Whole School Paper

Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School:
Building Character and Achieving Academic Success

By Piel Hollingsworth, Co-Director
and Tara Small, Director of Strategic Development

Keeping the Promise: The Massachusetts Charter School Dissemination and Replication Project

Massachusetts Charter Public School Association

2007

ABSTRACT

Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School opened in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood in 1997 with the mission of providing a rigorous college-preparatory program to students of Boston in grades six through twelve. With MCAS scores above district and state averages, and 92% of our eighty-three alumni enrolled full time in college, APR has achieved a ten-year track record of success. Several elements comprise the key to our accomplishments: our high academic standards and academic support; our focus on building character; the consistency and coherence of our program; the strong relationships within our small community; and our dedicated faculty.

HISTORY

In 1995, a founding team of over twenty educators and citizens of Boston led by former Boston School Committee members, Dr. Robert Guen and Dr. Robert Consalvo, was granted a five-year charter to operate a middle and high school serving urban families. Dr. Guen and Dr. Consalvo sought to create a school that operated under the guiding philosophy that all young people, not just the privileged or exceptionally talented, can achieve to the highest standard if they are given the opportunities and supports necessary to succeed.

Since educational research and literature in the early 1990s revealed that American students trailed significantly behind their Asian counterparts, especially in math and science (Stevenson & Stigler, 1992). Dr. Guen and Dr. Consalvo designed the Academy of the Pacific Rim to blend the best of Eastern and Western educational philosophies, combining Asian-inspired standards of discipline and character education with a commitment to the individualism, creativity and diversity prevalent in American schools. The founders intentionally incorporated Asian character-building rituals into the school's daily program in order to prepare our students for exemplary citizenship, as well as academic success.

The Academy opened in the summer of 1997 with one hundred sixth and seventh graders in a space shared with a parochial school in Hyde Park. As our school continued to add students and grades each year, we soon outgrew the six classrooms of rented space, and in October of 1999, Board members, faculty, students, and families moved the Academy to our current space at One Westinghouse Plaza in Hyde Park. We currently serve more than 370 students in grades 6-12. Now, in year ten, we have just purchased our building, and we are preparing to welcome eighty fifth-grade students to our program in the fall of 2007.

The Academy primarily serves low-income families in Boston’s urban center. In 2006-2007, our students came from Hyde Park (42%), Dorchester (17%), Roslindale (10%), and Mattapan/Roxbury (12%). Our population was 58% African-American, 24% Caucasian, 12% Hispanic, 3% Asian, and 3% mixed. More than fifty percent of our students had incomes below the poverty line. Eighteen percent received special education services (Academy of the Pacfic Rim Charter School, Annual Report, 2007).

MISSION, GOALS, AND OBJECTIVES

The Academy’s mission is to empower urban students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds to achieve their full intellectual and social potential by combining the best of the East—high standards, discipline and character education—with the best of the West—a commitment to individualism, creativity and diversity (Consalvo et al., 1995).

Our unique Asian-inspired approach to education permeates the school, and character education is integrated into each day, guiding our teaching and learning, as well as helping us meet, and ideally surpass, our goals each year. Our students and faculty continually strive for KG-PRIDE (Kaizen — Gambatte — Purpose — Respect — Integrity — Daring — Excellence), which is infused in everything we do at APR. For example, every day at the Academy, we engage in kaizen, a Japanese practice that means to continually improve our community and ourselves. One way to see kaizen in action is in the way our teachers work hard to design focused and engaging lessons every day, and collaborate in grade-level teams to support students in each grade. Kaizen is also reflected in the way we work with families on a daily basis, maintaining consistent communication through e-mail, telephone, and in person to ensure that parents, guardians, students and teachers are all working together to reach our full potential.

Another clear demonstration of kaizen is in our commitment to continually improving the program we offer. We have made programmatic, scheduling, organizational, and leadership changes over the life of the school that were guided by our mission and the desire to better serve our students. Specifically, we have addressed both large and small aspects of the school, including our leadership structure, course offerings, discipline system, character education curriculum, and even how we collect homework, take attendance, and require students to enter their classrooms. This improvement process happens both formally and informally: if there is a significant issue that needs to be addressed, such as the school schedule or the addition of a grade, we create a task force that meets outside of school time over the course of a year to research the issue, solicit faculty input, and present a proposal to the Board of Trustees. More informally, a teacher might raise an issue such as lack of homework completion at a faculty meeting. Once the problem is outlined, the faculty works together to create a solution to the challenge, and implement a plan of action immediately.

For example, in 2004-2005, a group was created to examine our school schedule. For our first eight years, we had a 210-day school year, and a school day going from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The last month of school was called Review Block and served students who had not demonstrated mastery of the standards for their grade level. Students in good academic standing participated in off-campus internships during this time. Many of us were unsure of Review Block’s effectiveness, but did not have the time to rethink our program while we were teaching. So, nine of us met bi-weekly for five months during the evening and for one weekend retreat to evaluate our current schedule and explore other options. We broke down the topics we wanted to address, such as tutoring and extra curricular activities. We also researched best practices, visited other schools, and spent many hours brainstorming how to create the best schedule for APR.We then presented our ideas to the faculty for input, refined our plan, and presented a proposal to change our school schedule to the Board of Trustees, and then, ultimately, to the Department of Education for its approval. Now, we have a 190-day school year with daily tutoring during our afternoon block of individualized schedules and staggered dismissals.

To compensate members of the task force for the time involved, we used some of our professional development funds to pay them a small stipend and provide food at each meeting. Members of the task force also received a significant professional development opportunity in being able to visit other schools and strategize about school-wide change. This commitment by individuals and the institution to collectively examine and then improve our school embodies our spirit of kaizen.

The G in KG-PRIDE stands for “Gambatte,” a Japanese word that means “persist and never give up.” Gambatte is our guiding philosophy: fundamental to all of our expectations and programs is our belief that it is our students’ efforts, not their innate ability, that determines their success. At the Academy, all students strive to reach the same high academic standards of our rigorous college preparatory program because we believe that with hard work and perseverance, every student can meet these standards. This gambatte ethos drives our extended day and year schedule and our tutoring programs: if a student is struggling academically, it is not because s/he cannot do the work, s/he simply needs to try again and have support in doing so. Gambatte also influences our assessment practices. Students are continually encouraged to submit multiple drafts and redo assignments after receiving feedback from teachers until they feel their work reflects their full effort and full potential. Through gambatte, our students' persistence and hard work leads to a deeper understanding of the material as well as more accurate final grades. And it is this perseverance on both our students’ and teachers’ parts that ultimately leads to our success.

