Executive Summary
Eliminating the achievement gap is the principal goal of the founding group. The mission
of Barbara Jordan Academy for Girls (BJAG) is that all students have dignity, value, and worth
that the academy will develop girls who are confident, civic, social, community and national
leaders. Using a social justice and public policy integrated, project based curriculum, BJAG will
produce students who can effectively communicate, investigate, and evaluate, developing selfrespecting, highly intelligent, understanding, and contributing members of society to a changing
world. BJAG will broaden students’ perspectives helping them understand and appreciate diverse
cultures within the school, the local community, and globally by exposing them to significant
national and world events that will assist in the shaping and developing of their thoughts,
opinions and solutions. BJAG will foster the academic and the thought process; allowing
instruction to be more individualized and addresses natural curiosity.
BJAG’s vision is that children thrive when they learn in a nurturing environment. The
Academy for Girls will ensure a safe, supportive and positive school culture for increased
student achievement and social / character development and will partner with parents and
community stakeholders to nurture and strengthen the whole child: body, and mind. Our
program, philosophically, is established based on the strengths that many girls possess: rich
language comprehension, gathering of facts prior to drawing conclusions, discussion of
problems, and the ability to multitask. Through a political and socially driven program our
students will be able to use these coveted strengths and enhance their abilities through the
collaborative efforts and assistance of parents, teachers, community and their peers.
BJAG will create an extraordinary school option for students and parents based on the
theme of social justice and public policy and will, through consistent application of skill
development and repetition, increase the overall comprehension and social awareness level of
our students (K-8) to meet the global changes of the 21st century by employing rigorous
academic standards. We will create challenging, inspirational and motivational opportunities that
respect student individuality and cultural diversity. All relationships for all individuals involved
with BJAG will operate from a foundation of respect, effective communication, and cooperation.
The needs for Barbara Jordan Academy for Girls are many in the Northwest community
where it will be located, but is equally needed throughout the city. BJAG is the only school that
directly addresses elementary and middle school girls in the community and focuses on the
development of the whole child without interruption from external sources. Additionally with a
social justice and public policy integrated curriculum, BJAG will prepare students for local and
global experiences not often found in traditional schools. Although open to all girls throughout
the city the decision to open in this particular community resulted from one principal fact: the
girls living within the community have not performed as well on standardized tests as they
possibly could. BJAG’s rigor and academic skills development program, through enrichment,
will help girls within the community narrow the width of the present achievement gap. The
concept for the Barbara Jordan Academy for Girls began as a discussion between several
individuals with unrelenting concerns regarding the education of girls in the city of Baltimore.
Inspired by the conversation and determined to be catalyst for change and empowerment
for the disenfranchised girls, several individuals from that group decided to embark upon the
creation of a charter school; one that would most adequately address the concerns, ideologies and
unresolved issues of these girls, while instilling in them the certainty of their limitless
possibilities, self-determination, and personal efficacy. The founding team was formed,
composed of four members. Of the founding four, two were educators, with nearly fifty years of
service to the education profession and two were social workers with the necessary dynamics and
skills to accurately and effectively address the issues of the urban child in the 21st century. With
experiences in advocacy, school administration, mentoring, staff and teacher development,
compliance law, curriculum and instruction, juvenile justice, child social issues and a propensity
for child emotional, social and academic development this team embodies the talents and skills
sorely lacking in many child centered endeavors. Their combined resources, coupled with a
passion for the betterment of students in Baltimore City is the principle ideology to making
Barbara Jordan Academy for Girls a successful charter school.