Conversion Charter Application

Hampton Elementary Charter School

Conversion Charter Application

New or Renewal

SCHOOL NAME

Hampton Elementary School

SCHOOL CONTACTADDRESS

10 Central Avenue

Hampton, Georgia 30228

Hampton Elementary Charter School

Dr. John D. Barge

State School Superintendent

MAy 2013

conversion charter schoolapplication Cover Pages

Check one: _X_New Petition___Renewal Petition (If renewal, when was the original charter term start date? ______)

Name of School:_Hampton Elementary School__

Local school system in which the conversion charter school will be physically located:

_10 Central Avenue Hampton, Georgia 30228_

Contact person: Dr. Debra Collins Principal______

NameTitle

Contact address: 10 Central Avenue

Hampton, Georgia 30228

Telephone number of contact: __770-946-4345__

Fax number of contact: __770-946-3472__

E-mail address of contact:

Conversion Charter School Name__Hampton Elementary Charter School__

Approved bythe ______Board of Education on ______

Grade Levels Served___K - 5__

Ages Served__5 - 11__

Proposed Opening/Renewal Date __July 1, 2014__

Proposed Charter Term____5 years_____

Mission Statement_The mission of Hampton Elementary Charter School is to engage, enrich, and educate each student utilizing real-world and project based learning experiences which emphasize mastery of Common Core Georgia Performance Standards and readiness for middle school success.

For each year of the proposed charter term, please indicate the number of pupils the conversion charter plans to serve.

K / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / Total
Yr 1 / 70 / 80 / 65 / 60 / 60 / 75 / 410
Yr 2 / 75 / 72 / 80 / 65 / 62 / 62 / 416
Yr 3 / 70 / 75 / 72 / 80 / 65 / 65 / 427
Yr 4 / 70 / 70 / 75 / 72 / 80 / 65 / 432
Yr 5 / 75 / 70 / 70 / 75 / 72 / 80 / 442

Conversion CharterAPPLICATION

The Case for Hampton Elementary Charter School

1. Why do you want a charter?

What is your motivation for applying to be a conversion charter?

As the only school in the city limits of Hampton, Georgia, Hampton Elementary School (HES) is a center fixture in the community. The schoolwas established in 1954 and today is one of twenty-nine public elementary schools located in Henry County, Georgia.

In its sixty-year history, HES has gone through many changes. Physical renovations have resulted in new classrooms being added, old buildings being demolished, and school grounds being updated. In addition, student enrollment at the school has changed significantly as the Henry County School District has constructed new schools to accommodate residential growth throughout the county. For example, the HES student population has dropped from about 850 students in 2004 to about 400 students today. Furthermore, the demographic make-up of the school community has changed considerably. For example, the percentage of economically disadvantaged students has increased from 48% in 2004 to 79% in 2013. Through all these changes, HES has maintained a strong commitment to student achievement and is proud to have been named a Distinguished Title I School for ten consecutive years (2003 – 2012).

The motivation for developing and submitting this charter petition has been driven by the demonstrated needs of our students, the convictions of our teachers and staff, and the concerns of parents and members of our business community. Currently, students at HES are provided an excellent traditional education with an instructional focus on the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards. However, due to the high percentage of students being economically disadvantaged, the HES faculty and staff have recognized the need to enrich their students’ life experiences and learning environment. In addition, the teachers, families, and business members of our community recognize the connection between the quality of education and the potential for economic prosperity. Research shows that employers in all sectors of the workforce need workers who are more proficient in science, math, and technology than their predecessors (Whiting, 2010). America’s workforce must be able to apply such knowledge and skillsto create new and innovative products and processes that have the potential to impact citizens around the world. Consequently, the HES school community recognizes the need to strengthen the academic rigor of the HES instructional program, particularly in the areas of science, mathematics, and technology.

After much research and collaboration, the school community has developed this petition to obtain charter status for HES. The faculty, staff, and school community believe that a charter can provide the impetus for meaningful and purposeful change in internal processes for learning and teaching, and can improve external perspectives about family and community engagement in ways that support students and teachers. As a result, HES will be better positioned toadvance student achievement by applying more rigor, greater relevance, and stronger relationships to the educational experiences of its students.

Describe any innovations that will materially distinguish the conversion charter from the school’s pre-conversion model and that require the flexibilityoffered through the charter model.

