ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Funding provided by the United States Department of Education Charter Schools Program.
Primary Author: Kim Wechtenhiser, Consultant, ClassMeasures, Inc.
Graphic Design by: Moore and Isherwood Communications, Inc.
Thank you to all the public schools — district and charter —
that have worked in collaboration on the projects featured in this publication.
© 2009, Massachusetts Department of Elementary
and Secondary Education
2
Dear Educators:
The Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 allowed for the creation
of Commonwealth and Horace Mann charter schools: new kinds of
public schools, operating under five-year charters granted by the Board
of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) and directly overseen by
the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE). A charter
school is given increased autonomy to organize around a core mission,
curriculum, theme, or teaching method and has increased flexibility in
governance. In exchange for this autonomy, the school is required to
produce academic results or risk losing its charter. The Massachusetts
statute defines multiple reasons for establishing charter schools,
including a requirement to disseminate best practices and create
replicable models.
Over the last 15 years, many Massachusetts charter schools have become
nationally-recognized for their superior academic achievement and
innovative educational methods.
I am pleased to present this new publication which is complemented by a
user-friendly webpage on the Department’s website, which highlights the
important work that charter schools and district partners are doing in
sharing innovative, educational best practices. It is my hope that
showcasing these practices and partnerships can further the important
dialogue that is necessary between educators in all types of public
schools to support achievement at the highest levels for all students in the
Commonwealth.
Sincerely,
Mitchell D. Chester, Ed.D
Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education
www.doe.mass.edu/charter
3
Table of Contents
Overview ........................................................................................................................................ 5
Boston Preparatory Charter Public School – Expanded Learning Time:
Making Every Minute Matter .......................................................................................................... 7
Community Day Charter Public School - Meeting the Needs of Students,
Families, and the Community ......................................................................................................... 9
Neighborhood House Charter School - Project for School Innovation ........................................ 11
River Valley Charter School - Montessori Made Public ............................................................... 13
Sturgis Charter Public School - Ensuring College
Readiness: IB for All ..................................................................................................................... 14
Additional Projects and Website Information ............................................................................... 16
www.doe.mass.edu/charter
4
OVERVIEW
When charter schools became part of the public education landscape with the passage of the 1993
Education Reform Act, they were charged with studying, documenting, and disseminating their best
practices to public schools throughout the Commonwealth. Many charter schools have shared their
innovative solutions to meeting the needs of all types of student learners, partnering with public school
districts, individual schools within districts, and other charter schools to share key design elements of
their academic programs as well as organizational, governance, and management practices.
This Best Practices and Dissemination Activities Guide provides an overview of the types of practices
and activities that have been successfully developed in charter schools, and highlights five schools in
detail. The Guide focuses on activities undertaken by a charter school in collaboration with a district or
schools within a district that included mutual sharing of best practices or sharing practices of the charter
school. The activities are also documented, making them accessible to all schools and district.
The best practices and dissemination activities not highlighted in this document are listed at the back of
the Guide and are available in greater detail on the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education website at www.doe.mass.edu/charter. In addition to providing more descriptive
information about the practices themselves, the website also allows users to easily search the full catalog
of activities by project topic and for particular audiences (such as teachers, principals, other school
leaders, and board members). Each profile listed in this Guide and on the website also includes a list of
documentation or other resources that have been developed as a result of these dissemination activities,
as well as contact information for individuals at each charter school who can provide more information
about the specific practices and collaborations between charter and district schools listed in the back of
this Guide.
The Guide highlights five particularly notable best practices and dissemination activities. These include
practices and activities that have established an infrastructure for further collaborations between charter
schools and districts and schools, and also whole school models (such as Montessori and the International
Baccalaureate Programme) that have not traditionally been considered options available to or successful
with all students who attend public schools. These best practices and dissemination activities represent
productive collaborations between charter schools and traditional district schools, and may serve as a
model for more district and charter school collaborations to come. It is the hope of the Department that
this Best Practices and Dissemination Activities Guide and the accompanying, searchable online catalog
of practices and activities increase the accessibility of this information for all public schools and districts
across the Commonwealth. On behalf of the participating schools, the Department invites and encourages
you to reach out to the schools and individuals identified within the profiles included within this Guide
and on the Department’s website.
