine myths of early
civilizations and learn about the epic hero cycle in Greek literature
(English); and they might design their own architectural structures, with
careful attention to the importance of geometry in the building process
(Mathematics) or stage a performance of dance, poetry, and music modeled after
such public events in ancient Greece (Music and literature).
Reading the Landscape:
In the first year of the school’s operation, every
incoming student in 6th, 7th and 8th grades
will begin the school year with an introductory, 2-week teaching unit at
Jefferson Patterson Park entitled “Reading the Landscape.” Integrating history, political science,
geography, economics, archeology and anthropology, this unit will ask how the
physical landscape influences the development of human cultures; and how
culture, in turn, shapes our approach to and interaction with, the land. Guided by Jefferson Patterson Park historians
and scientists, students will explore these questions through their own
observations of the land, historical maps, archeological artifacts, and
historical documents.
Beginning
the school year with a common curriculum will help to orient all students to
our hands-on, experiential approach to learning, and will provide them with a
shared vocabulary and a shared set of analytical tools for approaching the
understanding of human cultures and their relationship to place. Relationship to place is a theme that will
be explored again and again, across the middle school curriculum. As students study the emergence of the
earliest agricultural civilizations (6th grade Social Studies) they
will ask questions about how human settlement and migration patterns have been
shaped by the physical contours of the land. Whether they are examining the
fossil record for evidence of climactic change over time (8th grade
science) reading Emerson and Thoreau (8th grade English) or studying
world religions (7th grade Social Studies) their understanding of
place, and the human relationship to place, will be deepened.
Science:
For
middle school science, we plan to use the
Prentice Hall Science Explorer series. Prentice Hall Publishing partnered with the
Discovery Channel to create the Science Explorer series specifically
aimed at grades 6-8. This series includes 16 texts, accompanied by
engaging, hands-on labs and interactive learning tools. Each teaching unit has been matched to both
national and state teaching standards.
Thanks to the partnership with the Discovery
Channel, this series also includes interactive DVDs that visually reinforce the
concepts in each chapter; and CDs that offer more than 1,500 labs and
activities matched to lesson content.
Preliminary research indicates that students who learn using the Science Explorer series show significant
gains in science performance and critical thinking skills.[9]
A particular strength of the Science
Explorer series for our school is its overlap with content standards in
other core subject areas. Every
teaching unit includes targeted vocabulary skills and related activities in
reading, writing, or mathematics. For
example, in the text “From Bacteria to Plants,” which introduces students to
the ways that biologists classify and understand living organisms, there is a
math activity that involves reading graphs and interpreting scientific data. A writing exercise asks students to write a
detailed description of an animal based on physical observation, so that a
friend can understand the basic characteristics of the animal without seeing
it. Such an integrated approach to the
subject offers students multiple ways to think about how scientific
classification systems have evolved, and how they help us to analyze and understand
our world.
Singapore Math:
We selected the Singapore Math
curriculum because of its proven effectiveness and its innovative teaching
approach. One of the biggest
differences between the Singapore Math approach and the current teaching of
math is the use of a “concrete to pictorial to abstract” approach. Students begin with concrete ideas,
sometimes involving the use of manipulatives, followed by a pictorial
representation of the math concept being taught. Once the student has a basic understanding at this stage, the
lessons move to a more conceptual and abstract approach.
Students who use the Singapore Math
series have performed in a superior manner on an international mathematics test
– the TIMSS[10]. Singapore's 4th and 8th grade students scored
top place for Mathematics in 1995, 1999 and 2003. Schools in
the U.S. that have adopted the Singapore Math series have seen an increase in
the number of their students who are able to pass state achievement tests. At Garfield Elementary School in Revere,
Massachusetts, “the percentage of Garfield students failing the math portion of
the fourth-grade state achievement test last year fell to 7% from 23% in
2005. Those rated advanced or
proficient rose to 43% from 40%.”[11]
When we implement Singapore Math in the classroom,
we expect to follow their recommended program, which includes conducting
assessments prior to placement of students.
We will also assess throughout the school year to ensure that students
are staying on track. In keeping with
the overall concept of the BASPCS curriculum, students will also have
opportunities to engage in math-intensive, hands-on workshops on topics such as
boat building and bridge engineering offered by the Calvert Marine Museum and
the National Building Museum.