The vision for Hampton Elementary Charter School is to build engaging educational experiences through Project Based Learning (PBL) instructional methods applied to a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) curriculum. At the heart of our educational philosophy is the firm belief that all students can become successful learners and that there are no predetermined limits to what students can accomplish at any age. Students will be exposed to a deeper understanding of a rigorous curriculum that provides various opportunities to explore the world in which they live. Furthermore, our faculty, staff, and community will engage in a partnership dedicated to meeting the needs of both individual students and our school community as a whole. We are committed to educational opportunitiesthat teach the way students learn and where students are provided authentic occurrences to demonstrate their knowledge through cross-curriculum projects and performance assessments, in addition to national, state, and district assessments.

In PBL, students go through an extended process of inquiry in response to complex questions, problems, or challenges. While allowing for student choice, rigorous projects are carefully planned, managed, and assessed to help students learn key academic content, practice 21st Century skills of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity, and to create high quality, authentic products and presentations.

STEAM provides an avenue for teaching the inter-relationships of how science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics relate to real-life. The STEAM framework is meaningful, engaging, hand-on, and reality-based, and it provides many extensions for drawing education, industry, government, and the community together for the benefit of students.

Teachers at HECS will develop PBL and STEAM-based curriculathat integrate all the disciplines in ways that are based on real-world problems, entrepreneurial ideas, and the interests of our students. Much like engineers, scientists, mathematicians, and artists, we want students at HECS to inquire, design, create, and share their projects with each other, the community, and the world.

Students will participate in two STEAM Stations each day, led by highly qualified teachers and supported by the community. Teachers will ensure that instruction in each academic content area will be based on the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards. The opportunities for integration with STEAM Stations will create a dynamic choreography of learning. The curriculum will be highly engaging, relevant and delivered through thematic units of study. Through the blending of STEAM and PBL activities, student attendance and engagement will improve, students will make stronger connections of CCGPSconcepts to real world applications, and student achievement will improve.

What will you be able to do with a charter that you can’t do without a charter?

With the charter, we will be able to provide many opportunities for HECS students,families, and community members that we are not able to provide without the charter. We will be able to:

• Establish school-level governance through the use of a charter governing board. Currently, HES has a school council which serves in an advisory capacity only. As a charter, the governing board will make decisions and provide guidance for HECS that support our proposed innovations and charter goals. Furthermore, having greater autonomy for school governance will enable HECS to better empower and engage families and members of the business community for advancing school improvement efforts.
• Implement a flexible schedulein which students attend STEAM Stations twice a day for 50 minutes each. These stationswillfocus on the areas of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. Science may include stations focused on gardening, healthy eating, fitness, research, andinquiry based learning. Technologymay include stations focused on photography, research, yearbook design, and technology tools. Engineering may include stations focused on architecture, robotics, and design. Arts may include stations focused ondance, art, music, and drama. Mathematics may include stations focused on cooking, chess, geometry, physics, and inquiry based projects.
• Establish multi-grade classes in the STEAM Stations. The stations will be arranged by combining students from two grade levels at a time – kindergarten and first grades, second and third grades, and fourth and fifth grades. This will allow students to learn from a variety of students andallow for more teachers to assist with STEAM Stations.
• Allow HECS to utilize non-certified staff and approved community members to teach STEAM Stations. Examples of this are allowing a local college professor to teach engineering, having a local artist teach painting, and allowing a local drama instructor to teach the drama STEAM Station. By allowing flexibility in the area of teacher certification, HECS will be able to engage non-certified people to teach in their areas of specialty.
• Adjust class sizes as needed and as appropriate for STEAM Stations. Because the STEAM stations vary in their intensity and the tools each requires, each station will be adjusted in its maximum class size. An example is that the photography station may only have eight students due to the limited number of cameras available when the gardening station may have a larger number of students based on the season, and the dance station may have an even larger number of students based on student interests.
• Adjust seat time by changing the school’s master schedule to incorporate 100 minutes of STEAM station time into the academic day. Academics will be taught through STEAM Stations although the seat time for traditional academic courses will need to be adjusted.
• Allow physical education contact hours to be waivedfor students. However, fitness and health activities will be offered to students throughout the year.For example, a STEAM station on Healthy Mind and Body will include a component of physical activity and healthy living.
• Adjust the counselor’s duties and responsibilities to allow teaching opportunities in STAEAM Stations. The counselor’s responsibilities will be consistent with those outlined in the American School Counselor Association standards. For example, the counselormay be used to teachcareer awareness in one or more STEAM Stations.
• Adapt the gifted program to enhance talented and gifted students by giving these students inclusion opportunities in the areas of STEAM along with project-basedresearch.
• Allow students to bring their own technology to build rigor and relevance in their use of devices with their academics and STEAM stations and to assist with their Project Based Learning activities.
• Expand field trip opportunities to give students real-world experiences with science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. Currently, students in Henry County are only permitted to take two field trips per year. With the waiver of such districtregulations, the students at HECS will be able to take more frequent field trips that enrich the curriculum and enhance student learning.
• Enhance the opportunities for family and student choice. HECS will be the first elementary school in Henry County to brand itself around the STEAM model, thus enhancing school choice options for families. In addition, the proposed academic innovations will enhance our ability to personalize learning for students by allowing for student choice in the selection of STEAM Stations.

