Advanced Classical Education ACE Academy

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Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School
Julia Sigalovsky, Executive Director Mikhail
(Michael) Khmelnitskiy, Principal Anna Charny,
David Foster, Sandra Witkos, Lance Benzley,
Members of the Board of Trustees
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Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School

• What is a Charter School?
• AMSA Educational Model
• AMSA Organizational Model
• The School Culture
• Enrollment Policy
• Questions Answers

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What is a Charter School?

• Charter Schools?Public schools
• tuition-free, open for all students
• under same laws and regulations as the district
  schools
• Charter Schools?Independent schools
• have their own educational models
• control their own resources and staff
• Charter Schools? Accountability
• performance-based, accountable to parents for
  results
• under rigorous review by the Mass. Department of
  Education

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What is a Charter School?

• History of Education Reform
• National history
• In 1991 Minnesota passed a charter school
  enabling law
• In 2003 37 states 2,695 charter schools
• Massachusetts history
• 1993 Mass. Education Reform Act
• 1995 - First charter schools in Massachusetts
• In 2004 56 charter schools are open in Mass
• 19,000 students enrolled in Mass. charter schools
• 13,000 students waiting to enter charter schools
• 3 charter schools will open in 2005
• 5 more proposed charter schools under final review

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Academic Goals

• Bring quality education typical for private or
  exam schools to public, tuition-free setting
• Specific focus on Math and Science
• critical thinking skills for a lifetime
• Rich Humanity courses broad knowledge of human
  culture in historical prospective
• Tutoring and additional academic support and
  enrichment programs provided in school, no
  outside tutors needed
• Celebration of knowledge
• Broad range of after school activities

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Academic Goals (cont.)

• College-bound
• Academic preparedness level sufficient for the
  best colleges
• Every subject studied is AP level. AMSA
  students will be able to take and pass AP exams
  in all major subjects by the end of the 11th
  grade.
• Preparation for SAT I and II (major subjects)
• 12th grade work toward college, internships
• Special college application services in 12th
  grade.

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AMSA Teaching Concepts

• Differentiated curriculum discrete subjects of
  Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Literature, English
  Language, History, Geography.
• Subjects taught across multiple years
• Early challenge High school level curriculum
  starting in Middle school
• Highly structured, sequential curriculum, from
  simple to complex concepts

Atom Structure for Scandium
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AMSA Teaching Concepts (cont.)

• Each subject centers on teaching
• theory and fundamental concepts
• Two achievement levels in Math, Physics, Computer
  Science
• The same 6-11-grade curriculum for all students
• Three specialization options in 12th grade
• Math/Physics/Computer Science, Bio/Chemistry,
  Humanities

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AMSA Humanities

• Chronologically synchronized
• 6-year-long World History,
• World Literature, and History of Art courses
• Heavy emphasis on United States and local
  history, literature and art
• English Language rigorous grammar, spelling,
  vocabulary, essay writing
• Choice of 7 foreign languages
• Spanish, Portuguese, French, Latin, Russian,
  Chinese, Hebrew
• Humanities specialization option 12th grade

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AMSA Tradition Innovation

• AMSAs hybrid educational model
• Based in part on the best of
• internationally-proven school models
• Educational model structure
• Based in part on the best from US education
• Emphasis on American culture, history, geography
  and literature
• Includes Core Knowledge Sequence
• Includes and exceeds Mass. Curriculum Frameworks
• Includes preparation for SAT I and II (major
  subjects)
• Many original courses developed especially for
  AMSA
• Computer Science/Information Technology, World
  History, World Literature, Art and Art History
  Geography/Geology

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How do we hire teachers?

