The following email is long, so if you're not interested in hearing about the Education InnovationsLAB Charter School, disregard this message. Hello Highland Park. I am proud to present to you the vision and model for the Education InnovationsLAB Charter School (eiLAB CS). The eiLAB CS is benchmarked to the best practices of local, state, national, and international standards. We're looking at a November 15 submission date. That's less than a month now! The eiLAB CS planning team consisting of over 25 people over six months-made up of educators, teachers, parents, and community members-has taken the model on the road to other parents, and over 20 organizations. As a result, we have over 100 students signed up (which is 1/3 of our target enrollment of 300 at opening (K-6.)) There's no easy way to describe all the work that has gone into the planning of the Education InnovationsLAB Charter School. So, we present it to you as a one-page description followed by a one-page experience. If you would like to add your child to the list of enrollees, please send email to s.wilcox@educatininnovations.org or call us at our Kingsley Association location (412.661.8751 ext. 150) A big thanks to all of you who have offered suggestions throughout our process. Sincerely, Salvador Wilcox CEO Education Innovations, Inc. 914 Heberton Street Pittsburgh, PA 15206 412.363.7707 www.educationinnovations.org <http://www.educationinnovations.org/> The Education InnovationsLAB Charter School Description The mission of The Education InnovationsLAB Charter School is to create a nurturing environment where students and teachers connect to the community through a rigorous, integrative program of studies that focuses on creative problem solving and critical thinking. The central theme to The eiLAB CS is applying inquiry across the curriculum. The school, to open in September 2006, will start K-6 and add a grade per year until it is K-12. It will be located at the Kingsley Association (K-2) and at 5938-5948 Baum Blvd. in East Liberty (grades 3-8). A high school will be built in Uptown/Hill District in year 6. We, the Founders, seek to create a K-12 charter school nationally recognized for its ability to produce major gains in student achievement; for its innovative approaches to student learning; and for its contribution in actively serving and improving the community in which it operates. We envision a school that is deeply connected to the community, not only by participating in the life of the Pittsburgh community, but also by providing focus on inquiry that leads to productive change within the community and by providing opportunities for students to study critically the aspects of community, including social phenomena and economics. We envision a school with teachers who are empowered to be equal in status, in intellectual rigor, and in professionalism as their business counterparts. We envision graduates of the Education InnovationsLAB Charter School to be agents of change. All of our graduates will be graduated from high school with the appropriate skills to either 1) compete with the brightest students in the nation for enrollment in higher education, or 2) enter apprenticeship programs or 3) take a lead in job creation through entrepreneurship activities. Lastly, we envision our graduates to grow up with a passion for changing the regional structures that perpetuate poverty and oppression. Our graduates will take the lead in reforming taxes (including property taxes), government, education. They will create a region that affords all of its citizens the right to a good life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In short, they will provide for the renewal of the region, making it a better place to live, work, and play. The InnovationsLAB Model for Education radically redefines the learning experience for the student, the teaching experience for the teacher, and the management experience for the management staff. The Innovative advantage: * A K-12 system that gives a student a seamless transition from beginning to end, regardless of the community in which he/she lives, even if they move to a community outside Pittsburgh; * a 216-day school year for students and teachers; * a full-service tutoring center for student support as part of the school day * six Laboratories of Inquiry (LABs) that give students the opportunity to explore interests, broadly and deeply, so that students have marketable skills upon graduation. The LABs are NatureLAB, TechLAB, DesignLAB (architecture and engineering), LanguagesLAB, ArtsLAB, and WorldLAB (history, geography, community and economics) * a community of teachers (with their own computers, offices, and work areas) who build curricula depending on the needs of the students in their classroom; * a school that is deeply connected to its neighborhood through continuous community improvement projects, parent advisory board, parent university, and on-going activities that lift the spirit of the community. * teacher professionals who are motivated by their own inquiry into pedagogy and student learning processes and who actively research and publish their findings through the school's website and scholarly journals; * smaller schools-within-schools that will allow us to monitor children in smaller intervals than the typical elementary, middle, and high school model; * data-based curriculum development at the classroom level monitored on a weekly basis using data collected through the actual day-to-day learning process (which will enhance the information gathered through standardized tests); * a data network that stores classroom level data which is reviewed on a weekly basis (that complements standardized test) to respond to the needs of students quickly; and * teacher developed curricula that focus on primary sources rather than textbooks. The eiLAB CS Experience