Do you have any interest in traveling in the future? Ms. MacLuckie gathered traveling tips from members of the 21CCCS staff.
The world is a huge place filled with different climates, people, and cultures. Taking the opportunity to travel can be an exciting, but sometimes stressful, experience. Whether you have never considered hopping on a plane to some foreign location or you have already travelled all over, traveling tips and advice can always be helpful!
Many of the staff members at 21CCCS have travelled internationally and would love to share some of their tips with you. Take a look!
Have a plan, but be flexible (Ms. Leber)- It’s nice to arrive in a new city knowing some things that you would like to see or do. It is also important to allow for fun detours or exploration of something totally unplanned that you discover when you arrive. Often just exploring a city on foot can be even more fascinating and informative than visiting major tourist attractions.
Pack lightly (Ms. Leskinen)- Make sure items that you pack are easy to wear and clean. I purchased all my toiletries while abroad to save room in my luggage.
Be open-minded, but aware (Mrs. Coletti)- Being flexible and open-minded will help you adapt to your new surroundings and cultural norms. Also, if you are going to be in an under-developed area, be diligent about safe drinking water.
Learn a little bit of the language (Ms. MacLuckie)- When I was traveling in Costa Rica, it was very helpful to learn some key phrases like “How much does it cost?” and “Where is the bathroom?”
Don’t be afraid (Ms. Hoyt)- There are going to be plenty of new things to try— new foods, new activities, new languages, etc. Don’t be afraid to experience new things!
Make it happen (Mr. Meyer)- Seek out and take any opportunity you have to go somewhere you’ve never been. It’s absolutely amazing what you can gain and experience by simply removing yourself from your usual surroundings. Wherever you go, don’t forget to take a journal and write everyday!
No matter where you decide to go, or what you decide to do, always keep these small pieces of advice in the back of your mind. They will help make your next traveling experience the best it can be!
Keep an eye out on our Facebook page for our post series, “Where in the world is…” Teachers will be sharing some photos and stories from their travels. If you have a “Where in the world is…” post that you would like to share, please send a short (1 paragraph) explanation of your experience and a picture to kmacluckie@21cccs.org. We look forward to hearing about your traveling adventures!
As a Social Studies teacher, one of the most common questions I receive is “Why do we have to learn history?” At first, I used to suppress the need of my inner teenager to sigh heavily when hearing this question. But then it hit me; you are asking this question because you really don’t know! And shock… it is MY job to teach you this. I always thought teaching was just about content- wars, people, inventions; the list could go on forever. It had never really occurred to me that students needed to know why it was important before they learned how it was important. Can we say face-palm moment?
I can share with you the experiences I had where I personally figured out why studying history was important and it didn’t happen in a classroom. It happened in a regular conversation I had with my Nana and Pop-Pop when I was about 15 years old. We used to have weekly lunches at their house (picture a small house that would jam pack around 30 family members each Saturday), and in this house I learned to love history. In this house there was one strict rule at lunch—never put anything on your plate you didn’t intend to eat. Our eyes were not allowed to be bigger than our stomachs! One day I dared to ask my Pop “why”? I was 15 and questioned everything that impacted my right to make an independent decision. You can probably insert some teen angst with this question too.
What my snarky teenage question did was open up a conversation with my grandparents about what it was like to grow up in the 1930s. More specifically, what it was like to do without a lot of things during this time. Until they opened up about their experiences in the Depression, I never really considered what it was like to live without, and to be used to this! Food was a luxury some people didn’t have, and it wasn’t to be wasted. Their home was something they could lose, and they were thankful to have a roof over their heads. Out in the real world, people were losing their homes and begging for food. How could they consider wasting when so many did without? It was from them I learned the why. College only taught me the how.
From then on, family get-togethers were history lessons. They still are! My Dad’s dad talked about WWII more frequently, because I asked. It’s not like it was a new revelation he had served during this war, but history was now alive for me. People I knew and loved experienced many great and fascinating things. No textbook could teach me this! Each get-together inspired a new appreciation and fascination for history. Taking out old family photos, hearing stories of when my great-grandfather owned a pub in Philadelphia and how he was connected to a small Irish mob (just ask me about my Nana’s engagement ring sometime!). These were moments that I will cherish forever. History was about people. History was about life. History was about ME, and it is about you, too. Next time you are with your family members, ask them about their past. See if you can figure out why it is important to learn history from them!