The Guide catalogs a range of best practices and dissemination
activities, including practices related to:
• School mission;
• Internal and/or external student assessment systems;
• Using schoolwide and individual student assessment data to inform curriculum and
instruction;
5
• Developing, refining, and documenting curricula;
• Instructional practices;
• Practices in instructional leadership;
• At-risk learners;
• Special education students and English language learners;
• School culture and classroom management practices;
• Schoolwide or individual professional development programs;
• Community involvement;
• Organizational capacity;
• Board oversight and governance practices;
• Compliance with state and federal law;
• Budgeting and long-range fiscal planning strategies;
• Fiscal policies and procedures; and
• Annual reporting requirements.
www.doe.mass.edu/charter
6
Boston Preparatory Charter Public School
Expanded Learning Time: Making Every Minute Matter
School Name:
Location:
Grades Served:
Total Enrollment:
Best Practice:
Contact:
Boston Preparatory Charter
Public School
1286 Hyde Park Ave
Hyde Park, Massachusetts 02136
6th through 10th grade
290 students
Expanded Learning Time: Making
Every Minute Matter
Amanda Gardner, Principal
617-333-6688, agardner@bostonprep.org
or
Cindy Snow
Director of Dissemination
Massachusetts Charter Public
School Association
413-625-0135, snow@masscharters.org
Authorized by the Massachusetts Board of Education in February 2003, Boston Preparatory Charter
Public School (Boston Prep) opened in the fall of 2004 to serve 100 students in 6th grade. At full capacity,
the school plans to serve 350 students in grades 6-12. The mission of the school is to “utilize rigorous
curriculum, extended academic time, and a range of supports for children and families to prepare 6th –
12th grade students to succeed in college. An environment structured around scholarship and personal
growth cultivates students’ virtues of courage, compassion, integrity, perseverance, and respect.”
In its nearly five full years of operation, Boston Prep has achieved impressive results. In the spring of
2008, in math, 98% of eighth grade students at Boston Prep scored advanced and proficient on the
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). In English language arts, 93% of Boston Prep
students scored advanced and proficient. In addition, 53% percent of Boston Prep’s 8th grade students
scored proficient on the science and technology MCAS assessment, exceeding statewide performance.
Boston Prep attributes its students’ success in large part to the extended learning time provided by the
school. A central tenet of its mission, extended time on learning at Boston Prep provides students with
opportunities to develop core virtues of courage, compassion, integrity, perseverance, and respect, as
well as opportunities to learn new art techniques and participate in athletic programs and small group
academic support sessions.
Consistent with the Expanded Learning Time Initiative supported by the Massachusetts legislature and
Massachusetts 2020, Boston Prep applied for and received a federal dissemination grant from the
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in 2008 to share key components of
its expanded learning time program, as well as the key design elements of the expanded learning time
programs at eight other Massachusetts charter schools, including MATCH Charter Public School,
Roxbury Preparatory Charter School, City on a Hill Charter Public School, Marblehead Community
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Charter School, Rising Tide Charter Public School, KIPP Academy Lynn Charter School, Neighborhood
House Charter School, and Codman Academy Charter Public School.
The dissemination project will take place over a two year period, beginning in January 2009. First,
Boston Prep will conduct a survey of critical practices, benefits, and challenges faced by its peer schools
that also offer expanded learning time opportunities for students, and will document its findings in a
report. This report will be distributed widely to all superintendents and principals in Massachusetts,
operating charter schools and charter school applicants, colleges and universities in Massachusetts that
offer teacher and administrator training programs, and will be posted on the Boston Prep and
Massachusetts Charter Public School Association websites. The document will also be shared with critical
decision makers in education policy, including legislators, the governor’s office, the commissioner of
education, and district schools that have received planning grants from the Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education to establish their own expanded learning time programs.
Boston Prep will study its own model in further detail and produce a case study of its expanded
learning time program. The case study will summarize critical practices of the model, as well as identify
benefits and analyze resulting challenges the school has faced in implementation of the program.
