North Carolina’s public school system is feeling strong competition for students from Charter Schools and private schools. Bladen County Schools are no different with the opening of Emereau:Bladen Charter School in August. There are distinct differences between Charter Schools and traditional public schools with regards to teachers and curriculum. To learn more, click here.
Bladenonline.com reached out to Roger Bacon Academy which operates several Charter Schools in our area including Columbus Charter School with a request for information regarding employment requirements, curriculum and funding for the new Charter School. Below is their response.
1. Does Roger Bacon Academy require all teachers hired at all of it locations to be certified? If not, what is the percentage that must be certified?
Charter schools are required to maintain a staff of at least 50% licensed teachers. Despite far surpassing this requirement, Roger Bacon Academy works to ensure that 100% of teachers at its schools are either fully-licensed with a teaching degree or have a lateral entry license and a related four-year degree. It is also important to note that all teachers attend an annual, extensive professional development series for training in Direct Instruction and our classical curriculum. All teachers go through extensive training via teacher orientation and there are full-time teaching coaches stationed at every campus who are always available to help.
2. How do your schools select the curriculum they choose to teach? How much flexibility do you have in selecting curriculum in comparison to public schools?
Our curriculum is based on classical education and the Trivium, which is Grammar: mechanics, Logic: analysis and critical thinking, Rhetoric: application. We begin grammar in Kindergarten, and by second grade, students are diagramming sentences into their parts and clauses. They begin Cursive in 1st grade, which they will use to complete their homework until leaving us in 8th grade. They begin Latin in 4th grade, which also continues to 8th grade. In history, students learn a timeline of events from 3500BC-today. This is divided up into 4 eras, in which first grade is spent learning the first era, second grade the second era, and so forth. The cycle repeats in 4-8th grades with more detail and literature and art integration. Math and Science are a priority – we also teach composition, drama and debate. Our unique curriculum consistently produces the highest performing schools in Columbus and Brunswick counties.
In NC, the charter legislation was passed in 1997 when NC schools ranked 49th in SAT scores with HS dropouts rates in the 50% range for certain groups. Its purpose is stated to “hold the schools … accountable for meeting measurable student achievement results, and provide the schools with a method to change from rule-based to performance-based accountability systems.” Thus, charters have more liberty in choosing their curricula. For example, when the state implemented mandatory Common Core for district schools, public charter schools were free from the mandate. That said, a charter’s curricula must be stated in the initial application and approved by the State Board of Education. A charter must also demonstrate both academic and financial performance: measurable academic performance through End-of-grade testing and financial performance through independent outside state audits of both finances and of statutory compliances. These are the same EOG tests and audit standards that districts are subjected to, and the results are all publicly available on the internet.
3. How do Charter schools receive their funding?
Charter schools are tuition-free and any NC student can attend. Charter schools take the same EOG tests and have the same annual financial and compliance audits as district schools. Charter school educational plans are extensively reviewed by the Department of Public Instruction and all approved by the State Board of Education. The only public money charter schools receive is a per-pupil allocation that is about 73% of the district school amount in which the charter school is located. In Brunswick County, charter school students receive about $7,400 where district school students receive about $10,200, according to governmental audits.
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