excel academy public charter school

466 Pages·2013·27.07 MB·English

Appendix A
EXCEL ACADEMY
PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL

A PROPOSED CHARTER AMMENDMENT

MARCH 5, 2012
EXCEL ACADEMY
PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL

A PROPOSED CHARTER AMMENDMENT

March 5, 2012
EXCEL ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL
Table of Contents
Section Page
Executive Summary ii
Amendment Information Sheet v
Maximum Enrollment Table vii

A. Educational Plan 2
1. Mission and Purpose of Charter School 2
2. Charter School Curriculum 7
3. Student Performance 27
4. Support for Learning 30
B. Business Plan 37
1. Planning and Establishment 37
2. Governance and Management 42
3. Finance 44
4. Facilities 46
5. Recruiting and Marketing 46
C. Plan of Operations 49
1. Student Policies and Procedures 49
2. Human Resources Information 50
3. Arrangements for Meeting District and Federal Requirements 55
4. Implementation of the Charter 56
D. Public Charter School Accountability
E. Certifications
1. Certificate of Liability Insurance
2. Personal Property Insurance
3. Professional Liability Insurance
4. Workers Compensation Policy
5. Commercial General Liability
F. Budget
1. Two-Year Operating Budget
2. Cash Flow Projections
G. Appendix A: Forms
H. Board of Trustee By-Laws
I. Appendix B: Educational Plan
1. 2012-2013 Academic Year School Calendar
J. Appendix C: Governance and Management
K. Appendix D: Policies and Procedure form Selection Admission, Enrollment, Withdrawal,
Suspension, and Expulsion of Student
1. Code of Conduct from Personnel Policy Manual 2011-12
2. Discipline Policy from Student Family Handbook 2011-12
Executive Summary
Mission
Excel Academy Public Charter School will provide pre-school through eighth grade girls a solid academic
foundation and enrichment opportunities to prepare them to succeed in high school and college and to
develop the skills and confidence they need to make healthy, positive lifestyle choices.

Academic Need
Educational achievement in the lower grades is one of the strongest indicators for high school graduation
rates, college attainment, and future lifetime earnings. In the District’s southeast quadrant, the situation is
especially dire with the highest concentration of children in poverty, the lowest performing schools, and
the largest number of students who are functioning basic and below basic in reading and math.
Innovative solutions are clearly needed.

Vision
Excel Academy’s Board members and staff believe that with strong support and training, all students can
learn and achieve at high levels. Our selection of instructional materials, methods and school-wide
structures have been informed by the best practices of successful schools across the nation that serve
populations similar to those of the targeted student population in Ward 8.1 We are using early and
frequent assessments to gauge students’ progress and identify academic needs per cohort and per
individual student, and respond to the data such assessments provide with immediacy. We hire highly
qualified teachers and have ongoing professional development to create and maintain a community of
respect and collaboration with our staff and parents.2 We embrace students’ parents and guardians as
essential partners in their student’s education, and we reach out to families and the wider community to
support Excel Academy’s girls.

Educational Approach
Research has concluded that single-sex schooling strongly supports “outcomes related to academic
achievement and more positive academic aspirations.”3 Research concerning the academic achievement
of girls suggests that in coeducational classrooms girls often defer to boys, are called on less frequently,
receive significantly less teacher attention, and are less likely to study mathematics and science. Evidence
suggests that attending single-sex schools improves many girls' academic performance and encourages
them to assume non-traditional career paths.

Since our founding day we have focused on: 1) providing a rigorous educational program for girls starting
in Preschool; 2) ensuring that students acquire the knowledge and skills that lead to success in high
school, college, and life; and 3) developing the personal characteristics in students that will serve them
throughout their lives. Our results have been significant. Our re-enrollment rate has remained higher than
90%, and our scholars show academic progress that far exceeds that of students in the peer schools in our
neighborhood. For instance, at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, 37% of Preschool scholars
were at or above age-equivalency according to the Brigance assessment. By the end of the school year

1 The core beliefs of Excel Academy are influenced by the best practices of North Star Academy and KIPP Team in Newark,
New Jersey; Elm City Prep and Amistad Academy of New Haven, Connecticut; and Roxbury Prep and Boston Collegiate in
Boston, Massachusetts. These schools serve student populations that are among the poorest in their states, yet demonstrate
consistent and statistically significant academic progress, as measured over time by their state assessment.
2 We have used the term parent throughout this application, but our children may be parented by guardians – by grandparents,
aunts and uncles, other family members or individuals who have become their caretakers and legal guardians. We thank all
guardians for their care for children and include them whenever we use the term parent.
3 Mael, Fred, Alex Alonso, Doug Gibson, Kelly Rogers, and Mark Smith. Single-Sex Versus Coeducation Schooling: A
Systematic Review. ED Publications, Jessup, MD. September, 2005.
Excel Academy Public Charter School Amendment Application ii
94% of our Preschool scholars were at or above age-equivalency. At the other end of our age-range, our
Second Grade scholars finished the year averaging three months ahead of pace in reading. In other words,
these scholars were reading as if they already completed the first three months of third grade.

