A rural Florida school district has one year to turn around a school that’s struggled academically for much of the past two decades. If it doesn’t improve during the upcoming school year, Hamilton County High School could be one of the first schools affected by a new state law that ratchets[Read More…]
Tag: rural charters
This rural charter school gets results
APALACHICOLA, Fla. – Belinda Cassidy came to the Apalachicola Bay Charter School hoping to be hired as a teacher assistant. After walking the halls and seeing some of the classrooms for its younger students, she realized she was interested in more than a job. She saw children spread out across classrooms,[Read More…]
Can Florida’s rural communities support charter schools?
While charter schools have proliferated in Florida, nearly a third of of the state’s school districts, most of them rural, don’t have one — a fact that got attention from members of a state House panel discussing charter school legislation. State Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, wanted to know whether home education and[Read More…]
Can education reform work in rural America?
Rural school districts are more likely to be disadvantaged by one-size-fits-all mandates from state legislatures and the Federal government. Yet rural districts, where resources are already spread thin and school are often important employers, are also more likely to be skeptical of school choice programs. A new policy brief by Dan Fishman in Education[Read More…]
Rural charter school principal aims to create a model for STEM education
The origins of the approach that’s driving one of Florida’s newest and most highly rated rural charter schools can be found 55 miles to the West, in Tallahassee. At Godby High School in Leon County, Demetrius Rice helped transform a dusty wood shop into cutting edge classroom-slash-robotics lab, where he led[Read More…]
Parents hope to revive F-rated charter school poised for closure
The parents love the school, even though the state says it’s failing. So against all odds, they’re looking for options to stave off its closure. Shining Star Academy of the Arts, a charter school in Columbia County, Fla., received F grades from the state in its first two years of operation.[Read More…]
Rural charter schools overcome obstacles to create new options
The proliferation of charter schools around the country has come more slowly to rural areas. Yet nationwide, nearly 800 rural charter schools are grappling with limited funding, diffuse populations, and, in some cases, resistance from local school districts. Away from the spotlight of major media markets, they haven’t gotten as much[Read More…]