New charter school success story: Menlo Park Academy
Yesterday, the Fordham Institute released the latest profile in their Pathway to Success series. The profile features Menlo Park Academy in Cleveland. Menlo Park, a school designed to uniquely support gifted students, shows how the charter public school model can be used to serve an often overlooked student group. You can read the new profile here—and please do let Madison Yoder know if you have any suggestions for future profiles.
State Superintendent visits Columbus charter school
Yesterday, State Superintendent Paolo DeMaria visited the Columbus Collegiate Academy - Main campus. Several seventh and eighth grade USN scholars had the opportunity to participate in a discussion with the Superintendent and share their experiences as middle school students. You can learn more about the round-table panel on the campus’ Facebook page.
Columbus charter school parents having trouble with busing
Charter school students in Columbus continue to face some pretty big transportation issues. This has been a particular issue for Summit Academy, where some students have literally missed weeks of school at the start of the year due to problems receiving transportation from Columbus City Schools as a result of the district’s new online transportation request process.
The disparate aftermath of ECOT's closure
Public media outlets in Ohio this week took a brief look at how the mid-year closure of ECOT has affected both students and teachers. A family in Canal Winchester is still looking for the right balance—one child has opted for a traditional district school, while another has opted for homeschooling. Meanwhile, a former administrator and a former teacher at ECOT seem to have landed on their feet quite quickly with similar-paying jobs in the rural district in which they live.
School Performance Institute workshop
Are you a school leader interested in purposefully designing your school for improvement? Then you should check out the School Performance Institute’s upcoming workshop. You’ll have an opportunity to visit a high-performing charter school during a school day (to observe how the school has been purposefully designed to get results in a high-poverty context using proven methods) and discuss concrete ways to apply these ideas in your own school. You can register here, if interested, or contact John A. Dues for more information.
