William McKenzie Dallas Morning News
Pegasus & Peak Charter Schools in Dallas work
Something must be working. The school whose population is 63 percent Latino 35 percent black and 2 percent Anglo reports no dropouts in its high school class. And U.S. News listed it as one of the nations best high schools in 2007-2008. This is part of Pegasus Charter Schools effort to rethink the school day from downtown Dallas.
The American Prospect took a look at charter schools recently citing some who see them as doing better than expected and others who naturally dont see it that way. Thats usually the way it is with charters although the magazine reported on the charter analysis done by two heavyweights. The article is worth reading to see how each approaches the subject of charters. The surprising part is that both scholars support President Obamas goal of creating more charters.
As I read it I thought of two Dallas charters I toured last month. The first was the Pegasus School of Liberal Arts & Sciences which is located in the downtown Y near the Dallas Museum of Art. Except for the fact the school had very few windows creating the feel of being in a bunker Pegasus offers a unique education opportunity: attending a 4th through 12th grade campus in the middle of a major city.
The school located downtown on purpose and the teachers use the arts district City Hall the downtown library and other facilities as part of their campus. Classes walk to those destinations for lessons even taking PE walking classes across town. High schoolers also can use nearby El Centro College for dual credits.
Among other innovations the school requires community service of every student. The service element starts with 40 hours of volunteer work for fourth graders and goes up to 100 hours for 12th graders.
The teachers also break the schedule into minutes not hours. And students schedules change every day.
The second school I visited was Peak Preparatory not too far from Baylor Hospital. The school is part of Uplift which runs charters in other parts of North Texas. Uplift is not yet up to the KIPP Academy level of a system of charters but it is getting there.
Peaks first senior class is this year and the 29 students are all expected to graduate and go to college. Get this: In order to graduate you have to be accepted into a two-year or four-year college.
Expectations are a big part of the culture at Peak. When you walk into the building and see the pictures of this years graduating class the students are listed as the class of 2014. I couldnt figure that out until someone said that meant the year of their college graduating class.
Like Pegasus the vast majority of Peaks students come from low-income homes mostly Latino. 78 percent of their students come from homes where Spanish is the primary language. By fourth grade however they have all of their students taking the TAKS test in English.
The school touts interventions with students after-school tutorials and Saturday schools to help students meet their objectives. And parents must sign plans with their children and the school at the beginning of each year. If the child falls off track the parent and students meet with the teacher to review the plan. This is part of the schools culture of expectation.
Here too something must be working. Peak which has about 900 students reports that 100 percent of its 11th graders met all of their TAKS requirements. And the K-5 campus director Teresa Khirallah claims that the school adds one-and-a-half year of growth in their students grasp of their subjects each year.
There is no one model that will work in every school. And charters like these certainly have issues to work on. Peak had too few minority teachers if you ask me. And Pegasus has that cramped feeling.
But charters like Pegasus and Peak are worth studying to see what they are doing right. And they are further proof why Obama is right to keep the charter school movement alive. There are problems to point out as scholars do but not enough to pull the plug on the experiment.