In the 2011-2012 school year, Excel is serving 401 students in Preschool through the Third Grade. Next
school year, we will have grown to our full elementary school grade offering and size. Excel’s Middle
School, which will serve scholars in grades Fifth through Eighth, will open in 2013. We will use the
2012-2013 school year to plan for, equip, staff, and prepare for the opening of our Middle School.

Excel Academy has transitioned to the Common Core Standards as adopted by the District of Columbia
in June 2011. We believe that the Common Core Standards are well-aligned to our mission of academic
achievement and will ensure college and career readiness for our students. We will supplement the
Common Core Standards with DC Standards in science, social studies, art, music, health, and physical
education.

While we have implemented curricula, been proven successful by results, Excel is committed to looking
forward by critically assessing our curriculum and teaching methods. With the experience of the last four
years in mind, we have strengthened aspects of the curriculum that have proven successful while
remaining critical of those aspects that did not perform to the standard that Excel requires. We believe
that this process has allowed us to create an exceptional program that provides the solid academic
foundation that is essential for our scholars.

Instructional Philosophy and Focus
Excel Academy was founded on the belief that education can combat poverty, and that all children
deserve access to a high quality education, regardless of where they live or their gender. Following
extensive reviews of educational research, we believe that a high quality, single sex school for girls will
facilitate academic and personal development. Given the proper support, all children can develop a love
of learning and meet high academic and personal standards.

Excel’s focus on girls is based on a body of research that includes that of Dr. Rosemary C. Salomone
who writes in Same, Different, Equal: Rethinking Single-Sex Schooling: “…all-girls settings provide a
certain comfort level that helps girls develop greater self-confidence and broader interests, especially as
they approach adolescence.” She further indicates that single-sex schools and classes promote less-
gender-polarized attitudes toward certain subjects – math and science in the case of girls. 4

Many economically advantaged families have recognized the benefits of single sex schooling and have
exercised the option by sending their children to private girls or boys’ schools. This option has not existed
at the elementary level in the traditional public or public charter schools in the District of Columbia until
we began our school. Given the clear, well-documented benefits to girls of studying in a single-sex
environment.5 Excel is working to make high quality single-sex education available to young girls and
their families

4 Salomone, Rosemary C., Same, Different, Equal: Rethinking Single Sex Schooling, New Haven: Yale U, 2003. .
5 Karen Stabiner, All Girls, Single Sex Education and Why It Matters, Riverhead Books, New York, New York, 2002
Excel Academy Public Charter School Amendment Application iii
Maximum Enrollment Table

Excel Academy Public Charter School

Academic Year Academic Year Academic Year Academic Year Academic Year
Grade
2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017
Pre-School
85 85 85 85 85

Pre-
Kindergarten 95 95 95 100 100
(Pre-K)
Kindergarten
75 75 85 90 100

Grade 1
75 80 85 90 90

Grade 2
75 85 85 85 85

Grade 3
75 85 85 85 85

Grade 4
50 75 85 85 85

Grade 5
50 75 85 85

Grade 6
50 75 85

Grade 7
50 75

Grade 8
50

Total
530 630 730 830 925

# Campuses
1 1 1 1 1

Location Grades Served School Year

2501 Martin Luther King Ave. SE. Washington, DC 20020 Pre-School Academic Year
through Grade 8 2009-2010

Excel Academy Public Charter School Amendment Application vii

A. Education Plan

1. Mission and Purposes of the Public Charter School

a. Educational Needs of the Target Student Population

When Excel Academy was founded 32% of children in Washington, DC lived in poverty.6 Six years later
that number is at 29% but the major risks and obstacles to academic achievement for these children
remains the same.7

Excel’s founding group targeted the Ward 8 community it was because of the concentration of families
living in poverty. It is here, in southeast, that public schools remain lowest in academic achievement and
students constantly under-perform in comparison with those in other DC public schools.

With little change, Ward 8 still retains the highest poverty rate in the metropolitan area. Teen mothers
account for 20% of the births and single mothers head more than 74% of families. The unemployment
rate is at 17% and 21% of the population lacks a high school diploma. It is here that 48% of children live
in poverty.8 This remains the highest in both the District of Columbia and the greater metropolitan region.