To teach our guiding virtues to our students, we borrow from the Confucian idea that internal character is built and reinforced by external routines and rituals. For example:

• Zheng li: School cleaning time is structured into each student’s schedule. Students clean their homerooms daily and the cafeteria in “hans,&8221; which are small groups of students mobilized for classwork and cleaning tasks. Working in groups helps foster the life skills of cooperation and trust, and the virtues of respect and integrity.
• Call to Order: Prompted by a deliberate hand-gesture from the teacher within the first five to ten minutes of class, the call to order signifies the official beginning of formalized instruction. It is an opportunity for the teacher to establish eye contact with students, check uniforms, verify that the space is clean, and make sure that all students are ready to learn. Often teachers use this time to inspire the class with words of encouragement. The Call-to-Order concludes with an audible, deliberate, and meaningful greeting by the teacher, followed by an enthusiastic echoed response from the class. Inspired by a practice common throughout Asia, this ritual sets a tone of order, discipline, and mutual respect in the classroom.
• Gambatte Award: During ceremonies that occur twice a week in our middle school and once a week in our high school, one student is awarded the “Gambatte” in recognition of his or her perseverance. We have adopted the statue of the Japanese school boy Ninomiya Kinjiro as our symbol of the gambatte spirit (see front cover). In the mid-nineteenth century, Kinjiro was orphaned and sank into poverty. But he studied and worked with local farmers from early morning to late at night, and after ten years of tiereless struggle, Kinjiro brought agricultural reforms to more than six hundred Japanese villages. He taught his fellow villagers how to set ambitious goals and how to achieve them through education, hard work, and helping one’s neighbors (Japan Behind the Scenes, n.d.). The Gambatte Award has become the most sought after honor at the Academy.

To further reflect the school's unique Asian component, all students begin their study of Mandarin Chinese, the only language offered at the school, in grade seven and continue through grade twelve. Additionally, in an effort to truly practice bicultural education and understanding, APR established a relationship with Beijing #80, a high school in Beijing, China, and has offered an exchange opportunity for our students and faculty for the past six years. Each year in January, fifteen students from Beijing visit APR for a ten-day stay. During their visit, they live with students’ families, attend classes with APR students, and tour Boston and surrounding neighborhoods. Each year in April, fifteen APR students and two faculty members travel to China, where they, too, are assigned to live with host families, attend classes at Beijing #80, and visit cultural locations throughout Beijing. All high school students at APR are eligible for this trip, and they earn this through a selection process that requires an application and interviews with a team of adults. The entire exchange, including airfare, housing, and food for both hosting and sending students costs roughly $25,000; APR students contribute from $250-$500 each depending upon their ability to pay, and the Academy raises approximately $20,000 in private funds to pay for the rest. The goals of the cultural exchange are to enhance our teaching and learning of Mandarin by having students use the language directly with native speakers in the native country; to increase student knowledge of and interest in Chinese society, culture, and values; and to offer students an independent global learning experience. As a result of this very special opportunity, many of our alumni are continuing their study of Mandarin in college and three students have chosen to spend summers, semesters and even an entire school year in China. We have also begun a teacher exchange program and will host two Mandarin-speaking teaching interns during the 2007-2008 academic year.

As we have only seven years to prepare our students for college and successful careers in adulthood, we set and measure our progress toward ambitious annual school-wide goals and objectives for both academics and character through our school's Accountability Plan. (See Appendix A) As do all charter schools in Massachusetts, we document progress toward our accountability plan goals through an annual report to the Department of Education.

We expect our students to be proficient readers and writers of the English language and demonstrate competency in mathematical computation and problem solving. We measure our progress toward this goal each year by our results on MCAS. Our goal is for each of our students to take and pass the Grade 10 ELA and Math MCAS by the end of tenth grade, and for at least 75% of our students who have been enrolled at the Academy for two or more years to score in the Proficient or Advanced performance category on the ELA and Math MCAS exam at each grade level tested.

Fundamental to this academic success are our expectations for our students’ behavior. We insist that each student adhere to the rigorous code of conduct we have established. (See Appendix B for an excerpt from our discipline code) We measure our progress toward this goal internally through citizenship ratings and merit awards, which help teachers recognize students for the good choices they are making and the good behaviors they exhibit. We also regularly analyze discipline data to look for and address trends in student behavior, including both major and minor infractions of our discipline code. Finally, we survey Academy families once each year for an external perspective on the results of our character education program. It is our goal to have at least eighty percent of families describe Academy students as respectful, and to express agreement with the statement, “The school is helping my student become a person of good character.”

The Academy’s ultimate goal and measure of success is the success of our alumni. As a student of a college preparatory school, each senior is expected to apply to a variety of colleges. Our goal is for every Academy senior to be accepted to a four year college, and for at least 90% of seniors to matriculate full-time to a two-year or four-year college. In order to help our students choose the right college for them, as well as to prepare them to be successful adults, we require high school students to complete a 75-hour college- or career-oriented internship, called Pacific Rim Enrichment Project (P.R.E.P.), each summer. One APR faculty member coordinates the students’ application process and placement, and each student selects a faculty advisor with whom s/he stays in contact over the summer. We now have established relationships with many college-based programs, such as Harvard Crimson Academy and Simmons College Upward Bound, as well as highly respected programs such as Summer Search. Additionally, our students are active in many Boston institutions, such as the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, the New England Aquarium, and Boys and Girls Clubs. As a result of their participation in P.R.E.P., our students leave us with an understanding and knowledge of a variety of career and educational options, effective workplace and study skills, and a strong work ethic to ensure their success in those settings.

KEYS TO OUR SUCCESS

We believe there are many components of our program that contribute to our success. Ultimately, we do not think that one aspect is most important, but rather, it is our entire program that helps students be successful; in fact, we believe that the coherence of our overall program along with our ability to initiate and follow through on clear systems is one of our greatest strengths. Beyond our philosophical approach, however, we can point to some of the specific aspects of our program that are most essential to our students’ academic performance and our ten-year track record of impressive results.

High Academic Standards, Rigorous Curriculum, and Academic Support Systems

Data-Driven Instructional Approach: From the outset, the Academy has used the Massachusetts State Curriculum Frameworks and combined them with the best national benchmarks and standards, such as those articulated by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Science Foundation, and the National History Project. Each year, we take a close look at student performance on a variety of assessment data to ensure that our standards are aligned with state frameworks and that students are mastering the necessary content and skills. In addition to focusing on MCAS data, we have partnered with of the Massachusetts Public School Performance Project (MPSP) for the past two years to administer a series of assessments that give us real-time data for individual students in the middle school, as well as aggregate performance on specific standards. Teams of teachers and the principal plan subsequent instruction based on this data, determining whether there is a need for whole class re-teaching of concepts and skills, differentiated lessons, and/or specific skill instruction in small group tutoring.

The process of implementing MPSP was not without its challenges, and using it has been fundamental to our tangible focus on data-driven instruction in the middle school. When we first presented this assessment plan to teachers, many were wary, because they thought the assessments might force them to change their curriculum. Over time, however, as assessments were administered and individual teachers reviewed the data with the middle school principal, most teachers realized the value of knowing exactly what skills and knowledge their students could demonstrate. Based on the data they received, teachers began to create groups based on students’ readiness for a particular skill, such as combining like terms or finding the main idea in a reading passage. Once teachers saw students’ performance improve after such targeted instruction, they were eager to receive this data and to discuss it in grade-level meetings, department meetings, individual meetings with the principal, and informal conversations in the faculty room.

