Charter School Design

Charter schools are independent public institutions whose operations are independent of the board of education in a district. They are neither purely public nor private. They source funds from the public, but in a manner that is quite different from the normal public institutions. They are established by a private group of individuals who submit a charter to the authorities seeking for an approval to run institutions that are eligible for waivers from the public school districts (Cahn, 1996). They, in turn, promise to deliver better academic results within a period of 3-5 years. Should the school record a performance that is below those of comparable public institutions, the authorities are at liberty to withdraw the charter and close the school. As such, the founders, who include educators, community leaders, parents, and entrepreneurs, are expected to state their guiding principles and governance structures in a concise and clear manner. The structures should be in a format that facilitates evaluation of accountability. These schools are established under an agreement between the stakeholders and the state (Cahn, 1996). The agreement is in a manner that guarantees autonomy while demanding accountability. The state supplements their funding on a per student basis.

The charter school will be evaluating the students’ growth on yearly basis. The teaching sections will be designed in a manner that incorporates the physical, emotional, and mental changes of the children at all grades. This would be meant to facilitate enhanced interaction between the tutors and their students. To the delight of the learners, the curriculum will include art and physical education lessons that are carefully designed in an endeavor to foster enthusiasm with the normal lessons.  To ease the learning process, the teachers will be staying with their pupils in 3-year cycles that incorporate aspects of art into the normal lessons. This curriculum will ensure that the materials being utilized are attuned towards development at the appropriate age. In essence, the curriculum will be aligned with the state’s educational standards.

The school curriculum will be one that fosters enthusiasm and passion for learning. To achieve this, the curriculum will be prepared in a flexible and creative manner that balances technology, ecological sensitivity, and developmental readiness. This will facilitate empowerment through social intelligence and self-knowledge. Art will feature in all aspects of the curriculum. Such a strategy will be meant to facilitate learning through developmental models where students are able to recount the experiences (Cahn, 1996) that they have been through while detailing their achievements in learning.  Basically, the school will hold lesson blocks of 2-3 hours a day for subjects such as mathematics, science, language arts, and history.

The students of this charter school will be learning according to a unique developmental model where play-based kindergartens are incorporated. This will be done in the belief that childhood is meant to be experienced, and as such, there should be no rush in educating the kids. Main lesson books will be created where children will be able to recount the details and experiences that they have learnt over a certain period of time. The learning arrangement will be one where rhythms of days and seasons are nurtured in a manner that creates a stimulating environment. For instance, the students will be receiving detailed evaluations at the end of a schooling term. This is unlike the report cards with number and letter grades that are given in most public schools.

The institution will discourage the application of electronic media, especially the television, as, according to research studies, young children find it difficult to rationalize images. This difficulty may hamper a child’s imagination and mental development. For the day scholars, parents and guardians will be sensitized on the need to make informed decisions regarding the child’s entertainment habits. For instance, they will be reminded about the need to restrict television viewing during school days. The reason behind this is that television viewing results in hyperactivity, inadequate attention-plan, as well as the inability to accomplish tasks. As such, appropriate supervision and care will be accorded to the learners so as to reduce the chances of developing intermittent imagination (Knight, 1980). The institution will explore various alternatives to television viewing. Alternatives to be focused on include meaningful playing, puppet shows, cooking, gardening, and dish washing. Activities such as games, artistic endeavors, and reading story books will be highly encouraged as alternatives to television viewing, computer games, videos as well as other media.

The school will embrace an all-round curriculum, a curriculum that impacts knowledge into a child when its mind and body have the capacity to process the messages being received. Contemporary elements will be resisted so as to prepare the child for proper absorption. As such, computer and information technologies will not be implemented in the classroom environment before the pupils have reached grade seven. As a community institution, the school will require parents to limit computer usage at home until the technology has been introduced in the classroom environment (Ozmon & Craver, 2007). The introduction will take place when the curriculum has called for it, and by this time, the teachers and the school administration will be in a position to answer all the relevant questions.

The school curriculum will emphasize the need to assume various social and environmental responsibilities. This will present the students with an opportunity to experience the surrounding ecology, a scenario that leads to the recognition of the community’s robust cultural history. This will be represented in the curriculum and in the manner in which the institution approaches various educational strategies (Knight, 1980).

The institution will endeavor in broadening the understanding of the children with respect to the realities in the society. It will achieve this by bridging the contact between children as they engage in the activities like environmental and social initiatives. This will help the students to be sympathetic and compassionate to others, a situation which will enable them to develop the desire to assist those in need. Additionally, such initiatives and team efforts will facilitate the building of community spirit between the members of a class or grade. This will harness the children’s capability to work together for a common goal in trust and cooperation. In addition, social and environmental initiatives will help the kids experience the satisfaction in acting in a manner that is beneficial to others. This will, therefore, help the children to embrace the diversity in the community in a highly enthusiastic manner.

Teachers will be encouraged to share their views with parents and other stakeholders as well. This will facilitate innovation in the mode of teaching and learning, a situation that will, in effect, encourage an accommodative engagement. There will be a strict moral code requiring utmost respect for the teaching staff so as not to demoralize them. To ensure success of the moral education, the institution will employ a simplified model of restorative justice. The model has been opted for since it promotes dialogue. Restorative justice is a way of approaching corrections where the interests of the offender and the victim are considered in an aim to redress the damage caused by the immoral conduct. The main focus will not be on punishing the wrongdoer (Gutek, 2004). It will be a cooperative process with an active participation of the teachers and the victims where the deviant kids will be encouraged to take responsibility for their actions. Depending on the wrong committed, the kids would be required to apologize. This strategy has, in fact, shown the highest levels of accountability and victim satisfaction. Therefore, the school will be set at ensuring peace and security in the community as it impacts knowledge on the children. In this regard, the institution will be laying a firm foundation for further studies as well as future engagements in the community.