Yesterday was more than another day off from school. In this blog post, Miss Elder talks about why it is important to remember what Martin Luther King Day stands for.
The third Monday of every January is a very special day, indeed. This year, that date falls on January 20th, and while it is a day off from school (and hey, we know that is exciting!), it is also important to recognize just why you have this day off in the first place. For 15 years, Martin Luther King Day was lobbied in legislation until President Ronald Reagan finally passed it into law in 1983, making it a federal holiday. This year, we here at 21CCCS would like for you to learn more about this man and what you can do on this day to celebrate his work towards finding freedom and justice for all.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. grew up in a time that seems so vastly different than today. He grew up in a society that was segregated. Could you imagine having to go to a different school based on the color of your skin? Perhaps eat at a restaurant that was in a different section of town because it was the segregated restaurant you were told you could frequent? The Civil Rights Movement was born in recognition that this forced separation of life was not equal, and it led to the actions of many great Civil Rights activists. Among the greatest was Martin Luther King, Jr.
As a leader of this movement, he traveled all around the United States speaking and bringing recognition to his cause. He courageously faced injustice and was the leader of massive protests in Birmingham, Alabama, which was perhaps the most blatantly segregated city in America. He inspired 250,000 people to take a stand and march on Washington, D.C. in 1963 where he gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He stated that, “Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning…We cannot be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating ‘For Whites Only’…I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
Sadly Dr. King would not make it to see the day that America’s society no longer believed in segregation; a day where limitations on education due to race no longer exist, and where society has embraced each other for who we are as a person, not as a race. His legacy of justice, empowerment, love, and peace still live on each day. You can just look outside your window and see the impact he and other Civil Rights activists had. And that is why, on the third Monday of every January, we celebrate his legacy. When you are off from school on this day, please take a moment to truly remember what this day stands for, and to consider the sacrifices that Dr. King and many others made to change American society to one of acceptance. His legacy lives on in each of us as we strive to continue his vision of the American Dream.
Our educational system has evolved to the point where parents have a lot of choice as to how their child will be educated. First, you have formal, traditional schooling in the form of public and private schools, each with their own financial, social, and educational pros and cons. Then you have homeschooling, which allows parents to have an extreme amount of control over their child’s education and development. However, the advent of the Internet – and its constant encroachment into fields and industries that previously had little to do with telecommunications – has offered up a third option: cyber schooling.
As with any new technology, cyber schools have been met with some suspicion, and rightfully so – this is your child’s education, their welfare, their very future that we’re talking about! It would be silly not to approach a new educational method with some skepticism. Yet if you take the time to dig deeper and really learn about what cyber schools have to offer, you’ll find there are many reasons to send your child to cyber school, such as…
1. Flexibility
Our economy is moving towards a “freelance” economy, and your children will soon grow up in a world where the web and advancements in telecommunications have made the “schedule” a thing of the past. The ability to treat time as fluid, and to bring work with you wherever you go and work on it whenever you please, is a skill that every worker will be expected to have in the future. With cyber schooling, your child will be ahead of the curve, as you are able to mold your child’s educational schedule around the unique demands your family and home make on his or her time. With cyber schooling, your schedule is whatever you say it is!
2. Mobility
Mobile devices have rendered distance irrelevant as far as professional life is concerned; why should education be any different? Cyber schools will allow your student to take their education on the road, whether they’re at a friend’s, traveling abroad, or simply on an errand, they can attend to their educational duties without having to go to a campus or go back home. They are always learning – which is what the ideal student does!
3. Customization
The unique teaching style that cyber schools support allow for an incredible amount of customization for the form and content of your child’s education. Your child’s teachers will more easily be able to differentiate for your child’s needs, strengths, and areas for improvement, and respond more quickly. Because classroom management and other behavioral issues that plague so many educational institutions are not an issue with cyber schools, your child’s teacher can focus on what is really important: helping their students reach their full potential.