Demanding Academic Curriculum: Academy students commit to rigorous academic preparation. They read challenging and diverse fiction and non-fiction texts, write analytical essays, examine primary sources, and solve abstract mathematical problems. They read, write, and speak Mandarin Chinese beginning in the seventh grade. Our core high school curriculum includes four years of English, math, history, science, and Mandarin, and there are no course options until senior year. (See Appendix C for complete course sequence.)

Promotion Policy: To complement our standards-driven, rigorous college preparatory program, we have a strict promotion policy: students enter the next grade level only if they have mastered the material in each one of the subject areas in their current grade. All students must pass each subject with an average of 70% or better. In order for our students to meet these high academic expectations, we have developed a bi-weekly system of communicating academic progress to students and families. Every other week all students review their grades with their advisors and then with their families at home. This communication helps to ensure that students and families are aware of their progress toward mastery of the standards, and can utilize the support systems we have in place to improve performance, if necessary.

Academic Support Systems: Of equal importance to our high expectations and rigorous curriculum are our academic support systems. At APR we believe that with adequate time and support, all of our students can achieve the highest standards. Our longer school day (7:45a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) and 190-day calendar year provides an extra 9-64 days of instructional time in comparison to local district public schools. We tailor this extra time to meet the needs of our diverse student body and use some of the extra hours to offer an array of academic support programs for students in need of them. Each grade-level teaching team uses internal academic data, diagnostics and external assessments to determine appropriate student supports. Students needing extra help are often assigned to work in small-group tutoring, which happens daily from 3:15 to 4:10 p.m. A student can also choose to participate in tutoring, or tutoring can be requested by the student's family. In the middle school, tutoring groups are reevaluated each month, while in the high school this occurs each trimester. Additionally, many students work with their academic teacher from 4:15 to 5:00 p.m. to improve basic reading and math skills, prepare for MCAS or receive help with homework or class work. In this period of our school day, we also offer optional extra-curricular activities, such as dance, swimming, and kung fu. Students who meet specific academic and behavioral criteria are eligible for early dismissal at 3:15 p.m. (See Appendix D for our school schedule.)

In addition to the assistance offered to all students, we provide significant academic support to students with disabilities. We have a talented and dedicated team of learning specialists who each have a small number of students on their caseload. Depending on their needs as determined by the IEP team, students meet with a learning specialist during the afternoon tutoring periods and/or during Chinese class to receive academic support in a small group setting. (Foreign language requirements are waived for students who need academic support during the day.) Our learning specialists meet formally once a week with each academic teacher, and they also engage in extensive informal collaboration to tailor upcoming instruction and assessments to meet students' special learning needs. We believe that our students' success is due to this intense and constant collaboration between learning specialists and classroom teachers, and is the reason that our special education program is so effective.

Character Education

Character education and discipline form the basis of our school culture. We systematically and actively teach character in our ceremonies, our advisory groups, our classrooms, our discipline office, and in individual conversations with students. As previously stated, we use the acronym K.G. P.R.I.D.E. to guide our work with students on character.

Advisory and Homeroom Programs: Our advisory program and middle school homeroom are essential components of our character education program. Each teacher is assigned as an advisor to a group of ten to fifteen students. Middle school advisories meet weekly, and high school advisories meet two times each week. In these small group meetings, advisors review each advisee’s bi-weekly progress report, helping the student identify action steps and reinforcing positive choices. Advisors continually monitor student academic and personal progress, and maintain communication with parents through phone calls, e-mails, and conferences.

In the middle school, another vehicle for character education is our homeroom system. Students are grouped in homerooms for all academic classes, and character is taught through assigning class scores for behavior that exemplifies our standards for good character, intentional community-building activities, and daily informal interactions. This advisory structure provides a multi-year opportunity for a student to connect with an adult outside the classroom who can help him or her work on character education and think about college and extra-curricular options. The program gives families frequent information on how their students are progressing at the Academy and provides students with a close relationship to another adult. Middle school homerooms and high school advisories also participate in a weekly character education class. Its curriculum has taken many forms over the life of the school, including discussing current events related to our virtues, reading about historical and current figures exemplifying our virtues, acting out role plays, and creating and discussing ethical dilemmas.

Discipline System: Another critical component of our character education program is our discipline system: School leaders and faculty members have developed high behavioral expectations for students at every grade level. These expectations are conveyed to students and families in our annual Student and Family Handbook, as well as at orientation, in family meetings, and in advisor telephone calls. All faculty members use a school-wide system of consequences, reflections, rewards, and opportunities to uphold these expectations; students earn merits and demerits based on the choices they make. We believe that addressing minor misbehaviors (for example, having an untucked shirt, being late to class, or being off-task in class) prevents most of the major infractions that can exist in schools. There are, of course, times when our students make poor choices; when they do, they are sent to the Dean of Students. We have full-time Deans of Students in both the middle and high school whose primary focus is addressing student behavior and helping to maintain our culture of achievement. The Deans lead students who have violated the discipline code to reflect on their actions through the lens of KG-Pride. This reflection includes writing about the effects of the behavior and having conversations with their teachers and their families. The goal of the process is to have students learn from their mistakes and make better choices in the future. Though this is not always achieved, the ultimate purpose is for students to internalize our virtues and learn to become people of good character.

Consistency

School-wide consistency is a critical component of our success. In addition to the consistent behavioral expectations described above, consistency in academic expectations and classroom routines provides a predictable environment for students that fosters their academic achievement. Academy teachers have a similar approach to planning their lessons, and they engage in a similar execution of routines, which minimizes confusion and maximizes time on task. Specifically, all classrooms at APR follow the same opening routine of posting the objectives, agenda, “do now,” and homework on the board as well as having a “Call-To-Order.” Similarly, we close every lesson by reviewing our objectives and leading another Call-To-Order.

These consistent structures and familiar expectations allow students to focus on academic material and take much of the guess work out of their school experience. Students know they must have their materials, be focused, participating, and ready to be “cold-called” at any point. They also know how and when to ask for a bathroom pass or to sharpen their pencil. Our purpose in having consistent expectations and routines is to create a culture in which there are not “nice” or “mean” teachers, nor “hard” or “easy” teachers, but where all teachers challenge, support, and follow through with every student.

There are, of course, many challenges to maintaining this consistency. They range from individual teachers who struggle with lesson planning or classroom management, to those who simply do not follow school procedures either because they forgot, were unaware, or felt their own solution was better. We address these challenges by offering new teachers a mentor, providing frequent feedback to all teachers from our principals, and collectively brainstorming strategies and solutions at grade-level, department, and school meetings.