In the first six years of testing aligned to the standards and assessment using the DC CAS, test results
have indicated that 50 % or more of students in local elementary schools have remained at basic or below
basic in reading and math.

Public schools in Ward 8 have the highest number of students scoring below basic and basic on the DC
CAS annual assessment and the largest number of schools not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)
benchmarks under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in the District. The scores reflect this and in the spring
of 2009 only 33% of students test at required standards in reading and only 32% in math. When compared
with Ward 3, the highest performing Ward, the difference in average test scores was 47 percentage points
in reading and 45 percentage points in math.

These scores continue to improve across the city and Ward 8 has made particular improvements but the
“variation across the wards reflecting the fact that high-performing schools are not distributed evenly
across the city.”9 Areas with the largest school-age population have relatively few high performing
schools and this “presents unique challenges to ensuring that every child has access to a quality
education.”10

Generally, once students fall behind academically, that is where they remain. The pattern of educational
failure points to a need for an intervention strategy that will lead to academic success for students. To
address this need, our purposes are ambitious but attainable. Excel Academy Public Charter School has
found success in meeting the educational needs of pre-school through third grade girls in the District of
Columbia through a challenging academic program with a vital character development component
delivered in a safe and structured single-sex learning environment.

6 2005 Kids Count Data Sheet, Annie E. Casey Foundation.
7 2011 Kids Count Data Sheet, Annie E. Casey Foundation.
8 Neighborhood Info DC: Neighborhood Profiles - www.neighborhoodinfodc.org/wards/nbr_prof_wrd8.html
9 State of Washington, D.C.’s Neighborhoods 2010, The Government of the District of Columbia, pg.65
10 Ibid, pg. 66
Excel Academy Public Charter School Amendment Application 2
b. Mission and Philosophy

Mission
Excel Academy Public Charter School provides pre-school through eighth grade girls a solid academic
foundation and enrichment opportunities to prepare them to succeed in high school and college and to
develop skills and confidence they need to make healthy, positive lifestyle choices.

Philosophy
Excel Academy was founded on the belief that education can combat poverty and that all children deserve
access to high quality education.

Two primary factors informed the decision to begin with a strong early childhood program serving
preschool to 3rd grade girls. The factors are shaped by community-specific factors: low academic
achievement and poverty. There is overwhelming evidence indicating the long term positive effects of
early academic intervention for children, especially children living in poverty, and their future academic
success. The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study specifically addressed the educational implications for
children when the family’s poverty status, race, and school type are reviewed. Developing and applying
early literacy and numeracy skills in a highly structured setting in the preschool through 3rd grade years is
a critical component of our academic program to ensure high levels of proficiency in core subjects:
reading, language, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies.

To meet the educational needs of families raising girls in Ward 8, Excel Academy provides:
 A single-sex environment rooted in high academic achievement and learning for every student
that permits staff to focus instructional strategies on the learning needs and styles of girls;
 An early education intervention model that offers preschool for three-year-olds to promote school
readiness at kindergarten, with small-group learning;
 A standards–based curricula with demonstrated mastery of skill and knowledge as primary tenets;
 A practice of using data from internal and external assessments to drive decisions;
 An outstanding school staff and faculty focused on Excel’s mission and students;
 A rich program of extracurricular endeavors, including a female mentoring program;
 The use of books and resources that do not promote negative or damaging gender-stereotypes;
 The use of support services to respond to academic and personal needs (i.e. mentoring, tutoring);
 An extended day and extended school year; and
 A non-academic training program that compliments the academic program and promotes
respectful behavior and accountability to the school’s Code of Conduct.

With a strong academic foundation and essential life skills, Excel Academy’s students will build a solid
foundation which can lead to independent, self-supporting lives.

Through our college preparatory mission starting in the youngest grades, we will build relationships with
families that culminate with our high school placement counselor working with students and their
families in the 7th grade to identify opportunities for placement at high performing senior high schools.
Our mission will be fully realized when in the 8th grade students and a family member(s) visit boarding
schools, local private and parochial schools and high performing charter or traditional public schools. We
anticipate that privately raised funds will offset testing, related application costs and provide other
resources essential to ensuring a student’s continued success in high school: uniforms, books, tutoring and
counseling. We plan to work with private sector foundations to offset the costs of providing long-term
support for students: college visits, college applications and testing, visits home if away at a boarding
school, and other types of support to ensure college graduation within five years of high school
graduation.

Excel Academy Public Charter School Amendment Application 3