4. Technology
As was previously mentioned, the technology used in cyber schooling – from the web to mobile hardware – is becoming increasingly common in the professional world. Cyber school students enter college and the work force with a leg up on other students, as they are already intimately familiar with how technology can be integrated into their work environment to create a faster, more efficient, more communicative, and more productive way of doing things. After cyber school, your child becomes an innovator on the cutting edge of how things are done.
5. No Bullying
At public and private educational institutions where your child must physically attend, bullying can be a problem – even at the most vigilant of schools. At a cyber school, no bully can get between your child and their education.
It can be a little scary to do things differently, but rest assured that the teachers who will be educating your child are trained professionals with as much experience – if not more – in education as the teachers in traditional schools. What’s more, even as your child is receiving the comprehensive education that you would expect from professional educators, you will still have the opportunity to be deeply involved in their education in a way that previously only homeschooling parents experienced.
Every student responds differently to different types of educational environments, but if your child is comfortable at home and responds well to education professionals, then it may have seemed impossible to find the right balance for him or her – until you found cyber schooling. You can get into contact with 21st Century Cyber Charter School today, and even travel to their headquarters to meet the teachers and staff personally if you so desire. Even after your child has begun their education, you can remain in constant contact with the education professionals there, helping your child to grow into the adult that will face the challenges of the 21st century, ready for anything.
With everything going digital and going online, it’s no surprise that education is going that way as well. Schools have always worked along the cutting edge of today’s technology, and today’s students use that technology on a regular basis every day. With the Internet as integral as it is to how we live today, it makes sense to bring your child’s education onto the web as well.
Unfortunately, some cyber charter schools can put far too much responsibility for a student’s education in the hands of the parents, rendering the experience more akin to homeschooling than cyber schooling. At 21st Century Cyber Charter School, you can rest assured that our highly qualified educators will be the ones teaching your children.
The Best of Both Worlds
Our educators are all trained and experienced teachers with a history of teaching online. They understand how to conduct classes through the Internet, but more importantly, they can use their teaching skills to give your child the educational experience that you should expect from 21st Century Cyber Charter School. This includes readings, activities, and other assignments that all correspond with their curriculum.
This doesn’t mean that you will not be involved in your child’s schooling; in fact, you will have more access to your child’s school, their activities, and their education than you have ever had before. A school e-mail account and parent-level access to the learning management site will allow you to track your child’s progress throughout the year and stay connected to their teachers in ways that are nearly impossible at a traditional school.
You will also have a liaison with the school in the form of your child’s learning coach, a trained professional who will help you to monitor your child’s grades, progress, and behavior, and whom you can discuss these things with to better help your child in their education. While you are not a teacher at 21CCCS, you are an important part of your child’s development and education, and you can expect to be treated as such!
Online Professionalism
You can also expect a professional approach to your child’s education. Many cyber schools have teachers working out of their homes, which is problematic in several ways. First, a community of like-minded professionals is great for the growth and further education of teachers; by working together out of the same building, 21CCCS teachers can share best practices and teaching techniques in order to better educate your child. At many cyber schools, the teachers are disconnected with each other, and can have a hard time learning from one another.
Another problem with working out of their home are the distractions that can occur when teachers are not in a professional setting. By working together out of the same building, 21CCCS teachers are encouraged to work hard and stay professional in your child’s education, which is precisely the kind of approach you would expect from a traditional education as well. You shouldn’t have to eschew the benefits of traditional education just to put your child on the cutting – and convenient! – edge of cyber schooling.
The Future of Education
Finally, you can expect your child to be trained using the latest educational principles at 21CCCS. The web is a sea of data; computers are already great at finding and collecting this data, but how do we make sense of it and use that data for a positive purpose? This is the great challenge of the 21st century, and one that the teachers of 21CCCS will prepare your child for. The ability to find data is common; the ability to process and make meaning out of that data is perhaps the key skill that employers are looking for today, and it is a skill that will serve them well in college.