Describe how parents, community members, and other interested parties were involved in developing the petition and will be involved with the conversion charter.

A cross-section of school stakeholders spent a year researching innovative instructional models (multiple intelligences, highly effective schools, STEAM, STEM, Project-Based Learning, etc.) from across the nation, as well as visiting charter schools in Georgia. All faculty and staff participated in discussions, site visits, and interest surveys. A charter committee was formed, comprised of the School Leadership Team, teacher volunteers, school council members, parents, and business partners. The committee has guided the development of the mission, vision, goals, and organizational plan outlined in this charter application.

The principal organized “charter chats” where anyone interested could attend and discuss the pros and cons of a conversion charter. At these chats, pictures were shown of visits to Georgia charter school, discussions were held on the direction and structure of the HES charter idea, and the actual charter was developed, edited, revised, and created. The participants at these charter chats varied from teachers, paraprofessionals, parents, grandparents, business leaders, the mayor, college professions, and HES students. Each participant had a vested interest in the success of the school and its students.

The HES School Council was involved in the creation of a survey that went home to parents to gauge their understanding about a possible conversion charter. The council members asked the tough questions about why the charter was being considered, what this would mean for their children, and how it would change the look, feel, and operation of the school. They talked to other parents, and attended charter chat meetings to gather and disseminate information to other stakeholders. In addition, members of the school council attended the Henry County Board of Education meeting on the evening that the Charter Letter of Intent was delivered to the board by the school’s principal. Also, members of the school council were in attendance with their children when administrators presented the conversion charter plan to the Hampton City Council.

The community has been quite involved in the development of the petition as well, and will continue to be involved in the conversion charter. The City of Hampton is a small town,and when school administrators spoke at the Hampton City Council meeting, the support for the conversion charter was strongly evident. All but one member of the council had attended HES as a child, and they were excited to hear about these new opportunities in PBL and STEAM coming to the children of this community. While at the City Council meeting, the members and audience were given the opportunity to vote on the possible name of the conversion charter school. Suggested names had been developed by charter chat participants. The newspaper ran a front page story on the city council presentation - “HamptonElementary announces intent to apply for charter” (Shirey, June 8/9, 2013). The assistant principal was asked to speak at the Bear Creek Business Association meeting which is the local chamber of commerce where he explained about the charter proposal and solicited input. The members were supportive, gave ideas for consideration, and voted ontheschool’s possible new name.

The faculty and staff have been actively involved in to the development of the petition. Many staff members visited Georgia conversion charter schools to view innovative programs first hand and to “get a feel” for what if means to be a charter school. They researched conversion charters in Georgia to understand their philosophies, programs,and results. Several have attended STEM and PBL workshopsto better educate themselves and to train others on these key initiatives. As a result, in January 2013, the faculty and staff agreed that development of a conversion charter petition was the right track to be on, and they havecontinued to support the effort throughout the process.

Academicobjectives, plans, and waivers

1. Complete the Accountability Template form for a conversion charter.

Indicate the expected rate of student performance growth in each year of the proposed charter term.

Be specific, measureable, attainable, relevant, and time-based (SMART).

Goal 1: Hampton Elementary Charter School will perform above the level that would place it on the Priority Schools List, the Focus Schools list, or the Alert Schools list. HECS will also meet all targets (currently CCRPI and State Performance Targets), as defined by Georgia state requirements and the state’s wavier of No Child Left Behind, subject to any amendment, waiver or reauthorization thereof. Students will demonstrate proficiency and improvement over prior years’ performance.

Measure 1: During each year of the charter tem, HECS students will meet or exceed all State Performance Targets and all other statewide-accountability requirements as established by the Department each year for all content areas of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). (Appendix A)

Measure 2: During each year of the charter term, the percentage of the students who meet or exceed state standards on each content area of the CRCT will be greater than the State or local district Average, whichever is higher, by at least 1% in all subjects in all grade levels. (Appendix B)

Measure 3: During each year of the charter term, the percentage of students who exceed state standards on the CRCT in all grade levels and subject areas will exceed the baseline average by 1%. (Appendix C)

Goal 2: HECS students will demonstrate middle school readiness.

Measure 1: During each year of the charter term, the percentage of students who meet or exceed state standards on the Grade 5 Writing Assessment will increase by 2%.