Finally, the dissemination grant will make it possible for the nine participating schools to offer eleven
study tours to a total of approximately 110 Massachusetts educators. The study tours will be offered
starting in the spring of 2009 and through the 2009-10 school year, enabling participants to become
familiar with the school and its programs, with a specific focus on the key design elements, benefits, and
challenges of the school’s expanded learning time program. The study tours also provide opportunities
for educators to exchange ideas and discuss challenges and opportunities related to their work, with a
particular focus on expanded learning time. These study tours will be facilitated by the Massachusetts
Charter Public School Association.
To learn more about this project, to participate in one of the upcoming study tours, or to learn more
about the school’s expanded learning program, contact Amanda Gardner, Principal at Boston Prep, or
Cindy Snow, Director of Dissemination at the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association.
8
Community Day Charter Public School
Meeting the Needs of
Students, Families, and the Community
School Name:
Location:
Grades Served:
Total Enrollment:
Best Practice:
Contact:
Community Day Charter Public School
73 Prospect Street
190 Hampshire Street
Lawrence, Massachusetts 01841
Kindergarten through 8th grade
330 students
Meeting the Needs of Students,
Families, and the Community
Laura Richane
Director of Curriculum and Partnerships
978-682-6628,
lrichane@thecommunitygroup.org
Community Day Charter Public School (Community Day) is located in Lawrence and serves 330
students in kindergarten through 8th grade. The mission of Community Day is to “provide a
kindergarten through grade eight school that will draw upon our considerable experience in working
together as a community to develop and implement a curriculum that discovers and supports the special
characteristics and unique learning styles of each student.”
Consistent with the population of the city in which it is located, Community Day serves a racially and
linguistically diverse student population. In 2007-08, the school’s population was approximately 87%
Hispanic, 9% White, 2% African American, and 1% Asian. Approximately 29% of the school’s population
was limited English proficient, 18% were students with special needs, and 64% of the school’s students
qualified for free or reduced lunch.
Despite the challenges facing the students served by Community Day, including students’ limited early
literacy and social skills, the school has graduated 8th graders prepared to attend elite and selective
secondary schools. Many more of its students graduate from high school and enroll in colleges and
universities across the country.
Through Keeping the Promise: The Massachusetts Charter School Dissemination and Replication
Project, sponsored by the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, Community Day has
documented and begun to share the key design elements of its charter that have served as the foundation
of the school’s success. In 2007, the school’s founding and current Executive Director co-authored, with
the Director of Development, a whole school paper entitled Meeting the Needs of Students, Families, and
the Community. The paper, published on the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association’s website,
details specific elements of the school design that have enabled the school to successfully educate a group
of students whose demographics would otherwise indicate academic failure.
9
In particular, the paper details the school’s academic program and organizational and fiscal operations
that have allowed the school to meet both its mission and its accountability plan goals. For example, the
school’s standards-based, academically challenging curriculum is carefully documented, monitored, and
revised when necessary to ensure that the school’s teachers have access to up-to-date information when
planning and designing teaching and learning opportunities. In addition, the school benefits from an
analyst who tracks and analyzes data from the student assessment system to support the school’s use of
data to improve teaching and learning. The school also relies on a supported immersion model for
English language learners, that emphasizes the development of early literacy through the school’s two,
full-day kindergarten programs. Further, Community Day develops individualized education goals for
all students, which assist educators in meeting each students learning level, with a goal of bringing them
to proficiency at each grade level, each year.
In addition to the whole school paper, the Keeping the Promise project entails facilitated study tours
for charter school and district school educators at the demonstration school. Through the study tours,
dozens of educators from around the state and country have toured the school and observed its best
practices. Educators have participated in an on-site workshop to discuss these key design elements.
Subsequent to the study tours, participants will receive follow-up support and consulting services
through the school itself, the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, Project for School
Innovation, and the Massachusetts Center for Charter Public School Excellence to assist them in
implementing some or all of the school’s key design elements.
