CHARTER SCHOOLS an “A PLUS”
for ATLANTIC COUNTY…and BEYOND
(Galloway Township, NJ – November, 2007) A recent study by Johns Hopkins University which received a great deal of attention labeled some 1,700 schools nationwide “dropout factories.” The report, which included 13 New Jersey schools, had districts across the country scrambling to respond with explanations as to circumstances or social factors that led to the negative statistics. Interestingly enough, there are additional reports recently released that paint a much more positive picture of the status of students in America, but which have not received nearly as much attention as the Johns Hopkins study - yet. These reports focus on schools where students - even those in low-income areas – are performing better and showing greater achievement than in traditional schools: charter schools.
Charter schools for years have been the subject of misperceptions and misinformation with respect to funding, effectiveness and justification for existence. However, recent studies by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools not only debunk those myths, they also bring some important points to light that are quite timely, given the Johns Hopkins report.
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is a national nonprofit organization committed to advancing the charter school movement. The Alliance works to increase the number of high performing charter schools available to all families, serve as a resource to state charter school associations, advocate public policy on the issue, and serve as a united voice for the movement.
Charter schools have been accused of taking money from public schools and threatening the jobs of teachers while the exact opposite is true. In actuality, with charter schools growing in both market share and educational impact across the nation, new resources and funding become available to communities, as do new career opportunities for teachers.
The most recent Alliance study released “incorporates 12 new studies published in the past year for a total of 70 comparative analyses [over the past four years] of charter school and traditional public school performance.” The study found that not only are student gains in public charter schools larger than those in traditional public schools, but as charter schools mature, student academic performance continues to improve.
In Atlantic County, the news is no surprise to Galloway Community Charter School Director Deborah Nataloni. “Not everyone understands just what a charter school is,” she explains. “Charter Schools are not private schools. They are publicly-funded, tuition-free schools where teachers carry the same certification as other public schools, but the approach to education is very different than in traditional districts. Learning is individualized and students are measured against their own performance and progress, not against other students.”
And, while nontraditional and innovative methods are introduced in the charter classrooms, it is done within a strict academic framework so that the school is able to demonstrate regular accountability and results to the state that has granted the charter. At Galloway, the charter has students following four separate 10-week areas of study in the following areas: International Studies, Technology, Arts & Humanities, and Environmental Studies. Each area is tailored to a level that is appropriate for the age of the student, from Kindergarten through 8 th grade. And it would appear that such an approach is not only new, it’s needed. The Galloway Community Charter School, one of some 4,000+ charter schools across the country educating over one million children, recently celebrated its tenth year in existence and continues to grow.
“We see more and more parents switching their children to charter schools each year because they want their children to thrive and learn, not struggle against a grade point or a student who learns differently than they do,” continues Nataloni. “Charter schools see and appreciate the individuality of each student and foster the type of education that allows them to think and succeed on their own.”
“We like to say that ‘our students are not consumers of knowledge, but producers of knowledge.’ That’s the gift of a charter school.”
Both studies mentioned above and more information on charter schools can be found at the Alliance’s website at www.publiccharters.org.
SPRING HAS SPRUNG AT THE
GALLOWAY COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL AND
THE SIGNS OF KIDS HELPING KIDS CAN BE SEEN EVERYWHERE
Galloway Twp., NJ, April 9, 2007-- Signs of Spring are everywhere at the free and public Galloway Community Charter School, located on New York Avenue, in Galloway. Students in kindergarten through the eighth grade are learning and sharing lessons about community in and outside of the classroom.
The Buddy Program is just one element of the Caring School Communities Program at the school. Students learn as they come in the door that they are connected to everyone in the small school and they are each an important member of a Caring Community. Older students are partnered as “buddies” with younger students and together they learn responsibility and patience.
The 1st, 3rd, and 7th grade classes typically get together twice a month to share in fun and learning. The Buddy Classes of Mrs. D’Amato, Mrs. Cilmi and Mrs. Wendt combined their powers of observation to record the changes from one season to another. Together buddies discovered fresh green grass growing up through the matted stubble, new buds on the trees and excitedly greeted ants. After exploring the school grounds, the children sat down to compare discoveries and to chart their results.
The kindergarten class of Mrs. Barbara Pouls went beyond the walls of the classroom to help a community of children with more than 200 forms of cancer and other catastrophic diseases by participating in the St. Judes Math-a-thon. Students obtained sponsors for the number of arithmetic problems completed in special workbooks provided to the students. The class raised $1700 to help children who are less fortunate than themselves.
GALLOWAY COMMUNITY CHARTER SCHOOL STUDENTS WINS 3 RD PLACE AT REGIONAL “ODYSSEY OF THE MIND” COMPETITION, ADVANCES TO STATE LEVEL COMPETITION
 Galloway Twp., NJ, March 2007 – Galloway Community Charter School (GCCS) recently sent two teams to compete in the regional Odyssey of The Mind Saturday, March 3, 2007 at Ewing High School, Ewing, New Jersey. Competing against nearly xx teams, the GCCS 6 th/7 th grade team (Division II) placed third and will advance to compete at the state level on April 14, 2007.
Odyssey of the Mind is a world-wide competition, where groups of seven students work together to prepare strategy and solve a long-term problem in the Technology and/or Arts and Humanities disciplines. In addition to their assigned problem, the students are given a spontaneous problem which is scored and is added to the long-term problem score for a team total. The top three finishes in each problem, in each division, advance to the state level competition.
The GCCS 6 th/7 th grade team members: Richard Loper, Nick Risley, Brian McAlister, Hunter Lucas, Nick Coren, Emily Weisbecker and Kelly Jenkins, chose the contest’s “Tag ‘Em” challenge as their project. The “Tag Em” challenge required student teams to build a vehicle that under its own propulsion could travel a total of 17 feet while “tagging” at least 10 of a total of 20 objects along the way for a maximum score. Additionally, each student team is required to write a theme script and create costumes in order to distinguish their solution from others and further illustrate each group’s creativity, originality and ability to solve a problem as a team.
Guided by GCCS teacher and team coach Pamela Fitzsimmons, the GCCS team solution included a Hazardous Materials scenario theme. GCCS students played scientists and hazmat technicians removing poison chemicals (soda bottles served as the tagged items) with their 18-inch car, self-propelled by using the moter from a pencil sharpener. The car tagged ten of the soda bottles (tagged items) using magnets, thereby removing the items from a fictitious radio active site preventing a catastrophic explosion. Team members also constructed their own Hazmat costumes and scientist attire.
“The students are very excited and working hard to compete in the states on April 14, 2007,” stated Deborah A. Nataloni, School Administrator. “Whether it involves the Individual Learning Plans we provide for our students, or group collaboration, the Odyssey competition and our students performance illustrates the kind of innovative and comprehensive approach Galloway Community Charter School brings to educating our community’s children,” she added.
About Galloway Community Charter School
Residents of Galloway Township have a choice for public education. With classes at all grade levels K-8, Galloway Community Charter School offers small class sizes (maximum class sizes are 15-16), longer instructional day and full-day kindergarten. Recognizing that no two students are alike, we specialize in Individual Learning Plans for advanced learners as well as challenged students. Smaller class size allows our highly certified teaching staff to maximize each student’s potential and performance and technology is offered for all grade levels.
A “Caring School Community”, GCCS a free, non-tuition based school, preference for enrollment is given to Galloway Township residents and accepts enrollment of non-district students.
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