Small Community with Strong Relationships and Dedicated Faculty

At the Academy, we are not just teachers of academic subjects; we are teachers of young people. Through our roles as advisors, homeroom teachers, and academic teachers we truly get to know our students. With only 370 students in the entire school, and smaller middle-school and high-school communities, we take advantage of our intimate environment, in which we can both push and care for our students. Each day is full of personal interactions. For students, the morning begins with a greeting from the Executive Director as they enter the building, and progresses to a handshake or greeting from each teacher as they enter class. Beyond these and many other ritualized, formal structures, it is common to see teachers and students working and talking together before school, during lunch, and after school. These conversations are wide-ranging and can include checking in about a long-term project, a weekend dance performance, or an application for a summer program.

To help illustrate our school environment and the dedication of our faculty, the following story attempts to present a typical day for an APR teacher:

Pam arrives at the former warehouse building that houses APR at 7:20 a.m. She climbs up the 54 steps to the middle school and says hello to the ten students who are already there eating breakfast as she heads back to the faculty room. Seeing the red light on her phone, Pam checks her voicemail and makes a note to return the call to Aaron’s mom later in the day. Her advisee has been struggling in several classes, and she is trying to set up a meeting with Aaron, all of his teachers, and his mom to create a plan.

At 7:40, Pam goes to her homeroom to greet her students and allow them into the classroom. They unpack their belongings and put their homework in the boxes in the front of the room. They’ve rehearsed this process many times over the course of the year, and it goes smoothly today. Opening Ceremony this morning includes a presentation by eighth grade students on their upcoming DC trip. Most of Pam’s seventh grade students SLANT (Sit up Listen Ask and Answer questions Nod Track the speaker) appropriately; however, several students do not. When Pam moves to stand behind them, they return their focus to the presentation.

After the ceremony, Pam stands at the door of HR 4 and checks the line of students to make sure they are ready for class. She greets each one with a handshake and a smile or welcome as they enter the room. As the students go to their seats, she quickly writes up the objectives, agenda, “do now”, and homework. Today’s main objective is “To practice descriptive writing skills.” They’re reading chapter eight of To Kill a Mockingbird and have already uncovered some significant symbolism in the book. Pam is proud that after teaching this book for several years, she has developed a strong unit that really challenges and engages her students. Their brainstorm of details from the chapter and their ideas for invented quotations by the characters show a clear understanding of both the plot and some deeper motivations of key players in the novel. Even Dorothy and Marcus, who typically struggle with reading comprehension, share some insightful comments. As students close their To Kill A Mockingbird packet and she passes out the template for the newspaper article they will write for homework, Pam is pleased with the purposeful buzz of the work and looks forward to hearing her students share their articles tomorrow. During the closing Call to Order, Pam says, “Great work today, HR 4. With 92% homework completion and strong class participation, you’ve earned a 4.5 for Gambatte. Although a couple of you earned demerits for being off-task, most students worked respectfully with their partners and provided helpful feedback to each other. So for your Kaizen score, you’ve earned a 4.” (See Appendix E for the middle school class scores rubric) Next she heads to HR 5 to teach the lesson again, thinking about ways to tweak it as she enters the room.

After class, Pam goes back to the faculty room. This is her planning period, so she does some research online for her next unit. At 11:35, Pam goes back to her homeroom to supervise zheng li and lunch. At 12:05, she greets HR 6 and teaches her third English class of the day.

Just after this class, Pam has her weekly consult with Molly, the learning specialist for her grade level. They discuss the upcoming essay and plan additional check-in intervals for several students. Next, Pam has her second planning period of the day and returns the parent phone call from the morning. Aaron’s mom is able to come in next Wednesday at 4:30, and Pam emails her grade level team to invite them to attend as well. With forty-five minutes left in the period, Pam quickly grades two homework assignments and stacks them in her “To be entered into the computer” pile. She’ll get to that later.

Right now, she needs to get to tutoring. Her group of ten students is struggling with organizing ideas in their writing. Today, Pam teaches a mini lesson on organization, focused on thesis, topic sentence, and supporting details. Afterwards, everyone begins brainstorming for the newspaper article they worked on in class. Pam sees that Sarabina has forgotten her English binder, so she says, “Sara, you’ve earned a demerit for being unprepared. Please look on with Guy and use this paper for your work.” After fifteen minutes of independent work, students share their drafts to get feedback from the group. Pam is happy to see that most students have produced a clear first paragraph with strong details.

After tutoring, Pam heads to the extracurricular that she is leading this trimester, Chess Club. The students who’ve signed up for it are excited to be there and it’s nice to feel that collective energy from students; she also doesn’t mind being paid for choosing to teach an extra curricular from 4-5pm this trimester. At 5 p.m., she dismisses her students, talks to Dwayne about his math project, reminds Akesha about a quiz she needs to make up, and goes back to the faculty room. Pam checks her email again, and sees that two seniors have earned significant scholarships to Northeastern. Psychic income, for sure! Tired, but pleased with the progress HR 4 made today in class, she gathers the materials she’ll need to finish up at home: two stacks of grading and the skeleton of next week’s lesson plan. She heads to her car.

The above description shows our high expectations for APR faculty members. They plan and execute rigorous lessons, they teach both academics and character, they tutor small groups, they advise students, they work closely with each other, they build relationships with students and families, and they relentlessly push students to achieve. We expect them to meet deadlines for lesson plans, to grade assessments, to stay in touch with their advisees’ families, and more. This is hard work, but we believe our students deserve it. And while dedicated teachers are a critical part of every school, we believe that our success is directly related to every teacher being dedicated to our mission, our students, and the challenge of fostering success in urban education.

This is not easy to achieve; therefore, APR has created several programs to help support our teachers in this intense work. The two most frequently praised by teachers are our mentoring and induction program and our mid- and end-year performance review process (Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, 2007).

Mentoring and Induction Program: All teachers in their first year at the Academy are paired with veteran APR teachers in a mentoring capacity. New teachers work with their mentors by meeting once per week, and sharing ideas and concerns on a confidential level. Additionally, two veteran APR teachers coordinate an induction program, which is a series of monthly meetings for new teachers that focuses on events and programs at the Academy, as well as team-building and new teacher concerns. The goals of our mentoring and induction programs are to help teachers adjust to the demands of APR and to be more successful in working with our students and in our collaborative culture.

In addition, all APR teachers receive extensive support and feedback from their principal. For the past three years, the middle and high schools have each had their own principal, and this has enabled teachers to receive more intense instructional leadership and individual coaching. This frequent communication with a teamwork focus on instruction and assessment has strengthened our program to better serve our students.

Evaluation Process: Our formal evaluations also help teachers develop professionally. The principal observes each teacher informally and provides written feedback at least once every two weeks. These observations help inform the principals’ mid-year and end-of-year performance reviews of each faculty member. In this review process, the faculty member writes a self-evaluation, the principal and the Executive Director co-write an evaluation, and then they meet to discuss the faculty member’s performance. These evaluations are guided by detailed rubrics and address the areas of teaching, advising, culture, and professionalism.

EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS

The two primary indicators of our success are our students’ academic performance as measured by standardized MCAS assessments, and our track record of college success, specifically our students’ acceptance, matriculation, continued enrollment, and being on track for college graduation.

Academic Performance

APR’s MCAS results have been persistently strong over time, and we are especially pleased with our consistently impressive tenth grade math and ELA scores. We are proud that for the past six years, we have met our goal of having a higher passing rate and a greater percentage of students scoring advanced and proficient than in the Boston Public School District in all grades tested. We have also surpassed the state averages of students scoring advanced and proficient in math and English in all grades tested except for the 2004 7^th grade ELA test (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2000-2006). We have made “Adequate Yearly Progress” overall and for every subgroup as defined by the federal government’s No Child Left Behind Act in every year of its existence. (See Appendices F and G for detailed results.)

College Success

The real evidence of our success as a school can be found in analyzing the accomplishments of our alumni. We are extremely proud of our track record thus far with our graduates. Of the eighty-three students in the classes of 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, Ninety-two percent are currently enrolled in college. Of those, ninety-five percent are in a four-year program and five percent are in a two-year program. Thus far, one hundred percent of the twenty-nine students in the class of 2007 have earned acceptances and plan to matriculate to two or four year colleges. (See Appendix H for the list of colleges our alumni are currently attending.)

The Academy’s entire program is college preparatory. Beginning in the sixth grade, we focus on college as the goal for all students. All sixth, seventh, and eighth graders visit at least one college per year. The eighth graders also visit colleges during their annual Washington DC trip and take College Ed, a twelve-week college-awareness course designed by the College Board.

Beginning in ninth grade, our college counseling program intensifies; we offer college awareness opportunities to all high school students, as well as grade-level programming. We have also built strong relationships with colleges and college-preparatory programs through our Annual Luncheon and College Fair for admissions officers. At last year’s fair, forty-eight admissions officers visited the Academy and spoke with 160 students. All high school students are invited to meet with the college admissions officers who visit the Academy at other times throughout the fall and to attend school field trips to college campuses and college fairs. We also have a college resource room that is available for students to pursue independent research. Each year we hold a College Week in October, during which students participate in college-related workshops or activities, including college visits. All Academy students also participate in workshops led by our alumni as part of our annual Alumni Day.

Therefore, by senior year, each student will have learned about many colleges from alumni and college fairs, visited at least ten colleges, and have a list of at least ten colleges to which s/he will apply, the majority with fees waived. We have set ten colleges as a benchmark for our students for specific reasons: first, it forces our students to explore a range of options to truly find the right match for them, rather than simply apply to schools they are familiar with; second, each school provides a different financial aid package and we have found that the more acceptances our students have, the more options, both programmatically and financially, they have. We have even learned how to get colleges to compete financially over our students.

For eleventh- and twelfth-grade students, we provide weekly college placement classes with additional intensive one-on-one counseling. Our favorable college counselor-to-student ratio of 35:1 enables students to receive step-by-step assistance as they navigate their way through preparing for the SAT, drafting a personal statement, filling out college applications, finalizing their personal statement and other college essays, filling out financial aid forms, and more. Family outreach is also a major element of our college counseling program. With the majority of our students being the first in their families to attend college, we believe it is critical to educate and support our families through the application and matriculation processes. To that end, we have increased our family programming each year. In addition to our financial aid workshops for families, we have a Junior Family Night to discuss how families can support their children through the college application process. We also make college counselors available during Family Conferences, and include a “College Corner” in the weekly newsletter we send to families. On average, each family of an APR graduate receives roughly twenty hours of education and support in the college application process.

KEYS TO IMPLEMENTING APR'S STRATEGIES

We have learned many lessons over our ten years of existence, and perhaps one of the most important is having a commitment to kaizen, as described in our section on mission and goals. For schools seeking to replicate any or all of our strategies, we suggest several important steps toward achieving success.

The first essential step is to articulate a mission that will guide every aspect of the school. All stakeholders, including the Board, faculty, families, and students, must be clear about the mission and vision of the school. While there are always competing priorities in a school, having a clear mission fosters a coherent school environment which, in turn, increases the opportunity for student success. At APR, our mission is for all students to achieve high academic standards and to become people of strong character. Our mission informs every aspect of our program: our curriculum, our academic expectations, our college focus, our academic and character-oriented advisory program, our enrollment policy, and our daily and yearly schedule. As described above, we set annual goals aligned with our mission and measure our progress toward them annually. We believe that this outcomes-oriented focus is essential to a school’s success in achieving its mission.

Once a mission is defined, the next step is for all faculty members to “buy in” to the mission and vision of the school. This idea was powerfully phrased by one teacher:

“Every teacher and staff [person] must not only ‘buy in’ to the school’s philosophy but also live, breathe and show it every day of the school year. Teachers must be the examples and they must show students by doing.” (Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, 2007)

If there are faculty members who do not believe in what the school is trying to achieve and thus do not uphold expectations or implement systems, the entire program suffers. This, in turn, has a negative impact on student achievement, as fragmentation develops that allows students to underachieve or “fall through the cracks.” At APR, we are still working toward one hundred percent consistency. It is very difficult to have fifty adults synchronize their thinking and actions, but it is something all of us believe in and are striving for. Clearly articulating our expectations and routines in writing in our faculty and family handbooks, training and retraining faculty in these topics, and then using faculty meeting to address areas where we are inconsistent, has helped us maintain our consistency.

The goal, however, is not to achieve consistency for its own sake, but to make our program as effective as possible. Therefore, when issues in consistency arise, we first determine why people are being inconsistent and if there is a better way to execute a specific routine or expectation. This is one of the ways in which we use the kaizen-inspired, collective solutions-oriented approach described in our mission and goals section. With an eye toward improvement, we have changed the details of many of our systems and procedures over time, as well as differentiated some of them by school division or grade level. But our systems continue to work because we have implemented them in a comprehensive way, (i.e., through the entire middle school or an entire grade level). In this way, students’ school experience is coherent and logical, rather than idiosyncratic and teacher-dependent.

And finally, we believe that crucial to the success of implementing any of our strategies is developing a collaborative professional culture in order to constantly evaluate and improve existing strategies and structures, and achieve greater consistency in expectations and practice. Real evidence of our belief in collaboration can be found in the strength of our team structure: we are led by an administrative team, everyone is on a grade-level team and in an academic department, and even the middle and high school faculties are teams. In order to be effective in teams, faculty members need time to work together. At APR, we schedule significant time during the day and year for faculty to collaborate. We spend two hours each week meeting in grade levels, departments, as middle and high schools, or as a whole school. Typically, grade levels meet each week while middle/high school, departments, whole school, and induction meet monthly. These times are used to discuss issues of curriculum and instruction, to analyze data, to identify students in need of support, to problem-solve, and to address a variety of other topics. Additionally, we have a seven-day orientation each August for all faculty members and an additional three-day orientation for new faculty. We also have four professional development days during the year as well as two days at the end of the year. We use these days to continue the work of our weekly meetings, and also to delve more deeply into the issues described above.