• Requirements for the teachers qualification
• highly qualified professionals in the field
• must love children, passionate about teaching
• experienced teachers
• 4 components of hiring process
• Interview (12 pts)
• Technical knowledge test (10 pts)
• Model lesson (10 pts)
• Teaching credentials (12 pts)

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Academy and Industry Support

• Our Advisory Board
• Experienced educators, highly qualified
  professionals in the field, such as
• Dr. Sandra Stotsky, former Senior Associate
  Commissioner at the DOE,
• Paul Gagnon, Prof. of Harvard University
• Supervise curriculum and syllabi development
• Our Supporters
• Academy
• Diane Ravitch, author of Left back
• MIT
• Boston College
• Framingham State College
• North-Eastern University
• Industry (Corporate) Support
• Cisco
• Intel

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Continuous Professional Development and
Curriculum Improvement
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Students Teachers Organization

• Students organization
• Balanced classes of 22-24 students
• Homeroom and Homeroom Teacher
• Students stay in the Homeroom except for sciences
  and PE Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer
  Science taught in labs
• Teachers organization
• Teachers move between classrooms
• Teachers organized by subjects
• (Departments and Sections)
• Teachers remain with the same
• classes for a number of years

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School Schedule

• School year 185-190 school days/year
• Regular school Holidays and vacations
• School week 35 periods
• School day 7 x 50-min periods
• four 5-min breaks
• one 15-min snack break
• one 30-min lunch break

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Subjects Hours

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Sample Weekly Schedule, 6th grade
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Sample Weekly Schedule, 7th-10th grades
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Housekeeping Issues

• Location
• Negotiating lease in Marlborough
• Transportation
• For the residents of the town where the school is
  located - district buses
• Optional buses for non-residents
• Food
• Hot lunches

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Socio-Emotional Goals

• Bring up responsible, productive and successful
  community members
• Get kids excited about power of knowledge,
  intellectual curiosity, personal achievement,
  personal responsibility
• Take kids away from TV, violent computer games,
  malls, drugs, hours of brainless activity

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How does AMSA accomplish the Goals?

• AMSA believes that all children can learn
• Advanced in the Academys name means every
  student becomes an advanced student
• High standards and expectations for everyone
• Learning is Celebrated
• Competition teams, problems
• of the week, logic puzzles
• brain teasers, weekly effort
• and attitude awards, peer tutoring
• Discipline and positive working habits
• School dress uniforms

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How does AMSA accomplish the Goals?

• Academic achievement is emphasized and
  celebrated every child will be
• Safe to learn
• Proud to learn it is cool to know a lot
• Rewarded for learning
• Leadership and organizational skills training
• Prefects organization of non-academic class
  activities.
• Hall Duty Students self-discipline
• Helpers Crews Serving lunch cleaning

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How does AMSA accomplish the Goals?

• Socio-Emotional Skills Training during Weekly
  Homeclass hour
• Enter to learn, go forth to serve
• to make contribution to community and the World
• Discussion of moral and ethical issues
• respect, integrity, honesty, and other moral
  virtues
• bullying problem and how to fight it
• Team work
• Discussion of current events

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Parent Involvement

• Parent Support Group
• Assist in the after school programs
• Assist in fundraising for the school
• Assist in organizing field trips
• Involve parents in active support of their
  childrens education process
• Collect parents feedback on school performance
• Parent Education and Information
• Regular parent information sessions, Newsletter
• Web site database, Daily Record Books

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Students-Parents-School Contract

• School
• Provide rigorous, high-standard, dynamic
  instruction. Maintain high academic standards.
  Enforce all rules consistently, equally and
  justly. Communicate regularly and openly with
  parents.
• Families and Students
• Support of AMSAs rigorous academic program and
  promotion policy, homework policy, high
  behavioral standards, discipline policy, uniform
  code

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After School Activities

• Sports team sports,
• cross-country skiing
• Theater, newspaper, radio station
• Field trips museums, outbound trips
• Clubs a political debate club, a literature
  critics club, a chess club
• Music, orchestra, Art Studio, set design
• Extended day program
• Future plans summer and vacation camps

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Enrollment Policy

• 2005-06 school year 6th and 7th grades, 6
  classes per grade, 23 students per each class ?
  276 seats
• Deadline December 31, 2004, 5 PM
• Lottery January 11th, 2005
• If the number of applications is smaller than the
  number of spaces - everyone is enrolled
• Have received applications from 28 towns so far...

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For More Information

• Read detailed description of the schools
  educational program at the AMSA Charter School
  web site
• www.AMSAcs.org
• Executive Director Julia Sigalovsky
• Phone [phone]
• j.sigalovsky_at_AMSAcs.org