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and instructional methods. inspire
charter
academy of baton rouge, one of more than 70
school
s managed by national heritage academies across the nation, makes morality an integral part of their curriculum with gratitude, self-control, and compassion serving as central themes. for children?s
charter
school
, early literacy and technology remain focuses. the
school
houses ipads at a ratio of one device for every two students in kindergarten through the second grade while every student in third, fourth, and fi?h grade has a device to use in the classroom. the
school
also boasts a digital library so that students have access to quality reading material whether they are at
school
, at home, or on the road. louisiana?s
charter
school
law also expresses that
charter
school
s
should have in mind the best interests of at-risk pupils. generally, a student deemed ?at-risk? is eligible to participate in the federal free and reduced lunch program, or is two or more grade levels behind in reading achievement. heeding the legislature?s call to serve those students most in need, thrive opened in 2011 and remains the only free, public boarding
school
in the state. there are fewer than 10 of these public residential
school
s in the nation. meant to serve baton rouge?s disadvantaged students in grades 6-12, thrive offers its students the opportunity to not only learn in a safe environment, but to perform everyday household duties such as preparing meals and cleaning laundry. accountability. while
charter
school
s currently operating in baton rouge enjoy more freedom in making instructional decisions than those operating as part of the east baton rouge
school
system (ebrpss), they are still accountable to either the local
school
district or the state?s board of elementary and secondary education (bese), depending on which type of
charter
school
is being created (there are five types, categorized by such things as location). regardless of the type of
charter
school
a non-profit group is hoping to open, all
charter
school
s are required to administer the same state assessments that students in traditional public
school
s are required to take. to receive an extension to operate for each additional
school
year, a
charter
school
must meet student performance growth standards, as well as operate within an approved budget. this means that parents can see a report card and a
school
performance score for
charter
school
s, just as they would any traditional public
school
. cons accountability. while the louisiana department of education (ldoe) insists that
charter
school
s that underperform will be closed, that seems to provide little reassurance to parents and students in ebr. democracy prep, one of baton rouge?s
charter
school
s, does not teach either the fourth or the eighth grades. since these are the grades in which louisiana mandates students achieve proficiency on a high-stakes test, democracy prep?s
school
rating of a ?c? is skewed. upon further inspection, the
school
received very low marks from the state for having a 38 percent suspension rate among its student population, having high transfer rate during the year, and failure to re-enroll students from year to year. a performance review of the seven other
charter
school
s listed on the ebrpss website reveals that things don?t get much better elsewhere; only csal and mentorship steam have progressively earned their ?b? score. by comparison, over the last five
school
years, children?s
charter
received four ?d?s and one ?f? while inspire has received straight ?d?s, an improvement from the 2011 and 2012
school
years where the
school
earned an ?f?. documents provided by the ldoe and ebrpss fail to address why so many underperforming
school
s can continue operating with public funds.
school
as a business. although they require authorization from ebrpss or bese to operate,
charter
school
s run independently of the
school
district. each
charter
school
is governed by a board of directors, usually composed of educators, parents, and other members of the community. while any group looking to open a
charter
school
must be classified as a non- profit organization, louisiana laws provide for for- profit businesses to be heavily involved with a
charter
school
. businesses can become corporate sponsors by donating large amounts of land, technology, or funds for renovations. in return, up to 50 percent of the seats at the
charter
school
can be reserved for the corporate sponsor employees, and the business benefits from a minority percentage of the seats of the governing board. historically, the three aims of a public education have been personal, civic, and economic. while
charter
school
s are bound by oversight,
charter
school
s financed by businesses can prove to have different educational goals for students than those generally declared for traditional public
school
s. most
charter
school
s will note on their webpages that they apply a ?business model? to
school
s. there is no scholarly research in the field of education to indicate that a business model is appropriate or effective for public
school
s. find out more. now is the time for parents to inquire about ebr?s current and soon-to-be-opened
charter
school
s, as most begin taking applications in january. andrea o? konski, chief of accountability, assessment, & evaluation for ebrpss notes that four new
charter
school
s will open in august 2018: idea
charter
, inspire nola (separate from ebr?s current inspire
charter
), the emerge center
school
, and basis
charter
. more information about area
school
s can be found by visiting ebrpss.org. information about
school
performance can be found at louisianabelieves.com. ? f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 8 | b r p a r e n t s . c o m 4 9
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