A cruel end, with no winners.
After having its application denied by the the Palm Beach County School Board on Nov. 5 (along with all outstanding charter applications submitted last year), the Lake Worth Classical Academy appealed to the state.
That appeal was heard in Tallahassee on Monday, March 16 by the state's Charter School Appeal Commission.
The Commission voted that the school was not denied due process under the law in the school district's consideration of its application. The Commission, however, voted to uphold the curriculum section and the management section of the school's application, overriding the school district and affirming that both met the requirements of the law.
The only section remaining that the district had marked as not meeting the standard was the budget section.
Margaret Menge, presenting on behalf of the school founders, told the Commission that given the school district's denial of the application, the school had lost the opportunity to apply for the grant from the Charter School Growth Fund that she and the other founders had identified as the seed money to start the school. She indicated that a member of the group of founders was working to raise capital to start several classical charter schools in Florida through a wealth fund manager.
The Commission voted to uphold the district's denial of the application based on the budget section alone, and to recommend a denial to the State Board of Education, which will meet in April.
The school has the option to resubmit the application this year, but would need to identify a source of approximately $200,000 in funds to rehabilitate a building, purchase books, furniture and supplies and train teachers.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Thursday, August 28, 2014
On our Way
The charter application is in and we are swiftly moving forward with plans for the Lake Worth Classical Academy.
There's a lot to be done. But I remain undaunted. I am willing to do whatever it takes to establish this model of excellence in the Lake Worth community. Are we returning to an "old-style" of education? Well, yes. In a way. We are going to reintroduce the rigor, the in-depth study of history and the high standards that were hallmarks of public education in America until around the 1940s.
But what is old will be new again.
I just came across this lovely poem by T.S. Eliot, which applies to this return to a classical education:
I went out exploring. In college I read Jonathan Kozol, Lawrence Cremin and Diane Ravitch, went to Russia and taught in a school there, worked in Washington, worked in New York, where I taught New York City public school children and witnessed Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ambitious effort to break up large, failing schools and support charter schools. I had a child, read everything I could find time to read about Maria Montessori and her profound observations about early childhood, about Rudolf Steiner and Waldorf schools and about the Reggio Emila method. I thought about homeschooling, and unschooling, and sometimes thought, "Wouldn't it be better to just take my child abroad?" But in the end I ended up at "The Well-Trained Mind" and fell in love with classical education. I believe it to be the absolute best educational model, and the best curriculum to produce broad-thinking, well-read, rational and courageous adults who are prepared to carry out the American experiment in self-government.
There's a lot to be done. But I remain undaunted. I am willing to do whatever it takes to establish this model of excellence in the Lake Worth community. Are we returning to an "old-style" of education? Well, yes. In a way. We are going to reintroduce the rigor, the in-depth study of history and the high standards that were hallmarks of public education in America until around the 1940s.
But what is old will be new again.
I just came across this lovely poem by T.S. Eliot, which applies to this return to a classical education:
We shall not cease from exploration,
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
I went out exploring. In college I read Jonathan Kozol, Lawrence Cremin and Diane Ravitch, went to Russia and taught in a school there, worked in Washington, worked in New York, where I taught New York City public school children and witnessed Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ambitious effort to break up large, failing schools and support charter schools. I had a child, read everything I could find time to read about Maria Montessori and her profound observations about early childhood, about Rudolf Steiner and Waldorf schools and about the Reggio Emila method. I thought about homeschooling, and unschooling, and sometimes thought, "Wouldn't it be better to just take my child abroad?" But in the end I ended up at "The Well-Trained Mind" and fell in love with classical education. I believe it to be the absolute best educational model, and the best curriculum to produce broad-thinking, well-read, rational and courageous adults who are prepared to carry out the American experiment in self-government.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Thomas Jefferson on classical education
"I am more indebted to my father for my classical education than for all the other luxuries his cares and affections placed within my reach." -- Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson attended English school, as it was called, starting from the age of 5, and at age 9 went to a Latin school, where he studied Latin, Greek and French.
At the age of 15, he began studying with "a correct classical scholar" and at age 17 he started at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. After two years of a formal course of study, he began to read law with George Wythe. He did not earn a degree, even after many years of study there, and later advised his grandson not to be concerned with a degree, but with getting an education that would be useful to him.
Jefferson's education was tremendously useful to him. Among the founders, Thomas Jefferson was known as the most eloquent writer, and for this reason was drafted by John Adams to write the Declaration of Independence.
Source: The web site of Monticello.
At the age of 15, he began studying with "a correct classical scholar" and at age 17 he started at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. After two years of a formal course of study, he began to read law with George Wythe. He did not earn a degree, even after many years of study there, and later advised his grandson not to be concerned with a degree, but with getting an education that would be useful to him.
Jefferson's education was tremendously useful to him. Among the founders, Thomas Jefferson was known as the most eloquent writer, and for this reason was drafted by John Adams to write the Declaration of Independence.
Source: The web site of Monticello.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Great Hearts
The visit to Great Hearts academies in Arizona last week was fast but fruitful. I am confident that we will be able to replicate this model of classical education.
Bill Haley, above, is the new headmaster. He was previously a third-grade teacher in the school. And boy, were his third graders great. I watched their new teacher, Miss Clark, teach them how to calculate the area of a rectangle. "What's the algorithm for the area of a triangle?" one kid asked. And all the other kids got very excited, begging the teacher to tell them how to calculate the area of a triangle. Miss Clark was young, had majored in philosophy at a small liberal arts college. "But here you are teaching math," I pointed out to her after the class was done. "Oh, I love math," she said. Clearly, she did. And her enthusiasm for math had been picked up by her students.
