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Teacher-inspired, progressive and innovative – Sparta High Point School is one example of a successful Wisconsin charter school.
Curt Kennedy, High Point teacher and chief bargainer for the Sparta Education Association, works daily with his fellow teachers Doug Geiwitz and Mark Hanson to provide educational opportunities for self-motivated learners. The school, located in a wing of the district’s educational service center, serves students in grades six through 12. There is no set schedule, and students are arranged in an open classroom concept following a business model. Students are provided computers and file cabinets and stationed in an educational version of a cubicle workspace.
The program works for students who, for many different reasons, do not learn well in a traditional educational setting.
It’s an approach to learning that has had positive results for five years, and is now drawing interest throughout the Midwest. “Other school districts have come to visit,” Kennedy said. High Point teachers recently signed on as participants in a consortium of other project-based schools in the upper Midwest.
The Sparta Education Association, part of the Coulee Region United Educators, is involved in three other charter schools. They are the Sparta Charter Preschool, Lakeview Montessori School and SAILS. High Point posted an enrollment of 46 students in 2006-07, and will enroll 60 students in 2007-08, as well as add an additional staff member, Principal Mat Toetz said.
“We are a very different kind of school,” said Kennedy. “We are a project-based school using standards-based assessments. Students decide what to learn, how they want to learn it, and how they will show what they learned. Students build their own curriculum using Wisconsin Model Academic Standards as the foundation.”
The teachers count among their successes their day-to-day connection with students, families and community. “Test scores are only one indicator of how schools perform,” Kennedy said. “An important indicator is the students’ attitudes and perceptions about school. We can tell you, unequivocally, they have a positive experience in school. It’s a place they want to come.”
Geiwitz, who taught in the traditional high school setting for a decade before moving to High Point, agreed. “Here, I get a chance to know the children far better than I ever did,” he said. “The relationships we are able to form with kids allows us to help in their learning and growth. They look to us as role models.
“It’s very exhausting, but fulfilling,” he added.
High Point ’s charter operates under the Sparta Board of Education and superintendent. The director of technology oversees administration of the program, but it is the faculty that manages the day to day operations. From budgeting and purchasing decisions to community outreach, the trio of teachers works with parents and others on an advisory panel to determine the shape of High Point education.
Project-based learning takes many forms at High Point. Some examples of recent projects students chose to build their educations around included:
Toetz, whose daughter attends High Point, explained that her literary credits this year have come in the form of bookmaking, for which she has written, illustrated and compiled different types of books. She also belongs to a young adult’s book group. There is flexibility to move between schools for more traditional courses, such as foreign language or music, Toetz noted, and students create and participate in blogs to discuss issues and provide feedback to each other.
“Her day can extend from our school, to the middle school, to the community stream, to the online world in the course of seven hours,” said Toetz.
“We really attempt, every day, to provide students the skills they need to have in the 21 st century,” Toetz stressed.
“We also want to develop an appreciation for the world outside of Sparta,” Kennedy added.
Posted June 29, 2007