To learn more about Community Day’s best practices, or to participate in a study tour and workshop at
Community Day, please contact Laura Richane, Director of Curriculum and Partnerships.
www.doe.mass.edu/charter
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Neighborhood House Charter School
Project for School Innovation
School Name:
School Location:
Grades Served:
Total Enrollment:
Best Practice:
Contact:
Neighborhood House Charter School
21 Queen Street
Dorchester, Massachusetts 02122
Kindergarten through 8th grade
400 students
Charter School Dissemination at Scale
Project for School Innovation
Kevin Andrews, Executive Director
617-825-0703, kandrews@thenhcs.org
or
Ruth Feldman
Executive Director
Project for School Innovation
617-825-0703, ext. 4,
rfeldman@psinnovation.org
Neighborhood House Charter School was among the first charter schools approved in Massachusetts.
Founded in 1994 by a group of local parents, the school opened with a goal of becoming both a
neighborhood-based school as well as a community resource that would provide health care and social
services, while providing an alternative educational option to the families of Boston. In its thirteenth year
of operation, the school has established itself as a permanent part of Boston’s public school landscape,
and serves 400 students who attend pre-kindergarten through 8th grade.
The school’s educational philosophy—Succeed Anywhere—guides its academic program and strong
commitment to teaching and learning. Dedicated to doing whatever is necessary to give its students the
knowledge and skills to succeed in secondary and post-secondary endeavors, Neighborhood House has
committed to “developing and sharing with other public schools innovative practices that improve public
education for all students.”
In 2000, after a year of planning, the school founded an affiliated, yet independent, organization to
support the sharing of best practices between and among charter and district public schools. Supported
by a federal dissemination grant awarded through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education, the school incubated and launched Project for School Innovation (PSI), a separate
501c(3), to “broaden the impact of successful education reform through the two-way exchange of effective
practices between charter and non-charter public schools.”
In its first year of operation, PSI engaged six charter and district school partners in a research and
action collaborative, including: the Patrick O’Hearn School, the Mather School, Academy of the Pacific
Rim Charter Public School, Conservatory Lab Charter School, Frederick Douglass Charter School,
Neighborhood House Charter School, and Roxbury Preparatory Charter School.
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Today, the mission of PSI remains largely the same, to “cultivate grassroots networks for public district
and charter school educators to share their successes and drive school change,” but, both the organization
and the scope of collaboration and dissemination efforts has grown exponentially. Through PSI, district
and charter schools alike have studied and documented numerous best practices, and have joined forces
with their peers and colleagues in public schools across the Commonwealth to identify and effectively
implement practices that work for teachers, students, and school principals.
One vehicle for dissemination of best practices is the By Teachers, For Teachers book series. After a
year of rigorous study and reflection, a group of teachers at selected schools write a step-by-step, how-to
guide about their most effective practices. From character development to successful mathematics
programs and curriculum, PSI has published seventeen books, including one documenting the
Neighborhood House innovative “KidLab” science program. PSI also trains teachers in providing
professional development workshops on these practices, and facilitates opportunities for the “PSI
Associates” to connect with and engage other educators around the state and country in support of
effective implementation of the practices. Since 2007, PSI has also hosted an annual Learning Exchange
Conference.
PSI’s contributions to dissemination efforts also include the formation of an “At-Risk Consortium,”
comprised of four charter public high schools that aim to serve students who have dropped out of school
or who are at risk of dropping out. Additional information is provided under The At-Risk Consortium.
Other activities include study groups such as the Model School Study Group; Support Network for
Innovative Classrooms; Support Network for Innovative Principals; and the Support Network for School
Excellence, which supports whole school change efforts.
To become involved in one of PSI’s dissemination initiatives, or to learn more about PSI’s work with
district and charter schools, contact Neighborhood House Charter School or the Project for School
Innovation.