Our school’s physical layout also promotes a collaborative professional culture by having faculty rooms in which each teacher has a workstation with his/her grade level (middle school) or department (high school). Each workstation includes a networked computer and phone, and all teachers have their own email addresses and phone extensions so they can be easily accessible to students and families. The faculty rooms allow teachers to be accessible to each other. Throughout the day and year, informal conversations and brainstorms occur, which prevent teachers from feeling isolated in their classrooms, and provide opportunities for problem-solving and teamwork.

The Academy’s team structure, coupled with its physical layout and built-in faculty professional time, serve as opportunities for us to work together, name challenges and engage in collective problem solving; in other words, to truly practice kaizen. Although we have a very strong reputation in Massachusetts and even nationally, our faculty is never truly satisfied. We continually seek to improve our systems, to achieve greater consistency, and to set higher standards. It is perhaps this philosophical stance which is our greatest strength and our strongest recommendation for other schools to adopt.

IMPLICATIONS OF BEING A CHARTER SCHOOL

By far the greatest benefit of being a charter school is our autonomy. As a school we have control over programmatic, scheduling, and budgetary decisions. This allows us to operate efficiently, responsively, and inclusively. When a decision needs to be made, we are not bound by many levels of administration, or by a collective bargaining agreement; we have the privilege of allowing our mission and our students’ needs to guide our course of action.

The ability to be very selective in hiring and to retain only people who are committed to the school's mission and can produce results is fundamental to our success. It is this freedom that enables us to maintain a committed and effective faculty, which, in turn, allows us to create a consistent school-wide culture that promotes academic achievement. From a teacher’s perspective, autonomy in the classroom in terms of curricular decisions is an important benefit of working in a charter school. As in all public schools, our students are held accountable for meeting the state standards, but our teachers also have significant flexibility in how to enable students to achieve mastery.

On a school-wide level, our autonomy helps foster an environment of solution-oriented teamwork. All adults in our community are at APR by choice, because they believe in our mission and want our students to be successful. Thus, we actively engage in honest communication, strive to identify challenges, and work together to overcome them. And, perhaps even more importantly, every aspect of the school—from the courses taught to the daily and yearly schedule—is under our control and can be analyzed and improved. In sum, we can be a dynamic organization relentlessly focused on how to better attain our goal of student achievement.

There are, of course, numerous challenges for us as a charter school. Similar to public schools across the country, APR has budgetary constraints that affect teacher salaries, the number of faculty we hire, and the facility we provide our students. Specifically, as a charter school, we must pay for capital projects (such as the recent purchase of our building and its current renovation) in a way that district schools do not. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to pay these facilities costs using the per pupil allocation granted to us; thus, we must raise money and/or utilize funds from our operating budget. Since our board is committed to assuring our financial stability by funding APR's core program solely out of our per pupil revenue, we feel the challenge of striving to offer more for students than a typical public school, but with the same amount of money.

A second challenge is that working at APR is very demanding for our faculty. Because we have the freedom to do so, APR has set higher expectations for teachers than most schools: a longer school day and year, obligations outside of the classroom, and a clear responsibility to produce student results. These expectations make teaching here a challenge, and also contain implications for retention. One faculty member noted, “Teacher retention and morale is difficult to maintain when demands placed upon [teachers’] time and energy are so high.” (Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, 2007) Historically, the average teacher stays with us for about three years, although about twenty percent of our faculty has taught here for six years or more. Some teachers have left to attend graduate school, to start their own school, or to start a family, and certainly, some have left APR because it is a challenging and exhausting job for which the rewards are intangible and sometimes years away.

However, based on our results, we believe we have created a school model that works for students, and although our average of about eighty percent teacher retention annually is on par with national norms for high poverty, urban public schools (Graziano, 2005) we know that strong teacher-student relationships and institutional consistency are critical to students’ success. School leaders strive to be transparent about the trade-offs of working at the Academy: it is a challenging and demanding job for which the rewards are not always financial, but it is a professionally exciting environment in which each teacher teaches fewer students and has the opportunity to help lead and feel ownership of the school.

The other significant and ongoing challenge identified by faculty (Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, 2007) is also one faced by many public schools: inspiring and motivating all students to commit to the daily hard work and good choices it takes to succeed. This challenge is heightened at APR because as a charter school, we have used our autonomy to create a school with a longer day, a stricter code of conduct, and more rigorous academic work. We have seen, especially through our alumni’s success, that our approach works, but the daily challenge for us is to have all of our students believe it for themselves.

As a related challenge, we struggle with how to serve all students without the supports of a district in which a variety of programs are offered to meet students’ individual learning needs. But we firmly believe that as a public school any student can and should choose to come to APR. We want families to make an informed choice, even though we expect that a few families and students who choose APR will struggle to buy into our mission and meet all the expectations of our program. We believe that it is our responsibility to work harder and even more closely to support these students and families. As we have forged these relationships, more and more students have chosen to complete our program and then moved on to colleges across the country. Thus, although we are aware of the ongoing challenge of meeting the academic and behavioral needs of all of our students, we are pleased and proud that families are continuing to choose and commit to APR. In fact, even with our highly mobile, urban population, for the past five years, more than ninety percent of our students stay with us each year.

CURRENT STATUS AND NEXT STEPS

Our school is facing a unique and exciting time in its history. With the recent purchase of our building, the addition of a fifth grade and eighty more students, and some members of our first graduating class now college graduates, we have moved from a start-up school to a permanent educational institution in Boston. This next phase in our growth brings its own set of advantages and challenges. Although we are proud of our proven track record of success, we continually seek ways to improve.

Our biggest, yet most exciting, challenge is planning and supporting the transition of two school leaders. Although we are saddened by the departure of our high school principal, who has brought many innovations and improvements to the Academy, we see new leadership as an opportunity for even more growth. Our current middle school principal will lead the high school in 2007-2008, melding her own ideas, experience and expertise with the current vision and goals of the high school faculty. A six-year veteran Academy teacher will become our new middle school principal, as we expand to include a fifth grade. We see this challenge as an opportunity to enroll even younger students in our program, giving us eight years to help them reach their full potential. In order to prepare our students for a rigorous academic experience in our high school, we are carefully planning the culture, schedule, and curriculum of our new 5^th/6^th grade program so that all of our students are given the supports and challenges they need to move forward. It is our hope that the new physical space, as well as this new expansion to an eight-year program, will assist us in continuing to inspire our students to learn and achieve.

About the Authors

Piel Hollingsworth has been a teacher and administrator in a variety of public school settings for the past sixteen years. She is now in her ninth year at APR serving as the school's Co-Director.