You can be as involved as you like at the 21st Century Cyber Charter School, but you didn’t sign up for homeschooling – you signed up to have professional educators help shape your child’s mind. While you may play a large role in this process, you can rest assured that the skills and training our educators bring to the cyber classroom will do wonders for your child and their development into the ideal student of the 21st century.
It’s almost time for a new year! Are you thinking about making a New Year’s Resolution? Here are some tips to keep your resolution from 21CCCS English Teacher Miss MacLuckie!
Steps to Keeping your New Year’s Resolution
With 2014 right around the corner, now would be the perfect time to start thinking about your New Year’s resolution. Whether your goal is to get straight A’s, learn to cook, pass your SAT’s, or lose 10 pounds, there are certain steps that you can take to make that goal more achievable.
1. Write it down
Talking about a resolution is effortless, but they are difficult to maintain and easy to forget. Writing down your resolution, whether it is on a post-it or a giant poster, will be a constant reminder of the goal you had set for yourself at the start of the year.
2. Be specific
There is a big difference between saying, “I want to eat healthier” and “I want to eat 5 servings of vegetables every day.” The second goal is quantifiable and can be easily tracked. When there are clear, measurable parameters, people are more inclined to stay focused and motivated.
3. Find a partner(s)
It is always better to have a partner working towards the same goal, rather than trying to attempt it on your own. This buddy system holds people accountable for their actions. Call each other weekly, send motivational texts, or write letters of encouragement- whatever works best for you!
4. Break goals into smaller steps
Saying something like, “I am going to lose 25 pounds this year”, can seem very overwhelming. Taking gigantic, yearlong goals and breaking them down can make them seem more attainable. Try working out a plan to lose just two pounds a month instead. It won’t seem quite so scary!
5. Don’t let small setbacks lead to failure
The road to reaching your goal will often be littered with small problems and obstacles. Always remember that these are part of a natural process, and that they shouldn’t lead you to losing your motivation. Stay positive and optimistic!
Here is a list of the New Year’s resolutions from the staff:
– Write 3 things for which I’m grateful in a journal everyday
– Run 4 miles, 3 times a week
– Be more patient
– Drink more water
– Make time to read books that I love
– Make a schedule to get up from my desk and exercise
– To get back on track with eating healthier and exercising more
The first week of school will end tomorrow. We are thrilled to announce that we have kicked off the school year with flying colors. The teachers are eagerly meeting their new students, catching up with some of last year’s students, and working to keep up with all the tasks the first week brings! Some of our highlights are listed below:
1.) We are starting the new year with 800 students! That number continues to climb as additional students continue to enroll. The last day of first quarter enrollment is September 16th. Following that date, we will accept students to enroll for the second quarter! We are working hard to help students interested in getting started with us! Call today if you need more information!
2.) Our Welcome Back Picnic will be hosted at Blue Marsh Lake is Leesport, PA. We can’t wait to welcome families back on September 13th from 9-3 p.m. Friends, families, and teachers will come together for fun and games. We’re hoping for some sunshine! For more information, check in with Mr. Chu or Ms. Elder!
3.) The Tech Team successfully shipped over 500 computers to our students! A great team effort allowed us to access many of our students in need! We are still working to ship last minute orders. Keep your eyes open and call us with questions!
4.) Over 80% of our students successfully completed the orientation process in a timely fashion. This means our students are getting easily acclimated to their computers, softwares, hardwares, and other school practices. Everyone did a great job and we are glad to see everyone set a great tone for the school year to come! Remember: if you need anything, keep your questions coming. We are here to help you!
5.) Your hard work is being rewarded! We are closed on Monday, September 2nd ! Enjoy traditional celebrations of Labor Day. Will you be at a BBQ? Will you be visiting friends? Share with us upon your return! Check us out and comment on our Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages!
The following is brought to you by 21CCCS junior, Hannah Bisbing. Stay tuned for more blogs to come from Hannah!
