2016-2017 Annual Report Franklinton Preparatory Academy Preparation for Life College • Careers • Trade Schools • Military Franklinton Preparatory Academy Preparation for Life Marty Griffith Founder and Principal Dear FPA Friends, Families and Supporters: It is my pleasure to introduce you to Franklinton Preparatory Academy and to invite you to review FPA’s 2016- 2017 Annual Report. This document, provides you with a snapshot of what makes FPA a great place for young women and men of Central Ohio to attend school, earn a high school diploma and lay the foundation for success after high school -- whether that be in college, in a living-wage paying career, in a tech training program or in the armed services. In our fifth year of serving students and families from our home in Franklinton, we are honored to be a vibrant part of this neighborhood’s revitalization. From our humble beginnings in 2013, FPA has grown from 46 students to over 180. In 2015 we graduated 6 students, in 2016 we graduated 20. In May of 2017, we graduated 48 students, requiring us to move our graduation ceremony to the King Arts Complex which is where we will be graduating another 45 – 50 students on May 30, 2018. Our students are the heart and soul of our school and we continue to be amazed at their capacity for academic growth, creative expression, passion and compassion for each other and our school. When I am asked about the secret to FPA’s success, I point to three interrelated elements: 1. Great teachers with strong academic content knowledge and a passion for building and maintaining student relationships based on mutual trust; 2. Wonderful students and families who are seeking a safe school with teachers and staff who care about them and their success; 3. A diverse and dynamic Art / Music / Movement Program that provides our students with the opportunity to explore and express their creative interests through presentations and performances. At FPA, our arts programs often serve as both the magnet – attracting students to our school – and the glue – keeping them here once they’ve enrolled. Without question, our vibrant arts program serves as the visual, auditory and creative measure of our success. If you believe, as we do, that all young people deserve a safe, caring and academically challenging school, then FPA is for you. If you believe, as we do, that the traditional “one size fits all” school model is a thing of the past, then come experience how FPA tailors its teaching and learning to our individual students. In founding FPA I knew that we could develop a school where young people can thrive, take control of their academic journey, and be prepared to succeed in high school and beyond. We are doing that every day at FPA. Come join us. Martin S. Griffith Founder and Principal Governing Board Meetings The Franklinton Preparatory Academy Governing Board meets the fourth Monday of each month at Franklinton Preparatory Academy. Meetings begin at 5:30 p.m. These are meetings held in public according to Ohio’s Sunshine laws, and include a public comment period. Minutes from Governing Board meetings are available for review in the FPA office. Those interested in serving on this Governing Board should submit their interest in writing to Marty Griffith for Board consideration. WHO WE ARE OUR VISION - OUR MISSION Franklinton Preparatory Academy is a grade 9 Our Vision: Preparation for Life. through 12 public tuition-free charter high school This is a tall order that is extremely important to us. serving students from the urban areas of Franklinton, It is essential that our students mature into capable the Hilltop, and the West Side. It is located at adults who can make good decisions for themselves, 40 Chicago Ave. just a mile west of the Broad and who will be able to support themselves and their Street and High Street intersection, the center of families with meaningful living-wage employment. Columbus, Ohio. FPA opened in September 2013 with 46 students. In our second year FPA graduated Our Mission: To laser-focus our efforts so that all 6 students, 22 in year 3, and 48 students in May Franklinton Preparatory Academy’s students will 2017. Heading into our 5th year we are educating graduate from high school prepared to be successful 175 students, 100% of whom live at or below the in a career, or be successful at a two or four year federal poverty line. FPA is pleased to be part of college or a trade school in preparation for a career, the restoration of Chicago Ave. School to its rightful or be successful in the military as a training program place as a community touchstone, and an important or as a career. resource to the current revitalization of the entire Franklinton community. As we designed our school, substantial research confirmed that students like Franklinton students will thrive into their futures if they have strong relationships with friends, with teachers and school personnel, with mentors and academic advisors, and with those from the community who will be working with FPA students. Positive relationships are the glue that keeps students in school, showing up every day to focus on their learning, earning their high school diploma, and heading toward a successful career and life. FPA students meet all of Ohio’s graduation requirements, including required participation in all state wide testing. Students are required to meet Ohio’s Compulsory attendance expectations by attending classes and participating in available learning programs. Standards approved by the Ohio Board of Education direct student learning, 2017 Graduation held in Pythian Theatre at King Arts Complex in addition to standards identified by a variety of job getting and job keeping national and state organizations. Our operating policies, procedures and practices reflect Ohio requirements and educational best practices. We have developed a continuous improvement plan for the school that directs our institutional thinking into the future. School Goals: • Engage students as active participants in all aspects of school life. • Assure that the school culture and environment is physically and emotionally safe for all students, faculty and guests. • Recruit, hire, train and retain content area experts who are passionate and relentless about the success of our students. • Assure academic learning by preparing students to demonstrate success on state and national tests. • Engage all students in one or more career pathways. • Honor the public trust through the responsible use of public and private resources STUDENTS - LEARNING -- BY ALL MEANS THE HEART OF LEARNING Mastery Learning As the first high school to open its doors in Franklinton FPA is committed to assuring that every student in over 30 years, we have a special commitment to will graduate from high school and will be able to our community and our students. When FPA opened demonstrate the skills and abilities needed to obtain in September 2013 we did so with the support and and keep employment now and into their future. This collaboration of our neighborhood stakeholders. It is means that students MUST demonstrate mastery of obvious to us that our commitment to Franklinton is important content, whether this takes a long time or reflected back to us by the commitment our students make a short time, before they move on to other work. to Franklinton Preparatory Academy. Our overarching We are focused on learning, not on sorting students goal is for our students to claim FPA as their home, their according to preconceived categories. oasis and their launching pad for successful living after graduation. It is a pleasure to work with these amazing Students work toward well defined learning objectives. young people who call Franklinton and the Hilltop home. Teachers provide paced group instruction, one-to-one tutoring, or self-paced learning with programmed The faculty noted the following materials. Specific and frequent feedback to students as FPA student strengths. These is essential. Students participate in direct instruction, are attributes that will serve cooperate with classmates in project-based learning these students well now and endeavors, or are engaged in independent learning. into their future: FPA students Students show evidence of their learning against are independent, resourceful, expected learning objectives. Summer school have empathy, support their supports credit recovery for students who needed friends, are loyal and creative. more time to complete requirements. They have the ability to trust, FPA teachers Geral Leka can call forth survival skills, Flipping the Classroom and Hugh Morris are accepting of change, and are adaptable. FPA students FPA embraces a teaching model in which the typical find humor in many things, are talkative, easily strike up lectures and homework elements of a course are conversations with adults, are eager to learn new uses with reversed...flipped. Short video lectures are viewed by technology processes and, given a project that captures students before the class session, while in-class time their interest, ambitiously complete the project with focus is devoted to exercises, projects, or discussions. The and enthusiasm. notion of a flipped classroom draws on such concepts as active learning, student engagement, hybrid course Student Life design, and course podcasting. The value of a flipped FPA students are enthusiastically involved in the life class is in the repurposing of class time into a workshop of the school. Students have assumed leadership where students can inquire about lecture content, roles in organizing school dances, Homecoming and test their skills in applying knowledge, and interact Prom; they run the school store before school and with one another in hands-on activities. During class during lunch; they have worked as teams to research sessions, teachers function as coaches or advisors, and develop recommended state wide legislation to encouraging students in individual inquiry and present during Youth in Government at the State House collaborative effort through problem-based learning.