Tara Small has spent the last nine years working in governmental and non-profit organizations in a variety of capacities including direct social service, advocacy and development. This is her third year at APR as the Director of Strategic Development.

School Contact Information

Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School
1 Westinghouse Plaza
Hyde Park, MA  02136
617 361-0050

www.pacrim.org

Appendix A:

Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School

Accountability Plan

Mission:

To empower urban students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds to achieve their full intellectual and social potential by combining the best of the Eastóhigh standards, discipline, and character education, with the best of the Westóa commitment to individualism, creativity, and diversity.

I. Academic Program

Goal:

Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School will make Adequate Yearly Progress every year in the aggregate and for all statistically significant subgroups.

Goal:

Students at the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School will be proficient readers and writers of the English language.

Absolute Proficiency

• Outcome measure 2.1: All tenth grade students will take and pass (score Needs Improvement or better) the Grade 10 ELA MCAS exam by the end of Grade 10.
• Outcome measure 2.2: Each school year, 75% of Academy students who have been enrolled at the Academy for two or more years will score in the Proficient or Advanced performance category on the English Language Arts MCAS exam at each grade level tested.

Comparative Proficiency

• Outcome measure 2.3: Each year, a higher percentage of Academy students will perform in the Proficient and Advanced categories than students in the Boston Public Schools and statewide on the state ELA exam in each grade level tested.

Goal:

Students at the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter School will demonstrate competency in the understanding and application of mathematical computation and problem solving.

Absolute Proficiency

• Outcome measure 3.1: All tenth grade students will take and pass (score Needs Improvement or better) the Grade 10 Math MCAS exam by the end of Grade 10.
• Outcome measure 3.2: Each school year, 75% of Academy students who have been enrolled at the school for two or more years will score in the Proficient or Advanced performance category on the Math MCAS exam at each grade level tested.

Comparative Proficiency

• Outcome measure 3.3: Each year, a higher percentage of Academy students will perform in the Proficient and Advanced categories than students in the Boston Public Schools and statewide on the state Math exam in each grade level tested.

II. Viable Organization

Goal:

The Academy will receive at least twice as many lottery enrollment forms as spaces available for each incoming 6^th (2006) and then 5^th (2007-2011) grade class.

Goal:

The Academy will communicate effectively and frequently with families and engage them as partners in their students’ success.

• Outcome measure 5.1: At least 90% of families will agree with the statement on the school’s annual end-of-year survey, “the school informs me about my student’s progress and works with me to help my student succeed.”
• Outcome measure 5.2: Families and students will demonstrate their investment in the Academy through an average daily attendance rate that exceeds 95%.
• Outcome measure 5.3: At least 90% of students enrolled at the Academy on October 1 of each year will re-enroll and be in attendance on October 1 of the subsequent school year, exclusive of those students who move out of the City of Boston.

Goal:

The school will remain a viable organization, carefully and efficiently run and responsive to the concerns and needs of all stakeholders.

• Outcome measure 6.1: Each year, the school will operate on a balanced budget, meaning actual revenues will equal or exceed actual expenses.
• Outcome measure 6.2: Unrestricted net assets will be equal to or exceed 25% of the school's operating budget for the upcoming year.
• Outcome measure 6.3: Each year, 100% of members of the Board of Trustees will participate in a rigorous self-evaluation and develop an action plan to address areas for improvement.
• Outcome measure 6.4: Each year, the school will comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations, including, but not limited to, the Massachusetts Education Reform Act, the Massachusetts Freedom of Information Law, the Massachusetts Open Meetings Law, the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and the provisions of its by-laws and charter

III. Faithful to Terms of Charter

Goal:

Academy of the Pacific Rim students will adhere to a rigorous code of conduct while at school. They will behave positively while understanding and upholding the community’s character virtues: kaizen, gambatte, purpose, respect, integrity, daring, and excellence. Though the best measure of this objective lies in its ultimate goal, increased student learning and successful completion of the Academy’s program, other, direct measurements tools will include parent and student surveys, observations by site visit teams, and annual independent assessments by outside experts.

• Outcome measure 7.1: At least 90% of families will agree with the statement on the school’s annual end-of-year survey that the school is “safe for all students.”
• Outcome measure 7.2: A t least 80% of families will describe Academy students as respectful and a like percentage will agree with the statement that, “the school is helping my student become a person of good character” on the schools’ annual end-of-year survey.

Goal:

Students at the Academy of the Pacific Rim will be prepared for success in their lives and careers after leaving the Academy. They will have an understanding and knowledge of a variety of career and educational options, will have workplace and study skills to ensure their effectiveness in those settings, and will have been instructed in issues of character and work ethic to make that potential success a reality.

• Outcome measure 8.1: Students in grade 11 and 12 will take the PSAT and SAT and the aggregate average score on the SAT will be higher than that of their peers in the Boston Public Schools.
• Outcome measure 8.2: 90% of high school students will complete three 75 hour college or career oriented internships (Pacific Rim Enrichment Project).
• Outcome measure 8.3: 100% of seniors will be accepted to a four year college.
• Outcome measure 8.4: At least 90% of seniors will matriculate full time to a two or four year college.

Appendix B: Discipline Code

Discipline Code

The Academy of the Pacific Rim strives to create an environment focused on learning and student growth. The Academy’s system of consequences is designed to cultivate a respectful, serious academic atmosphere. Students are expected to hold themselves to high standards for behavior. We believe that paying attention to the little things builds strong habits in young people and discipline code is designed to help students take responsibility for their behavior. Consequences will be administered for behavior that is unproductive or counter-productive, such as minor disruptions of class learning, uniform violations, and gum. More serious consequences will be administered for behaviors including, but not limited to the following:

• Disrespect, defiance and/or disruptions of learning. The Academy will not tolerate disrespectful behavior towards staff, guests, or other students. Behaviors that prevent other members of the Academy from pursuing their education (such as repeated talking or deliberately distracting other students during class) are considered disruptions of learning.
• Cheating and/or plagiarism. Cheating and plagiarism represent breaches of community integrity and trust. The Academy defines cheating as conversing with another student during a graded assessment, copying or attempting to copy the work of another student, or using/attempting to use materials other than those allowed during an assessment. The Academy also considers the act of giving answers or one’s work to another student as cheating. Plagiarism is defined as representing the work of another as one’s own.
• Safety Violation. This includes pushing, fighting, threatening or other violent behavior. Being in an unsupervised location is also a safety violation.
• Integrity Violation. This includes telling a lie, misrepresenting, or compromising their integrity in any way.
• Unprofessional contact. This includes any forms of touching, groping, or other displays of affection.
• Attendance violations. Students are required to attend all scheduled classes and events, on time. The Academy has a closed campus. Students should not go beyond the specified limits of the school grounds without an approved chaperone or the express permission of a faculty member. Students who are not present in school may not attend school-sponsored activities after school on that day.
• Property violations. The theft, destruction, or defacement of school or private property constitutes violations of state law and jeopardizes the integrity of the school community.
• Inappropriate behavior on the MBTA. Students represent the Academy when riding the MBTA. They must not engage in any disruptive and/or dangerous behavior on the MBTA or while waiting at stops.
• Bullying. The Academy strictly prohibits bullying. While bullying can occur with a single incident, it generally involves a pattern of conduct over time by which a student is “picked on.” Bullying may include conduct such as physical intimidation or assault; oral or written threats; teasing; putdowns; name-calling; stalking; threatening looks, gestures, or actions; cruel rumors; false accusations; and social isolation. It may also involve extortion, by which a student is intimidated into taking an action against his/her will.
• Alcohol, controlled substances, and tobacco. The sale, transfer, use, or possession of alcohol and controlled substances at school or school related functions is prohibited. Presence at school or school related events while under the influence or emitting the odor of alcohol or controlled substances is also prohibited. Smoking or other possession or use of tobacco on school grounds is prohibited.
• Weapons. The possession of a dangerous weapon at school or school related event, including but not limited to a gun or a knife, is prohibited.

