Growing from an acorn to an oak

About 20 years ago, a group of parents in Grant Park, concerned about the fact that the neighborhood’s children were zoned for five different elementary schools, began to explore ways to bring the community together through a school.  Out of that seed of an idea, many, many twists and turns later, the Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School began its 16th year last week.  In recent years, I’ve noticed that the history of our school as well as what it means to be a charter school are not always entirely clear to some of families who are new to ANCS, which is part of the reason why we hold the “ANCS 101: Growing from Acorn to Oak” session like the one we are offering to new families this Sunday afternoon (returning families are welcome to attend as well!).  As a preview of what we’ll cover on Sunday (or as a summary for those who can’t attend), here are a few key points to note:

1) Why was ANCS founded?  Our school was founded with a goal of uniting a community around student-centered public education.  In the late 1990s, the splitting of Grant Park into multiple school zones coupled with a focus in the school system on teaching that seemed geared mostly towards standardized tests is what motivated the initial group of parents to pursue ways to change the situation.  Initially, this looked like it might involve operating a “school within a school” in APS or even helping to open a new district school.  But when the APS district leadership at the time didn’t commit to those ideas, after several attempts, the parents and along with a team of educators took advantage of Georgia’s new charter school law to petition the district to operate a new elementary school.  After several denials, the charter was finally approved and our school opened in the fall of 2002.  (You can read an even more complete history of our school through the years on our website.)

2) So what is a charter school exactly?  You can find an “FAQ about charter schools” on the Georgia DOE website for a thorough explanation, but the gist of it is that a charter school is a school that has it’s own governing body that enters into a charter contract with an authorizer with certain performance expectations and innovative practices in exchange for freedom and flexibility from many state education rules and regulations.  In Georgia, there are charter systems (whole school districts with charter status), state commission charter schools, and locally approved charter schools.  ANCS falls into the last of these categories, as a charter school approved by APS and the Georgia Department of Education.  ANCS’s governing board, then, is charged with making sure we are fulfilling the terms of our charter contract with those two authorizers and with developing a strategic plan to guide the school into a successful future.

3) What does ANCS do that warrants having a charter?  If charter schools are supposed to offer something different than other school options, then what is ANCS doing that is unique?  Primarily, we have created an educational program that is designed around the principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools, described in more detail on the “Mission, Vision, & Values” section of our website.  These design principles are reflected in every aspect of our school—from the types of projects in which students engage, low student-teacher ratios, how decisions are made, even how we budget our resources.  And, we see as a part of our purpose as a charter school as being a kind of lab for innovative educational practices.  We believe our biggest impact on public education comes from partnering with other schools to share what we are doing and to learn with and from other educators.  Our Center for Collaborative Learning (and the CREATE Teacher Residency program that falls under it) stands as a clear example of our effort to take what we are doing beyond the classrooms and walls of ANCS.

So that’s just a little snippet of who we are, where we’ve come from and why we do what we do at ANCS.  I hope to see our new families this Sunday to talk more about all of this—and you can always reach out to me to ask questions and talk during the rest of the school year too.