VOLUME TWO NUMBER ONE AmeriSchoolsFALL QUARTER 2020 ISSUE Perspectives AMERISCHOOLS ACADEMY Learning (and Caring) Through a Pandemic: It’s All About “Our Kids” PAGE 6 The 25-Year History of AmeriSchools PAGE 12 The Future of Education PAGE 16 1 The Chief Executive Officer’s Notebook he question about charter Board of Education. Each school should schools is extremely simple. be commended. The staff has provided Dr. Reginald Barr former president of The Are the schools accountable a birthright of choice, academic success, Arizona State Board of for academic standards, and freedom to succeed. Education and Associate the attainment of students and the The growth of the student popula- Superintendent of the State T tion in Arizona is a sustaining element Department of Education, efficient use of resources? Clearly for the continued support of charter is the founder of Charter articulated facts can help answer the Foundation, Inc., a non- schools. The Arizona Republic concluded profit organization dedicated question as parents and students in one editorial that a charter educa- to developing charter continue to elect schools of choice. schools throughout the tion has left choice to the best decision State of Arizona, including maker, both parent and child. Accord- AmeriSchools Academy, Strengths: Alive and ingly, students’ academic records indi- and University High Flourishing! School, Tucson Unified cate increased achievement levels and First things first—What facts set School District. gratifying statistical results. With this independent public charter schools in mind, chartering has become the apart from district public schools? economic bargain of the past 25 years. Today the state of Arizona enrolls As noted by the Goldwater Insti- at most 1.2 million students. Approxi- tute, every taxpayer in Arizona must mately 500 charter schools serve about AMERISCHOOLS be familiar with the use of public PERSPECTIVES is a 18% of this student population. These resources for education. On average, publication of The Charter figures are staggering considering one charter schools receive less than district Foundation, Inc., a non-profit critical issue. Presently, Arizona cannot 501(c)(3) corporation, doing schools in per pupil funding. fund nor build sufficient classrooms business as The AmeriSchools The Joint Legislative Budget Com- necessary to enroll the total student Academy, or AmeriSchools. mittee (JLBC) confirms these significant Visit: AmeriSchools.org population. District school systems funding differences. Including federal have found that students continue and state sources, this fund- to choose from the charter system of ing shortfall for charter schools. This situation magnifies the schools of almost $1,700 per importance of private investments in student is significant when charter school facilities. compared with district For each participant in the Ameri- schools. Schools system of schooling, whether Phoenix, Tucson or Yuma, student after Opportunities: student has found rewarding successes Understanding and through the multi-age/skill-based Managing Challenges curriculum. AmeriSchools faculty has Due to the impact of the received two grades of A, and two coronavirus and other im- grades of B, awarded by the State pending challenges, there “The Internet has become each student’s personalized resource.” 2 The Chief Executive Officer’s Notebook are unanswered questions to explore to intercontinental classroom. Another fully support virtual systems of person- personalized example: an Arizona alized learning. The future of schooling State University student was able to “If you’re going as an increasingly independent activity complete college level courses totaling through hell, is a challenge that must be met. 83 units by the end of their first year, keep going.” The growth of an ever increasing an outstanding record for a challeng- – Sir Winston Churchill student population that is distin- ing opportunity. The marketplace for was a British statesman, army officer, and writer. guished by independent learning knowledge finds that the Internet has He was Prime Minister of options is now an untapped source of become each student’s personalized the United Kingdom from schooling opportunities. resource. 1940 to 1945, when he led This year’s fires in the Pacific the country to victory in the Second World War, and Northwest have forced students to Threats: Enemies, again from 1951 to 1955. vacate college dormitories and find but Also Allies locations that are free of burning em- The learning enemies of indepen- bers. Relocating to safety did not ham- dent charter schools have been fully per their educational opportunities. documented by Thomas Sowell, a They were able to utilize readily resident of the Hoover Institution at available virtual education platforms. Stanford University. Charter Schools A New York Times recent (September and Their Enemies presents a systematic 13, 2020) reminder that “a picture is study, including a sizeable number of still worth a thousand words,” ex- charts that compare charter and district hibited young teenage students in student outcomes. This publication sets Indonesia using their Internet-enabled a research standard that places most devices to join other students in an opposing “enemy” efforts to diminish Dr. Thomas Sowell has written about education charter student competencies in the throughout his career. He trash bin. has argued for the need for To multiply student schooling reform of the school system successes requires the forceful pro- in the United States. In his latest book, Charter Schools tection of personalized instructional and Their Enemies, Sowell opportunities. The protection of each compares the educational student’s birthright is one of choice outcomes of school children and learning freedom. educated at charter schools with those at conventional Sincerely, public schools. He presents the case that charter schools, on the whole, do significantly Dr. Reginald E. Barr, CEO better in terms of educational outcomes than conventional AmeriSchools Academy schools. “The Internet has become each student’s personalized resource.” 3 Charter School News “California Arizona Here CouldI Come!” Striking Contrast in Educational Results Be the Reason? recent report from Dr. Matthew Ladner* illus- In Ladner’s report he compares Los Angeles County trates a striking contrast between Los Angeles student progress data with that of Maricopa County for County and Maricopa County (Phoenix Metro) both low-income students and non-low-income students. educationalA results data. Before getting into the educa- His findings: tional data Ladner presents a simple economics lesson. • Low-Income Students: Low-income students in U-Haul rates for a 20-foot truck can vary a bit: (1) Phoe- Maricopa County learned at a rate 12% higher than nix to Los Angeles for $157, (2) Los Angeles to Phoenix the national average. Similar students in Los Angeles for $1,483 (845% higher). Do you think supply and County learned at a rate 5% below the national aver- demand have something to do with it? age. A similar gap appears among non-poor students. Los Angeles U-Haul dealers desperately need the vans, so anyone relocating a van to Los Angeles is • Non-Low-Income Students: Middle-to-high-income rewarded with a low rate. But once the Los Angeles Los Angeles students fell one percent below the na- U-Haul dealers have the vans, they can charge a premi- tional average in academic progress. Similar students um rate for them to leave the L.A. area, because everyone in Maricopa County made academic gains 16% above wants to leave. Is this just about moving vans, or could the national average during this period. Interestingly, another factor be involved? both groups of students (low-income and middle-to- A possible answer, according to Ladner, lies in com- high-income, respectively) saw a gap of the same size, paring educational results between the two areas. Stanford a 17% advantage for Maricopa County students. University research provides a data visualization tool to The Stanford data “cannot definitively say why compare academic growth (student progress) over time. students learn faster in the Phoenix area than in L.A.” Comparing these two giants in their respective states But Arizona’s access to charter schools could be a factor. in this research makes “you wonder when the rest of Brookings Institution research shows, for the 2014-15 Los Angeles might arrive in Arizona.” school year, that the percentage of students having charter school access was 45.8% in California, but Arizona led the nation with 84%! Until additional research is done, we are left with Ladner’s concluding thought: “it looks like a continuing flow of Angelenos will continue to transport themselves to Arizona despite the steep price for moving trucks.” *Dr. Matthew Ladner is the executive director of the Center for Student Opportunity 4 ENGLISH: of traditional public school classes had 14% proficient students of charter school classes had proficient 65% students MATHEMATICS: of traditional public school classes had 10% proficient students of charter school classes had 68% proficient students 2019 Results of Grade-Level Proficiency Tests, New York State Education Department Charter Schools This Book Features Hard Facts: • In dozens of places in New York City where a charter and Their Enemies school and a traditional public school hold classes in the same building, charter school students in those buildings by Thomas Sowell have achieved “proficiency” on statewide tests