Fast Facts:
The Project for School Innovation has:
• Touched over 240 educators in traditional district and charter
schools through over 30 intensive research and support groups;
• Published 17 teacher and educator-authored guidebooks on
effective practices;
• Distributed over 5,000 books and DVDs to educators nationwide;
Presented at 24 local, state, and national conferences; and
• Supported the development of 35 school action plans.
www.doe.mass.edu/charter
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River Valley Charter School
Montessori Made Public
School Name:
Location:
Grades Served:
Total Enrollment:
Best Practice:
Contact:
River Valley Charter School
2 Perry Way
Newburyport, Massachusetts 01950
Kindergarten through 8th grade
288 students
Montessori Made Public
Dale Bishop, Director
978-465-0065, dabishop80@yahoo.com
With the approval of River Valley Charter School in 1999, the Massachusetts Board of Education
authorized the state’s first public Montessori school. The founders envisioned a new school that would
not only offer additional educational options for families in Massachusetts, but one that would irrefutably
demonstrate that Montessori is an effective and viable choice for students and their families. In 2003, the
school, which serves 300 students in kindergarten through 8th grade, applied for a federal dissemination
grant through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to fund
Montessori Made Public. Through this program, the school researched, documented, and refined the
school’s assessment system, the River Valley Assessment Toolkit to demonstrate that River Valley and
the Montessori way have provided the educational environment, support, and coaching that allows
students to acquire the knowledge and skills they need to access high quality secondary and postsecondary educational opportunities.
In 2004, the school applied for an additional federal dissemination grant to launch comprehensive
documentation and sharing of Montessori Made Public. Through the production of a documentary DVD
and a series of workshops, the school aims to share its successes and challenges in establishing a public
Montessori charter school, as well as the experiences of two other schools, a charter school in Jefferson
County, Colorado, and a district public school in Yonkers, New York.
The professionally-produced DVD provides an introduction to Montessori Made Public and the
application of the Montessori model and philosophy to a public school environment. Specifically, the
video highlights the River Valley Assessment Toolkit. The DVD also addresses the use and success of the
Montessori philosophy and materials in preparing public school students to perform well on statemandated testing systems under No Child Left Behind, as well as the contributions made by each of the
three profiled schools to the overall public education landscape within their communities.
Notably, River Valley hosted the first Montessori Public School Conference in 2008. The school
attracted over 90 educators and administrators from each of the five other public Montessori schools in
the state, including Zanetti and Gerenca Elementary Schools in Springfield; Placentino Elementary School
in Holliston; Tobin Montessori School in Cambridge; and Hillview Montessori Charter School in
Haverhill. Through this conference, the schools shared successes resulting from the application of the
Montessori model to a public school setting, as well as the challenges to doing so. Attendees observed
classes and met in focus groups to discuss topics of their choice. River Valley regularly distributes the
Montessori Made Public video, and hosts visitors to the school through its River Valley View school
visitation program. To receive a copy of the DVD, to visit the school, or to learn more about how to
launch a Montessori program within your school or district, contact Dale Bishop, the school’s director.
www.doe.mass.edu/charter
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Sturgis Charter Public School
Ensuring College Readiness: IB for All
School Name:
Location:
Grades Served:
Total Enrollment:
Best Practice:
Contact:
Sturgis Charter Public School
427 Main Street
Hyannis, Massachusetts 02601
9th through 12th grade
350 students
Ensuring College Readiness: IB for All
Eric Hieser, Executive Director
508-771-6785,
ehieser@sturgischarterschool.org
In 1998, the founders of Sturgis Charter Public School envisioned creating an International
Baccalaureate school that would be successful with the spectrum of learners who would enroll at a public
school population. As a regional charter school that draws its 9th through 12th grade students by lottery
from Barnstable, Bourne, Carver, Chatham, Dennis-Yarmouth, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee, Nauset,
Plymouth, Sandwich, Provincetown, and Wareham., Sturgis realized this goal in 2004, the same year
Sturgis graduated its first senior class, and was eligible to apply for and be granted endorsement by the
International Baccalaureate Organization.