English/Reading:
Our
English and Reading curriculum will emphasize the skills and understanding that
students need to become effective readers, writers and communicators throughout
their lives.[12]
Reading. We will
introduce students to a wide variety of literary forms including fiction,
poetry, short story, biography, legend, folklore, and informational texts. Selecting
from extensive suggested reading lists for each grade and reading level,
students will learn effective strategies for listening, reading, and responding
analytically to literary texts. Each student will be expected to independently
read 15 literary selections per year from the suggested reading lists. Emphasis
will be placed on basic reading strategies such as visualizing, making
connections, questioning and summarizing.
Students will also learn to identify specific structural elements of a
particular literary form; they will consider plot, character, and point of
view.
There
will be opportunities for Sustained
Silent Reading (SSR) built in to every school day. Sustained Silent Reading, or independent
reading, is time set aside when every student has an opportunity to read
material of his/her choice (a book, magazine, newspaper, etc) for ten to fifteen
minutes. SSR builds student confidence and enjoyment in reading and may, on
occasion, be followed up in class with journaling or writing assignments, to
prompt reflection and deeper understanding of the reading material.
Lessons
in grammar and vocabulary will be
woven into the daily work of reading, writing, and understanding literary
texts. Such lessons will include the
parts of speech, classes of verbs, active/passive voice, sentence types, phrase
construction, oral and written presentations, and speech writing.
Writing will be incorporated across the curriculum,
through student journals. Journaling
will be used as a means of recording thoughts and impressions in all subjects,
and students will be taught to build on those fragmentary observations and jotted
notes to construct longer and more organized narratives. Building on their analysis of the structure
and components of literary texts, students will produce their own creative
writing, experimenting with poetry, short stories, and longer historical
fiction by the time they finish middle school.
In
addition to the extensive suggested reading lists mentioned above, which will
include a wide variety of literary forms, the following texts will guide
student writing:[13]
Writers
Express: A Handbook for Young Writers, Thinkers, and Learners by Kemper, Nathan & Sebranek (Great Source
Education Group, 1994)
Elements
of Writing by James L. Kinneavy
(Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1998)
Vocabulary
From Classical Roots by Mountain,
Fifer, and Flowers (Educators Publishing Service)
Social Studies:
History, geography and political science will be
taught primarily through the study of primary documents from the past (maps,
diaries, historical and archeological artifacts, etc.), supplemented by
hands-on field experiences. Primary
source material and first-person narratives will offer students a personal lens
on broad social, cultural, economic and political developments. When students
encounter the “real stuff” of history – a cuneiform tablet from 3000 B.C.E., an
ancient hand-inked map, or a 1785 bill of sale for a slave in South Carolina –
they are engaged in a way that a textbook cannot match. Working with unmediated sources also prompts
students to ask questions, to analyze, and to think critically, since these
sources do not immediately yield obvious answers. We have not settled on a single text for Social Studies,
therefore; instead, teachers will be provided with a wealth of primary source
materials, web-based teaching resources, and sample lesson plans, structured
around the broad themes suggested by the Voluntary State Curriculum. The specific
subjects to be studied in each grade are outlined in the attached curriculum
grid.
Social Studies teaching
units will typically be organized in four stages:
We
intend to follow the approach outlined by James Percoco, an award-winning
teacher of U.S. History in Springfield, Virginia, who has been widely
recognized for his highly effective teaching techniques. In Divided
We Stand: Teaching About Conflict in U.S. History (Heinemann, 2001) Percoco
offers a diverse range of exciting teaching
resources, including in-class simulations, genealogy projects, historical
re-enactments, poetry, music, and hands-on student projects. Such teaching strategies involve students in
the learning process in an active way, along with their teachers.
Visual Arts:
We
will integrate the key objectives of the Maryland State Voluntary Standards for
Visual Arts for 6th – 8th grade. The curriculum will also
reflect central components of the Discipline Based Art Education (DBAE)
philosophy, developed by the Getty Center for Arts Education, which emphasizes
a balance between art history, art production, aesthetics, and art criticism.
DBAE provides an integrated approach to art education that supports the
educational philosophy and goals of the BASPCS. Our students will study art from a historical and cultural
perspective in conjunction with the social studies curriculum whenever
possible. The integration of art throughout all curriculum areas will be
encouraged when appropriate. Students will engage in hands-on, experiential
learning that addresses the technical aspects of art production with an
emphasis on individual creativity. Inquiry-based learning will enable students
to develop reasoning and critical thinking skills. Open ended inquiry, group
discussions and problem solving will
be encouraged. Students will engage in the formal Art Critiquing Process, a
method of organizing facts and thoughts about a particular work of art.