Day 6, at the Education InnovationsLABT Charter School. (Note: the school follows a six-day schedule. For example, Mon-Friday would be days 1-5 and the following Monday would be day 6) Ms. Mitchell, Pod 3 teacher, Grade 6. Day 6 is more than halfway over by the time she gets out of the final conference with the Pod 3 staff. The Chief Academic Officer had gone over the 3rd Learning Cycle statistics to help the staff prepare for the curriculum planning that would take place during the next 5 days. Pod 3, encompassing grades four, five and six, was on target for meeting the mid-year learning goals. Her sixth grade class had made steady gains during the two previous Learning Cycles. However, the data collected by the school's Learning Management System showed that about 20% of her class still needed some help with reading comprehension in order to catch up. After meeting with her academic coach she would probably recommend that all four students be recommended to continue their support period with the school tutoring center in lieu of their second LAB period daily. But she would also recommend that the one furthest behind also be assigned to work with the Reading Clinic through their partnership with a local university. Looking at her clock, she realized that she would only have 20 minutes for lunch. She would grab a quick bite to eat at the student run coffee house before her meeting with her classroom assistant. She would need to discuss with Robert his thoughts on changing teaching strategies for the tutoring sessions. She would spend an hour at the end of the school day looking over each student's progress on choosing their Major and Minor LAB of Concentration for Pod 4 next year. Jeff Canada, Pod 2, Grade 1 Teaching Assistant. Day 6 means a full day of teaching while Mrs. Newhouse attends staff and curriculum meetings with other Grade 1 and then other Pod 2 teachers. Today, Dr. Teachmenow, the Chief Academic Officer will meet with all the teaching staff after school for the Staff Senate. During the Literacy Block, he and the students read through Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington. The students knew the story from Kindergarten, but most were excited to revisit it. Mrs. Lane, the class teacher, had chosen this book for this morning as the last bit of preparation for the class trip to NatureLABcommunity during their NatureLAB periods in the afternoon. Bobby Ferguson had been absent during her day for giving her recorded reading, so he had asked another assistant to attend to her during the beginning of recess. The five-minute reading sample would be added to the database later and he would listen to the file several times to evaluate Bobby's progress in learning to read. The last reading sample a month ago showed continued reliance on substitution to get through the reading. He worked with Bobby for the last month trying to correct this, so hopefully it shows in her sample. If not, he'll use Bobby as a case study with his colleagues at the University, where he is completing a Masters in Education. He'll ask his colleagues to suggest some more strategies. He feels lucky to be able to use his teaching experience for his degree through the school's partnership with the University. Terrance Roberts, Pod 4, Grade 8 Student. Day 6 will be busy. It's only lunch time, and he's already spent 2 hours in the DesignLAB. Even though TechnologyLAB is his Major LAB of Inquiry and DesignLAB is only his Minor, he needed the extra time in the lab to work with his group on learning the flight modules. He was working on a space shuttle design project as his Pod 4 Culminating Project. He had followed with interest the falling debris problems with the recent shuttle missions and his group hoped to research solutions to present as part of their lecture to Pod 4 Project Committee during the last Learning Period. He was glad to have gotten to explore Architecture and Engineering through DesignLAB, and Technology every year for six years. He knows now that he wanted to be a builder of some kind when he grew up. London Woody, Pod 5, Grade 12 Student. She had liked her experience at this school, but she was honestly looking forward to being graduated from High School. She was looking forward to a trip to Spain before starting her studies at Harvard. But for the moment, she needed all of Day 6 to continue working on her Senior Project. Since WorlLAB was her Major and LanguagesLAB was her Minor, she had decided to work on language issues as they relate to border disputes in Africa as her project. Her advisor had encouraged her to work with the embassies in Washington D.C. and she had even arranged a trip to meet with them. Her written 100-page report would need to be completed by March so she can prepare for its defense. Rozline Perry, Parent of Devon, Pod 2, Grade 2 Student. A parent couldn't make it to assist with Day 6 so the school's Parent Coordinator had called her last minute. Her son Devon was in 2nd grade, but she would be assisting first graders in the afternoon on their trip to do activities at the NatureLABcommunity, the school's outdoor science lab a few blocks away. While Devon is in after school, she will assist Mr. Canada with putting data about his class into the computer databases. In about a week, she would expect to see a Learning Period report for Devon. With any luck, it would show that he is making progress in math and science but also in his LAB this period-TechnologyLAB. If she has a second, she hopes to talk with the Parent Coordinator to see if the school will be adding more classes to the Parent University next period. She had suggested a class on the literacy curriculum for Pod 2. She's hoping to get pointers on how to help Devon at home. If not, then she'll bring up the idea during the next Parent Advisory Committee meeting. Tomorrow is another day.