In celebration of the IB endorsement, and consistent with the vision of the school’s founders, Sturgis
launched a campaign—IB for All—to share their belief in and success with the IB model as a viable
educational option for all students. The school aims to challenge conventional wisdom that IB is a
program best suited for elite students. Sturgis also strongly believes that through its rigorous academic
program geared toward preparing students for success on the IB exams, students will also be prepared to
take and demonstrate proficiency on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. Funded by
allocations within the school’s budget, the school leadership and faculty of Sturgis began to document
and share the success of the IB program in helping all students demonstrate college readiness, including
special education students, English language learners, other at-risk students, and those students looking
for a challenging and intellectually rigorous education.
Since 2004, Sturgis has been recognized nationally and internationally for the success of its model. As a
result, the school’s leadership and faculty have presented at numerous conferences and provide tailored
consulting services to public schools and school districts looking to expand the school choice options
available to the families within their communities. Their reach has been extensive. Since 2005, the school
has worked directly with over eighteen schools and school districts from the Bay State, including Boston
Public Schools, Brockton Public Schools, Cambridge Public Schools, Haverhill Public Schools, and West
Springfield Public Schools, and in Oregon, and Honduras, and has given numerous presentations at
national conferences. Most recently, the school partnered with IB North America in their dissemination
efforts. In the summer of 2009 IB North America will formally train over 20 faculty and staff members
from Sturgis to serve as ambassadors of the IB for All model. Charged with spreading the word of the
success of the program with all public school students, Sturgis will continue to create customized
workshops and presentations for individual schools and public school districts interested in offering an
IB program to their communities. To learn more about IB for All, or to discuss the implementation of the
International Baccalaureate Programme at your school, contact Eric Hieser, Executive Director of Sturgis
Charter Public School.
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Additional Projects and Website Information
The following list provides information on additional dissemination projects
undertaken by Massachusetts charter schools, including the project focus and contact information.
This information is also available on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
website at www.doe.mass.edu/charter/bestpractices and will be updated
as additional projects are undertaken. The website provides you with the capacity to search by
topic and keyword to access additional details about these projects.
Best Practice Programs featured in this publication are in bold.
Charter School
Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School
Piel Hollingsworth, 617-361-0050 ext. 114,
phollingsworth@pacrim.org
Cindy Snow, Massachusetts Charter School
Association, 413-625-0135, snow@masscharters.org
Best Practice
Building Character and Achieving Academic
Success
Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School
Piel Hollingsworth, 617-361-0050 ext. 114,
phollingsworth@pacrim.org
Ruth Feldman, Project for School Innovation, 617-8250703 ext. 3290, rfeldman@psinnovation.org
Creating Positive School Culture through
Character Education
Supporting Students to Reach High
Standards
Atlantis Charter School
Cheryl Engle Belknap, Curriculum Director, 508-6466410, cbel@atlantiscs.org
Whale of a Mystery Science Curriculum
Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School
Lori Likis, Director of School Improvement, 617-4977771, llikis@banneker.org
Content-Area Professional Development:
Science
Improving Student Achievement in
Mathematics: A School-wide Approach
Facing Restructuring: How a Strong School
Faced Failure
Key Design Elements of a Successful College
Prep Program
Boston Collegiate Charter School
Kathleen Sullivan, Executive Director, 617-265-1172,
ksullivan@bostoncollegiate.org
Cindy Snow, Massachusetts Charter Public School
Association, 413-625-0135, snow@masscharters.org
Boston Preparatory Charter Public School
Amanda Gardner, Principal, 617-333-6688,
agardner@bostonprep.org
Cindy Snow, Massachusetts Charter Public School
Association, 413-625-0135, snow@masscharters.org
Expanding Learning Time: Making Every
Minute Matter
Boston Preparatory Charter Public School
Amanda Gardner, Principal, 617-333-6688,
A School-Wide Approach to Behavior
Management: The Demerit Database
*
15
agardner@bostonprep.org
Using Data to Drive Instruction
City on a Hill Charter Public School
Benjamin Conrick, Director of Certification and
Professional Development, 617-445-1515,
bconrick@cityonahill.org
Training Urban Teachers
City on a Hill Charter Public School
Erica Brown, Head of School, 617-445-1515,
ebrown@cityonahill.org
Implementing a Mission-Driven Program
Codman Academy Charter Public School
Meg Campbell, Executive Director, 617-287-0700 ext.