Aesthetic judgments will be formed through student-generated questions and
reflections.
Please note: All BASPCS teaching units
are designed to meet or exceed the learning standards set by Maryland’s
Voluntary State curriculum. We have
focused here on our core subject areas; our forthcoming application will
provide more detailed information on curriculum and will include music,
physical education/health, and service learning.
Community Partnerships
We
have created excellent working relationships with the Calvert Marine Museum,
Jefferson Patterson Park, Morgan State University’s Estuarine Research Center,
and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, all of which will offer students
opportunities for extensive hands-on learning experiences outside the
classroom. The Calvert Marine Museum
has proposed hosting our students up to twice a week for extended (2-6 week)
teaching units on paleontology and marine biology. With Jefferson Patterson
Park, we are investigating collaboratively-taught units on archeology as
well as intensive hands-on activities in the Park’s Woodlands Indian
village. Morgan State University will be working with us to develop teaching
units measuring water quality and examining plant life. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has offered
to conduct an intensive, 1-week training session for our teachers to introduce
them to techniques for using the Bay as a teaching environment.
We
continue to develop new partnerships.
For example, we are currently exploring the possibility of offering
extra-curricular activities in collaboration with the Bay Arts Center (pottery, visual arts) and Garrett Music Academy (voice and music lessons).
Summary of Business Plan
Staffing Plan
For the 2008-2009
academic year, the BASPCS will be serving 90 to 108 students in grades 6
through 8, with two classrooms per grade.
We expect to require the following:
1 principal
4 full-time subject-area
teachers (science, social studies, English, mathematics)
1 part-time art teacher
1 part-time music teacher
1 teaching assistant
1 secretary/receptionist
1 part-time physical
education instructor
1 part-time guidance
counselor
1 part-time media
specialist
1 part-time Special Education
teacher
1 nurse
1 building maintenance
worker
food service workers (to
be determined in consultation with CCPS)
Teacher Recruitment
We
are aware that we need to be extremely selective in our recruitment of teachers
for the charter school. Teachers who
are completely comfortable in a more traditional learning environment may not
adapt well to the interdisciplinary, hands-on approach that will be expected of
our teachers. We will focus our recruiting
efforts on teachers in three categories:
those with Montessori credentials or similar experience teaching in an
environment that encourages creativity and self-directed learning; “master”
teachers who have become expert in their subject area, have decades of teaching
under their belts and are ready to experiment with new approaches; and, in a
few cases, novice teachers who are open to learning a different teaching
style. The most effective BASPCS teachers
will be those who value creativity; and who are willing to be led by - and
surprised by - the questions that their students ask and the interests and
talents that students bring to the classroom experience.
School Facility
After exploring many different options for our school
building (including buying a commercial building, leasing commercial or retail
space, and purchasing land) the Friends of the BASPCS Board has concluded that
the most feasible and cost-effective choice is to buy land and erect a modular
building. The most desirable location
for the school is clearly mid-county, to offer the shortest possible ride to
school for students who live either in the extreme northern or extreme southern
part of Calvert County.
The
Friends organization signed a contract on April 5,
2007 to purchase a potential 16-acre school property at 1325 Hallowing Point Road, located just
3/10 of a mile outside the Prince Frederick Town Center. The site location, approximately mid-county,
minimizes inconvenience for families who live in the extreme northern or
southern parts of Calvert County. It is,
in sum, an excellent match for the BASPCS mission and educational priorities in
several respects:
·
It offers students a daily encounter with the natural world;
·
presents many possibilities for outdoor learning on site;
·
emphasizes our relationship to, and dependence on, a healthy
environment;
·
has ample acreage to allow open space for playing fields, student
gardens, demonstration projects, etc.;
·
allows space for the future expansion of the school
·
minimizes inconvenience for parents and students
We anticipate requiring four buildings initially to house our school:
·
Administrative Building (3360 sf) will house the administrative offices, including
offices for a principal, secretaries, nurse, Special Education staff, and
counselor; a reception area and conference space; and restrooms. This building will also include an office
for the assistant principal to be hired in Year 5.
·
Classroom Building (6720 sf) will consist of 6 classrooms, two conference
rooms/teacher work areas, and restrooms.