It was great to see also how Singapore Math, which we'll also be using, works in the classroom. Miss Clark didn't just tell her students to multiply base times height to calculate area, but drew a large rectangle on the board, showed them the base, the height,...and then drew lines through the rectangle to divvy it up into small squares. Then she numbered each square while counting out loud...showing her students why multiplying base times height gives you the right answer.
Singapore Math does a lot of this showing. Teachers don't just tell students which calculation to use, but show them using simple graphics why this calculation produces the correct answer.
Also notable is that teachers teaching Singapore Math don't just give an example or two, and then tell students to work on problems on their own. This is often not enough instruction for students to really understand what is being presented to them. With Singapore Math, teachers go over and over a single type of calculation, ensuring that all students truly and deeply understand.
 |
| Archway-Veritas Headmaster William Haley |
It was great to see also how Singapore Math, which we'll also be using, works in the classroom. Miss Clark didn't just tell her students to multiply base times height to calculate area, but drew a large rectangle on the board, showed them the base, the height,...and then drew lines through the rectangle to divvy it up into small squares. Then she numbered each square while counting out loud...showing her students why multiplying base times height gives you the right answer.
Singapore Math does a lot of this showing. Teachers don't just tell students which calculation to use, but show them using simple graphics why this calculation produces the correct answer.
Also notable is that teachers teaching Singapore Math don't just give an example or two, and then tell students to work on problems on their own. This is often not enough instruction for students to really understand what is being presented to them. With Singapore Math, teachers go over and over a single type of calculation, ensuring that all students truly and deeply understand.
Scared of the Common Core? We're Not.
Florida adopted a lightly edited version of the Common Core this year - deleting a few standards that were really obtuse. What we have is now called the Language Arts Florida Standards (LAFS) and the Mathematics Florida Standards (MAFS).
It is important to note the the LAFS are not substantive. That is, they don't say what a child should learn, only what skills he should have in each grade. For example, here is one of the standards for Kindergartners:
Recognize common types of texts. (e.g. storybooks, poems)
It doesn't say what books or poems Kindergartners should be reading or have read to them. Only that they should know the difference between a story and a poem. Ok.
The MAFS, on the other hand, are substantive, describing what math a child should know in each grade. For example, here is one of the standards for first graders:
Understand the meaning of the equal sign, and determine if equations involving addition and subtraction are true or false. For example, which of the following equations are true and which are false? 6=6, 7=8-1, 5+2=2+5, 4+1=5+2
The Singapore Math program that the Lake Worth Classical Academy will use for grades K-5 is aligned with the Common Core (and therefor also with the MAFS). That is, it will teach children what they need to know per these standards at each grade level.
The reading program that the Lake Worth Classical Academy will use -- Riggs phonics combined with Junior Great Books -- covers and goes well beyond the LAFS standards, which tend to emphasize reading comprehension.
We are not worried about the "Common Core" (LAFS and MAFS) affecting our curriculum. The bottom line is that it won't. Not at this point. Given the strength of our curriculum, our students should do very well on the state assessments that test whether they've met these standards of learning.
Here is a link to the LAFS standards for each grade: http://www.fldoe.org/pdf/lafs.pdf
Here is a link to the MAFS standards for each grade: http://www.fldoe.org/pdf/mathfs.pdf
It is important to note the the LAFS are not substantive. That is, they don't say what a child should learn, only what skills he should have in each grade. For example, here is one of the standards for Kindergartners:
Recognize common types of texts. (e.g. storybooks, poems)
It doesn't say what books or poems Kindergartners should be reading or have read to them. Only that they should know the difference between a story and a poem. Ok.
The MAFS, on the other hand, are substantive, describing what math a child should know in each grade. For example, here is one of the standards for first graders:
Understand the meaning of the equal sign, and determine if equations involving addition and subtraction are true or false. For example, which of the following equations are true and which are false? 6=6, 7=8-1, 5+2=2+5, 4+1=5+2
The Singapore Math program that the Lake Worth Classical Academy will use for grades K-5 is aligned with the Common Core (and therefor also with the MAFS). That is, it will teach children what they need to know per these standards at each grade level.
The reading program that the Lake Worth Classical Academy will use -- Riggs phonics combined with Junior Great Books -- covers and goes well beyond the LAFS standards, which tend to emphasize reading comprehension.
We are not worried about the "Common Core" (LAFS and MAFS) affecting our curriculum. The bottom line is that it won't. Not at this point. Given the strength of our curriculum, our students should do very well on the state assessments that test whether they've met these standards of learning.
Here is a link to the LAFS standards for each grade: http://www.fldoe.org/pdf/lafs.pdf
Here is a link to the MAFS standards for each grade: http://www.fldoe.org/pdf/mathfs.pdf
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Off to Phoenix
I'm off to Phoenix tomorrow to see Great Hearts academies. I'll stop by an upper school tomorrow afternoon, and then spend the whole day Friday at Archway Veritas, meeting with the headmaster, William Haley, and observing classes. -- Margaret Menge
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Application In
A draft application was turned in to the Palm Beach County School District on May 1. I'll get it back with comments by July 1, and have until August 1 to resubmit with changes. By October 1, we'll know whether we're approved to open the Lake Worth Classical Academy as a tuition-free charter school in August of 2015.
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