103, mcampbell@codmanacademy.org
Teaching Literacy through Shakespeare
Community Day Charter Public School
Laura Richane, 978-682-6628,
lrichane@thecommunitygroup.org
Meeting the Needs of Students, Families,
and the Community
Online Professional Development Program
Conservatory Lab Charter School
Diana Lam, Head of School, 617-254-8904,
dlam@conservatorylab.org
*
Replicating the School Model
Using Data to Drive Instruction
Using Community Resources to Enhance the
Teaching of History
Making Learning Visible
Conservatory Lab Charter School
Diana Lam, Head of School, 617-254-8904,
dlam@conservatorylab.org
Music Education
Edward W. Brooke Charter School
Jon Clark, Head of School, 617-325-7977,
jclark@ebrooke.org
Improving Student Achievement in
Mathematics: A School-wide Approach
Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School
Teri Schrader, Principal, 978-772-3293,
teri@parker.org
Hill View Montessori Charter Public School
Janet Begin, Executive Director, 978-521-2616 ext.
100, jbegin@hvmcps.org
Ten Common Principles of the Coalition of
Essential Schools
Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter School
Marge McDevitt, Principal, 978-656-3400,
mcdevittm@middlesex.mass.edu
Ruth Feldman, Project for School Innovation, 617-8250703 ext. 3290, rfeldman@psinnovation.org
Assessments that Matter for At-Risk Students
Marstons Mills East Horace Mann Charter Public
School
Ken Keenan, Principal, 508-420-1100,
keenan_ken@barnstable.k12.ma.us
Becoming a Horace Mann Charter Public
School
Charter School and District Collaboration
16
Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School
Bob Moore, Director, 508-693-9900,
bob_moore@mvpcs.org
Differentiation within the Classroom
MATCH Charter Public School
Alan Safran, Executive Director, 617-232-0300,
asafran@mathschool.org
Cindy Snow, Massachusetts Charter School
Association, 413-625-0135, snow@masscharters.org
MATCH Corps Program: Courage, Discipline,
and Perseverance
MATCH Charter Public School
Alia Smith, MATCH Corps Program Director, 617-2320300, asmith@matchschool.org
MATCH Corps Program: Intensive High
School Math Tutoring
MATCH Charter Public School
Alan Safran, Executive Director, 617-232-0300,
asafran@mathschool.org
MATCH Corps Program: The “No Excuses”
High School Tutor - Tutoring Teenagers In
High-Poverty Schools
Neighborhood House Charter School
Kevin Andrews, Executive Director, 617-825-0703,
kandrews@thenhcs.org
Ruth Feldman, Project for School Innovation, 617-8250703 ext. 4, rfeldman@psinnovation.org
Project for School Innovation
North Central Charter Essential School
Carolyn Sellars, Director of Strategic Planning, 978345-2701 ext. 403, sellarsc@ncces.org
Inquiry-based Science Instruction
Prospect Hill Academy Charter School
Stephen Buck, Chief Academic Officer, 617-284-7805,
sbuck@prospecthillacademy.org
Improving Student Achievement in
Mathematics: A School-wide Approach
River Valley Charter School
Dale Bishop, Director, 978-465-0065,
dabishop80@yahoo.com
Montessori Made Public
Roxbury Preparatory Charter School
Will Austin, Co-Director, 617-566-2361,
waustin@roxburyprep.org
Cindy Snow, Massachusetts Charter School
Association, 413-625-0135, snow@masscharters.org
Raising Student Achievement School-wide
Roxbury Preparatory Charter School
Will Austin, Co-Director, 617-566-2361,
waustin@roxburyprep.org
Ruth Feldman, Project for School Innovation, 617-8250703 ext. 3290, rfeldman@psinnovation.org
Improving Student Achievement in
Mathematics: A School-wide Approach
Sturgis Charter Public School
Eric Hieser, Executive Director, 508-778-1782,
ehieser@sturgischarterschool.org
Best Practices in School Governance
Ensuring College Readiness: IB for All
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www.doe.mass.edu/charter
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