It’s that lovely time of the school year again: the middle of May. With just a few weeks of high school classes left, students are spastically attempting to finish their projects, papers, and exams. I’m sure many are also downing way too many cups of coffee and being too busy to sleep, both of which I am also guilty. The overflow of work that consumes many high schoolers at this point can be extremely frustrating, horribly nerve-racking, and supremely stressful. Take it from me: Within the past two weeks, I have taken three AP exams, my AP Psych Final, completed multiple AP English Lit projects (including writing a play and reading four others), worked on an Honors Physics paper, completed four chapters of Pre-Calculus, AND taken all three Keystone tests. Let’s just say I’ve had more than a few bouts of stress-inspired angst. Unsurprisingly, stress is not just a hassle to deal with, but also the gateway to physical/mental exhaustion. Fortunately, there are several ways in which you can relieve school related stress. Here are a few suggestions:
Take a walk:
“Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.”
– Henry David Thoreau
Hooray for the feel-good power of endorphins! Step away from your books and computers to take a brisk walk outside. Getting away from the cycle of reading, writing, and researching to gaze upon nature and to get some fresh air really clears you head. Personally, I find that I can think clearer and more openly after a walk, so I actually work better in the long run.
Sleep:
“No day is so bad it can’t be fixed with a nap”
– Carrie Snow
Sometimes, the best way to refuel and to work more efficiently is to sleep. Taking a brief nap can recharge your brain, untangle confused thoughts, and enable you to tackle difficult work better than you would in a vexed, sleep-deprived state.
Take a hot bath:
“There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won’t cure, but I don’t know many of them.”
–Sylvia Plath
Step into a really hot bath, lie down, and relax yourself completely. Breathing in the steam warms you up, calms you down, and leaves you feeling unstressed and refreshed.
Read a dramatic piece of literature:
“Life is not a matter of having good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
Reading classic tragedies like Oedipus Rex or Hamlet really gives your stress a sense of perspective. Most likely, the stress you are feeling is nothing compared to the dramatic horrors these characters experience. Unless you have indirectly killed a bunch of people through tormented, feigned madness or have accidentally married your birthmother, you should feel better than these unfortunate wretches.
Alternate between class assignments:
“There cannot be a stressful crisis next week. My schedule is already full.”
– Henry Kissinger
If you find yourself reading the same two sentences over and over again without retaining any of the words, experience extreme writer’s block, or get irritated over the tediousness of a particular task, exchange your current study with a different piece of homework. Work on a paper for a while, then do some math, and then read some history or science, etc. so you do not get stuck in an unproductive rut for one class. I find this tactic really helpful. Sometimes, I actually become really irritated with an assignment and want to stop doing work altogether, but switching between course subjects can really relieve this frustration and increase workflow. Of course, if you enjoy working one subject until exhaustion, do not shy away from your routine. Just make sure to work on more than one subject over the course of a few days!
Think about the moment when school will be over:
“Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one.”
– Hans Selye
Even though school can seem dreadfully endless at this point of the year, studies of proton radiation, advanced trigonometry, comparative tone research papers, and finals will come to a conclusion! Imagine the freedom and possibility you will have as well as the amount of SLEEP you will get after the last day of school! Focus on this utterly joyous time and use its vision to fuel you motivation until June 6th.
Talk to someone:
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look once in awhile, you could miss it.”
-Ferris Bueller
If stress is beginning to make you panicky, sick, or feel out of control, one of the best things you can do is talk to someone. Voicing your issues, concerns, or anxieties can make your freak-outs smaller and your to-do lists clearer. Just the act of talking pulls you out of your internal world of worry. Hang out with your friends, talk to your parents, or look to an understanding teacher like your learning coach. I cannot express how many panicked emails and calls Mrs. Vice has endured from me for the past two and a half years. No matter how stressed I was over things, she always managed to calm me down in a simplistic yet vicarious and humorous way and helped me through my struggles.
Just for kicks, I have also provided a list of coping methods you should NOT try:
• Randomly bursting into uncontrollable sobs in public
• Standing up on a library table to recite soliloquys about life’s woes and inadequacies
• Threatening to go back in time to kill Isaac Newton before he invented what we study today
• Convincing great writers from past centuries to create their brilliant pieces, but in a clearer and more concise manner
• Reading the Twilight saga. Pick some good pieces of writing, for literature’s sake!