·
Specialized Teaching Building (6720 sf) will provide specialized educational spaces (art
and music rooms, science labs, and media center) and restrooms.
·
Multipurpose Space (9000 sf) will be a large,
multi-purpose structure which will
serve as our gymnasium/cafeteria/auditorium.
The cafeteria will include a heat-and-serve kitchen.
We
would, of course, plan to add classroom and office space to accommodate the
school’s anticipated growth over time.
We
plan to work with HKT Architects (Somerville, MA) to develop a realistic Master
Plan for our school facility. Phase I
of the Master Plan calls for a preliminary school facility of approximately 24,000
square feet. (Phases II and III, still
in development, will move us gradually toward our eventual goal of a
state-of-the-art, green school campus, incorporating the latest in
environmentally sensitive building design.)
The estimated cost for the school facility is
approximately $2.3 million, which includes all costs
from design through final delivery and placement of the buildings. Once site selection is complete, we can work
with our architect and a general contractor (to be hired) to generate realistic
estimates for other costs associated with the school facility, such as
plumbing, paving of driveway, parking lot and sidewalks, etc.
Please note: Our school buildings will be designed to comply with Maryland state
guidelines regarding school facilities as well as local fire and occupancy
codes.
Transportation of students
Because
of the small size of the student body and the fact that we expect our 108
students in the first year to be geographically dispersed throughout the
county, transportation presents a challenge.
We propose to contract with Reid School Bus Service, Inc. or Jones Bus
Service (or another one of the bus companies
that CCPS has worked with) to supply two buses for transporting students to and
from school. The first bus would pick
up and drop off students at locations in the northern half of the county. The
second bus would cover the southern portion of the county. We propose using the existing middle-school
parking lots as pick-up and drop-off points, in order to minimize inconvenience
to parents and to simplify the bus routes.
Financial Resources and Budget
The
Friends of the Bay Arts & Sciences Public Charter School is currently at
the seed stage of financing, with revenues and pledges totaling $20,000. A highly successful building campaign,
launched only six months ago, is rapidly attracting contributions from local
corporate sponsors as well as individuals.
We expect to raise a total of $200,000 by
December 2008 toward the construction of our school facility.
We are presently exploring financing options with Building Hope, a
national charter school facilities fund.
BASPCS Board members met on April 20 with Kathleen Padian, Vice
President of Building Hope, and Joseph Bruno, President. They have expressed enthusiasm for our
project and willingness to work with us on securing a $3 million bank loan for
the entire building/construction project.
As
a charter school, we also have access to federal Planning and Implementation
funds that are re-granted through the Maryland State Department of Education
(MSDE). These funds are intended to
cover a significant portion of the start-up and first-year implementation costs
for new charter schools. Grants from the MSDE will provide us with up to $400,000
in 2007 and 2008. We are seeking
additional planning funds of $50,000 from the Dominion Power Foundation. These
funds will support final curriculum development, purchase of furniture and
instructional materials, and teacher training, before we open our doors in
August 2008.
Year 1 Operating
Budget
Once
the school opens (with 90-108 students in 2008), we project an initial annual
operating budget of $1.2 million. We
anticipate that the per pupil allocation from Calvert County will cover approximately
$1,080,000 of these costs, and the remaining $120,000 will be funded from the
following sources: $100,000 allocated from the MSDE Year 1 Implementation grant;
individual and small business donations totaling $5,000; and Friends of the Bay
Arts & Sciences Public Charter School fundraisers totaling $15,000.
Fundraising Strategies
The
Friends of the BASPCS will focus its fundraising efforts in four areas: foundations, government, corporate/business
support, and individual donations.
Foundations: Several aspects of the work
of the charter school will be of interest to foundations that emphasize K-12
education; arts education; and the environment.
Initial prospects include
the Toshiba Foundation; the Home Depot Foundation; the BP Foundation; and the
Constellation Energy Group Foundation.
Once we open our doors, support is also available through numerous
foundations (such as the Lowes/National Geographic Outdoor Classroom grants)
for specific classroom projects focusing on math, science, arts education, outdoor
learning, and environmental education.
Local and state government: We will regularly seek funds through
the Maryland Arts Council’s “Artists in the Schools” program, which enables
talented local artists to work with individual schools to design arts-based
learning experiences. MSDE Planning and Implementation
grants (described above) will provide major support in our first two years.