Student Responsibility

We all share the responsibility for a safe, positive learning environment. Students who have knowledge about serious disciplinary infractions or potential serious disciplinary infractions must contact a teacher or administrator. These infractions include, but are not limited to, cheating, property violations, harassment, acts or threats of violence or aggression, alcohol, controlled substances or tobacco, and weapons.Failure to contact a teacher or administrator may result in disciplinary action.

Demerits

When a student commits a specific minor infraction, s/he will receive a demerit. Demerits serve to remind students of the expectations, and give students an opportunity to correct their behavior. Demerits are recorded on a demerit sheet that the students keep in their possession at all times.

After three demerits, students will receive a detention. Detentions earned by 2pm will be served that same day; detentions earned after 2pm will be served the following day. There is no detention on Wednesdays; detentions earned on Wednesdays will be served on Thursdays. The Dean of Students will make every effort to contact the student’s families to let them know of the detention; however, if we are unable to reach you, we will still expect the student to serve the detention. Therefore, families should please make sure we have current contact information at all times.

At the end of each trimester, demerits will be “wiped clean”.

Office Visits and Removal from Class

Any student whose behavior disrupts the learning environment and endangers another student’s education will be asked to leave class at the discretion of the teacher. This means that the student must report immediately to the Dean of Students and remain in the office until it is clear that the disruptions will cease. Suspension from class will require a student to reflect upon and learn from his or her behavior in writing. Detention or other consequences may be assigned. Parent conferences may also be necessary.

Internal Suspension

An internal suspension will result in the loss of all social and academic privileges for the student in question. A student who receives an in-school suspension will remain in the building and will continue to have access to the curriculum but will be isolated from classmates and peers. An in-school suspension may also be accompanied by after school duties. The Dean of Students will determine the length of an in-school suspension, up to ten school days. The Dean has the option of reducing the length of an in-school suspension based upon a meeting with the student and parent or guardian and the student’s demonstration of the commitment necessary to follow the Academy of the Pacific Rim rules and expectations. A student on in-school suspension who continues not to follow Academy rules and expectations will be subject to out-of-school suspension.

External Suspension

An external suspension will result in the immediate removal from school of the student in question. If the family cannot pick up the student, other transportation arrangements must be made. Unless otherwise stated, the final determination of the length of any out-of-school suspension of up to ten days will rest with the Dean of Students. The Dean of Students has the option of reducing the length of a suspension if the student and his/her family meet with the Dean of Students and agree upon behavioral conditions for the student’s early re-admission. The Dean will provide an opportunity for such a meeting as quickly as possible after the student’s removal.

• Longterm suspensions (more than ten days) may be imposed by the Principal for serious or repeated infractions.
• Further details on suspension procedures follow under Procedural Due Process.
• A student suspended from school will not be allowed on school grounds or at school-related functions without the written permission of the Dean of Students or the Principal.

Expulsion

An expulsion is a permanent removal from school. An expulsion will result in the immediate and permanent removal from school of the student in question. A student who has been expelled will not be allowed on school grounds or at school-related functions. Further details on expulsion procedures follow under Procedural Due Process.

Cell Phone and Electronics Policy

The Academy strictly forbids the use of cell phones and other electronics during the school day. Students may keep their cell phone with them but the phones cannot be visible and must be turned off! They cannot be on silent or vibrate. Students may use cell phone before 7:55AM and after dismissal, only outside of the building. Students violating any of these rules will receive a demerit and have their cell phone confiscated. The Academy is not responsible for the loss of theft of cell phones or any electronics at any time, including when confiscated.

Appendix C: Academy Course Sequence

Appendix D: School Schedule

Appendix E: Middle School Class Scores Rubric

5 for 5!

1 point if everyone meets requirement

.5 if 1-2 students fail to meet the requirement

Gambatte

Kaizen

Appendix F

APR MCAS Scores 2001-2006

Appendix G

Comparison of APR MCAS Scores with Boston and Massachusetts

Appendix H

Our Alumni

“College is a match to be made and not a prize to be won.”

The best evidence of our success as a school is our alumni. We are extremely proud of our track record thus far with our graduates. 100% of our graduates earn acceptance to an institution of higher learning. Of the eighty-three students in the classes of 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, 85% are currently enrolled in a four-year program, 5% in a two-year program, and only 10% are un-enrolled (working or transferring).

100% of the twenty-nine students in the class of 2007 plan to matriculate in the fall to the four-year colleges and universities listed below. In addition, these 29 students have collectively earned $2.4 million in scholarships, grants and aid dollars. The success of our school is best measured by the success of these alumni.

References

Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School. (2007). Annual report, 2006-07. (Available from the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School, 1 Westinghouse Plaza
Hyde Park, MA 02136)

Consalvo, Robert C., et al. (1995). Application for Commonwealth charter school. (Available from the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School, 1 Westinghouse Plaza
Hyde Park, MA 02136)

Graziano, C. (2005). School’s out. Nearly half of all new teachers leave the job within five years. Edutopia, 1(3). 38-44.

Japan behind the scenes. (n.d.). Hiragana Times. Retrieved September 11, 2007 from http://www.hiraganatimes.com/hp/scenes/kiji/kiji228-2e.html

Massachusetts Charter Public School Association. (2007). [Charter school project school questionnaire--Academy of the Pacific Rim faculty survey]. Unpublished raw data.

Massachusetts Department of Education. (2000-2006). School/district profiles. MCAS test results. Malden, MA: Author.

Stevenson, H. W. & Stigler, J. W. (1992). The Learning gap: Why our schools are failing and what we can learn from Japanese and Chinese education. New York: Touchstone.

This paper was developed under a grant from the U.S. Dept. of Education, CFDA #84.282N, Award #U282N060005. The content does not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and endorsement by the Federal government should not be assumed.