Public education is supported by taxpayer dollars. This is something we can all agree on, right? Well, sort of. Noting this fact and fully understanding its implications are two very different things. How do tax dollars support public education? How does spending occur?
To answer those questions, let’s first try to gain a little insight into the types of public school in existence today.
The public school landscape has grown. Public schools used to be only those brick-and-mortar institutions set up to serve individual districts across the state. Depending on the district in which you live, your child/children can attend school for free because your taxes are paying for it. Today, public education is still provided through traditional brick-and-mortar school districts. But the School Choice Movement has added charter schools and cyber charter schools to the equation.
Now, let’s examine organizational structure.
Public schools are organized to operate as non-profit organizations, serving a population of students at no additional cost to the student (or student’s parents). In addition to receiving tax dollars, the state allocates additional funds to help schools deliver educational needs.
The designation as a “non-profit organization” implies that the organization will use surplus revenues to support and drive operations, instead of distributing profits out to shareholders or other groups (Wikipedia, 2013). This is because non-profit organizations are structured specifically to benefit some group of constituents. Spending, budgeting, and accountability are all outlined and justified to serve the public domain.
On the other hand, a for-profit organization is built to trade goods and/or services for the sole purpose of generating profit. These organizations are privately run and have less limiting restrictions in place to define operating procedures and expectations. Their missions and visions are simply constructed in a very different way, aimed at building a brand and making money, rather than serving.
So, what does this have to do with education?
All of the public schools in the state of Pennsylvania are considered non-profit organizations. As such, they receive public dollars to fund and support their efforts. Across the political landscape right now, there are plenty of discussions about how schools spend their money, since their money is our money (public funds). But, many cyber charter schools operate a little differently.
Being a charter school means that a charter was drafted and approved by the state of Pennsylvania. A charter consists of an outline, which defines and organizes all operations for the school. The charter defines levels of accountability for things such as school operations, budgetary expectations, management, human resources, curriculum, policies, and more. These restrictions and definitions match many of the expectations delineated for traditional public schools.
Once a charter is accepted and approved, a charter school may begin operations. But, in recent years, an additional entity has come on the field. Since the mid-2000s, organizations called Educational Management Organizations (EMOs) have operated to provide additional services for educational institutions. In a recent article, Education Week reporter, Debra Viadero reported that, “Over the 2008-09 school year, these [educational management] groups operated 609 public schools in 25 states.” These EMOs are quickly gaining greater traction and becoming more prevalent. But what are they?
EMOSs are for-profit organizations that can work in conjunction with whatever efforts a non-profit school has already initiated. They provide services, which can include school performance evaluations and analyses, accountability initiatives, curricular development and enhancement, and marketing expansion. While they can provide such services to any school, cyber charter schools have reaped huge benefits by signing on to work with EMOs. They have done this on a larger scale than many school districts.
The benefit of EMOs is that they represent a body of innovation and growth in education. They have the time, money, and resources to help schools in ways that a traditionally operating non-profit school district simply cannot. These efforts cost time and money that were out of reach for a traditional non-profit organization. EMOs are bringing a huge service to the educational field that is not only needed, but imperative to help student development.
So, why are EMOs problematic?
The presence of EMOs is a good thing. Make no mistake. What have not been ideal are the assumptions and misunderstandings made about school funding that have followed the EMO movement. Larger cyber charter schools, especially those serving upwards of 12,000 students, are supported by large EMOs that represent many schools across the nation. These for-profit organizations are able to contribute massive dollars toward marketing efforts. This means that while a cyber charter school is supported by public dollars, it can also be supported by EMO efforts, which are not supported by public dollars. So, when various sources tout public dollars are being spent on massive marketing ad campaigns, that’s not entirely true. Dollars are flowing from an EMO, which is supported by shareholders and other contributing investors.