Corporate/business support: Local
business support is a mainstay for small non-profits, and our annual
fundraising goals include a modest proportion of donations from these sources.
We will work to develop a roster of Calvert County and Maryland businesses who
will commit to annual contributions to support the BASPCS on an ongoing
basis. We recognize that such relationships
take time to cultivate. Members of our Board Fundraising Committee participate
in both the Calvert County and St. Mary’s County Chambers of Commerce and are
actively cultivating long-term relationships with local businesses.
Individuals: Individuals in the Calvert
County community are not only an important source of potential revenue for the
school. These individuals are an
essential part of our effort to create a sense of shared community around the
charter school. Friends of the BASPCS
fundraisers, therefore, will have the dual aim of raising funds and bringing
together members of an ever-enlarging charter school community composed of
students, parents, teachers and other interested individuals. We expect to hold 4-5
annual fundraising events, which will include a dinner/dance and live auction
as well as smaller events such as raffles, yard sales, etc. Our annual goal for
these events is $15,000 - $20,000.
Leadership
The
school’s governing Board consists of nine individuals with extensive experience
in education, hands-on learning, non-profit fundraising, business operations
and facilities management. Several of
our Board members also have advanced degrees and teaching experience in key
areas of the school curriculum. Biographical sketches of Board members can be
found in Attachment B.
To
complement the expertise of the school’s Board of Directors, we have formed an
Advisory Board of experts in curriculum development, school governance,
building design, and other relevant fields.
Please see Attachment C for a
list of Advisory Board members. We will continue to rely on the advice and
active involvement of these experts as we develop final plans for the school.
[1] U.S.
Green Building Council, “An Introduction to the U.S. Green Building Council and
the LEED
Green Building Rating System,”
Presentation, April 2003.
[2] See, for example, Jean Stockard
and Maralee Mayberry, Effective
Educational Environments (Corwin Press, 1992) and Robert A. Rutter,
“Effects of School as a Community,” Report, National Center on Effective
Secondary Schools, Madison, WI, 1988.
[3] Fontaine, Carla Littrell, School and Community Partnerships: A Model
for Environmental Education. A Report to the Community-based Environmental
Education Program, Antioch New England Graduate School (June 2000).
[4] David Perkins, “Knowledge
Alive,” Educational Leadership
September 2004, Vol. 62 Issue 1, p. 15. For research on discovery-based learning
see, for example, M.S. Wiske, ed. Teaching
for Understanding: Linking Research with Practice (San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 1998); Howard Gardner, The
Disciplined Mind (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999); Shari Tishman, The Thinking Classroom (Boston: Allyn
and Bacon, 1995).
[5] David Sobel, Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms
& Communities (The Orion Society, 2004), p. 9. On the importance of
connecting students to the natural world, see also Clare Leslie, John Tallmadge
and Tin Wessels, Into the Field: A Guide to Locally Focused
Teaching (The Orion Society, 1999) and Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit
Disorder (Algonquin Books, 2006).
[6] Sobel, Place-Based Education, p.7.
[7] National Environmental Education
and Training Foundation study, Environment-Based
Education: Creating High Performance
Schools and Students (Washington, DC: September 2000).
[8] The research on generative
learning was cited above in fn 3. See, for example, M.S. Wiske, ed. Teaching for Understanding: Linking Research
with Practice (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998); Howard Gardner, The Disciplined Mind (New York: Simon
and Schuster, 1999); Shari Tishman, The
Thinking Classroom (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1995).
[9] Based on a 2005 study conducted
by PRES Associates, an independent educational research firm.
[10] The
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is designed to
measure trends in students’ mathematics and science achievement in four-year
cycles. These studies are conducted by
the International Association for Evaluation of Educational Achievement
(IEA). IEA is an independent,
international cooperative of national research institutions and governmental
research agencies based in Boston, Massachusetts.
[11] Wall Street Journal, September 12, 2006.
For further information, please visit the Singapore Math website: www.singaporemath.com.
[12] Our English curriculum draws
heavily on research from The Center on English Learning & Achievement
(CELA) at SUNY Albany, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
[13] We have relied on the following
in shaping the reading and writing curriculum: Teaching Reading in Middle School
by Laura Robb (Scholastic Books, 2000); and Landmark Essays on Writing Across the Curriculum. ed Charles Bazerman & David Russell (Hermagoras Press, 1994)