The confusion occurs because not everyone recognizes that some cyber charter schools are enhanced by an EMO. Additionally, not all cyber charter schools operate in the same way. For example, 21CCCS is not affiliated with an EMO in any way. Our curriculum is developed in house. Our budget is very different, and our marketing efforts are drastically dissimilar. But we are all being lumped into the same category.
Are schools spending money to market their learning environments? Sure. But are millions of public dollars going toward it? Millions of EMO dollars are. But that’s not quite the same thing, is it?
Help us to send the message that public dollars are not necessarily going toward wasteful marketing ads. We are not all the same, and we are not all operating similarly. Cyber charter schools continue to provide services and meet alternative educational learning needs for students across the state!
Support cyber charter schools today! Like us on Facebook and follow our handle @21CyberSchool
I’ve heard a lot of words floating around recently, to describe what’s missing in cyber charter schools.
Transparency.
Accountability.
There are plenty of efforts across the legislative landscape that are aiming to attack cyber charter schools, claiming that they lack these two things. This assumption can be easily rectified. How does 21CCCS create transparency and accountability within its school? Read below to learn how we do it!
1.) Annual Report (Comprehensive Planning)
This is submitted to the state each year to show that we are meeting annual goals and objectives identified by the state. The document is constructed with the help of staff and administration, to illustrate the ways in which we tackle things like: curriculum and instruction, assessment, safety and security, materials and resources, special education, future goals, facilities, staffing, and more.
2.) Teacher & Staff Evaluations
These are given twice a year. Our initial evaluation process was developed in-house. However, in 2014, we will utilize a tool developed and distributed by PDE. These evaluations are used to assess teacher performance, progress, and growth. It is also used as a tool to help determine merit-based salary increases.
3.) School Board & Meetings
Our board consists of Intermediate Unit Executive Directors, School Superintendents, and devoted parents. Each of these individuals are consulted as decisions are made within our school. In fact, board approval is required for budgetary, marketing, scheduling, and overall school value decision making. These contributors help to deliver the goals and objectives of our school’s mission. We also abide by the “Sunshine Act,” which means we publicly announce all board meetings, making them assessable by the public.
4.) iNACOL Teacher Training Program
Each of our beginner teachers are inducted into a two year training program. The program we use is based from Charlotte Danielson’s work, which is nationally recognized as the expert in teacher effectiveness. Our teachers learn how to teach effectively in an online environment, and become acclimated to our web-based learning platforms.
5.) Curriculum Aligned to PA State Standards and the Common Core
Our curriculum is written by 21CCCS highly qualified, state certified teachers and instructional systems designers. Teams construct the best possible curriculum for our students, while aligning instruction to state standards as well as the Common Core.
6.) PDE State Mandated Assessments: PSSA and Keystone Exams
All of our students are required to take all state assessments given each year in the grades required. Our students are accountable for their learning, as they are held to the same standards as students in traditional bricks-and-mortar schools. Further, this information is used to calculate our AYP status, which contributes toward our school and LEA assessment scores.
7.) Regular Budgetary Approval
The system of approvals is the same as those found in public school districts. There is a transparent process, which is evaluated and voted on each year. Decisions are made to determine what the school should spend its dollars on, based on what is appropriate for a public institution.
8.) Strict Attendance/Enrollment Policy
Our students’ progress, growth, and participation in lessons and assignments are vigilantly monitored by the school. This means that should a child not regularly contribute as a student of our school, he/she is immediately contacted. In extreme cases, students are removed from our school if they are unable to meet working expectations.
9.) Pennsylvania System of Cyber Charter Review (PASCCR)
Each year, PDE visits charter schools to check on their operations, curricula, and overall planning for the future. In preparation of these visits, our school constructs a 500 page document to support each component of our school. We detail, and are thus held accountable for, our student learning, how student learning is measured, technological support, staffing information, and more.
10.) Highly Qualified Teachers
100% of our staff is highly qualified and state certified. While the state of Pennsylvania only requires 75% of a charter school’s faculty to carry this distinction, we have maintained such a credential for several years. In addition, many of our teachers hold certifications in more than one content area.
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