Drew Charter School Case Study

BEST PRACTICE CASE STUDY:

DREW CHARTER SCHOOL Prepared by Averil Eagle Georgia Institute of Technology Science, Technology and Culture, Undergraduate

BEST PRACTICE CASE STUDY:

DREW CHARTER SCHOOL Prepared by Averil Eagle

PROBLEM Holistically, public education in America faces an extreme deficiency in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) education. Locally, many districts do not adequately utilize community resources that could increase STEAM education, school involvement and overall educational advancement.

How can STEAM education be increase in the Georgia’s charter schools curriculum? And how can the use of community resources and education partners be effectively implemented into a school?

CLAIM Drew Charter School Partners of Innovation was recently rewarded a $1 million grant by Georgia Governor Deal through the nationwide educational investment program, Race to the Top. This charge started early in the Obama administration and sought to promote innovation, reform and excellence in America’s public schools. Drew Charter, a Title I charter school, is doing just that in its cutting edge STEAM partnership with two state institutions, Georgia State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Presently, what is necessary is an evaluation of this school to find and prove that the emphasis on 2

STEAM education within its curriculum advances its students in the grades 6 through 8; and further push for more STEAM attention and community involvement in our state’s public schools. The recommendation to extend this model in other Georgia schools is in response to the apparent results that Drew Charter consistently achieves.

SUPPORT Background Drew Charter School was established in 2000 and was the city of Atlanta’s first charter school. It was founded on the mission to work together as a community of teachers, staff, students, families and volunteers to provide a learning environment that emphasizes high achievement and character development. 1

Drew Charter School serves the children and families of the East Lake community of southeastern Atlanta. Drew is an essential component of a community-wide initiative that helps families break the intergenerational cycle of poverty. The school was formed by a pioneering partnership that included parents, representatives of the Atlanta Board of Education and the East Lake Foundation. Drew Charter School has proven its innovative approach to education works. Drew’s commitment to academic achievement, character development and enrichment opportunities helps all students reach their potential .

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"Charter Renewal Petition, 2010 – 2015."http://www.drewcharterschool.org. Drew Charter School, Oct 2009.

Web. 22 Oct 2011.

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Standardized test results show that student achievement steadily increases from Pre-K through 8th grade; the longer students stay at Drew, the better they perform. 2

Housed in a state-of-the-art building constructed in 2001 by the East Lake Foundation, Drew remains the linchpin of East Lake’s dramatic and successful revitalization. Not only does Drew serve children whose families have been trapped in intergenerational poverty, but it also attracts families with choice to East Lake and contributes significantly to the neighborhood’s economic diversity and viability. Located at the geographic heart of the village, Drew provides welcome meeting space for neighborhood groups and organizations.

Drew serves approximately 770 students in Kindergarten through 8th grade, with a student-teacher ratio of 15-to-1. An additional 60 children participate in early learning for three and four year olds. 3

Approximately 85 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, and 98 percent are African-American. More than just a school, Drew is a key component in the “cradle-tocollege” educational village. Students are provided access to people, programs and scholarships to help them attend and graduate from the best high schools and colleges. A Drew education is one that supports intellectual, physical, social and emotional growth.4

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Drew Charter School: Charter Renewal Petition "Drew Charter School 2009-2010 Annual Report."www.drewcharterschool.org. Drew Charter School, 2011. Web. 22 Nov 2011.

4 Drew Charter School: 2009-2010 Annual Report 3

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Drew Charter School is governed by a Board of Directors. Drew has retained EdisonLearning, Inc. to provide “back-office” support for human resources, finance and operations. The school benefits from the continued financial support of the East Lake Foundation, as well as abundant support from diverse partners.

The primary reasons for Drew’s continual success are its innovative STEAM—Science Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics—curriculum and focus, its unique and thorough classroom approach, and its leading partners program. Each of these elements of success will be explained in full and its application in other charter schools will also be explained.

Justification STEAM EDUCATION The STEAM Education approach is a unique one. Each element of this acronym plays an important role in educating the students at Drew. The unique part of this acronym is the introduction of the A for arts. STEM education and STEM fields have been the talk for quite some time but now the arts emphasis has shown that it benefits the students in STEM studies.

For a long time the arts have been something we do when we stop being serious- an excursion or special activity. But just consider the following. A 2008 study from the National Endowment for the Arts, “Artists in the Workforce,” showed that individuals 5

involved in the arts represent a sizable branch of the labor force, only slightly smaller than the total number of active-duty and reserve personnel in the U.S. military. What may also be surprising to some is that artists make up a larger occupational group than lawyers, medical doctors, or agricultural workers. The size of the artistic community gives it an astonishing $70 billion aggregate annual income. The country’s $316 billion communication and entertainment business employs a diverse range of artists, including musicians, actors, filmmakers, videographers, and architects.5 It is probably safe to say that most of these people prepared for their careers by participating in some sort of arts education program.

The experience within the art realm is certainly important but the benefits that a cross curriculum brings to a student enhances the learning experience and inter-disciplined connections are made. These integrated learning systems aid in the retention of material and have proven to improve test scores. The term integrated learning system (ILS) is little more than a decade old, but the term refers to an instructional approach that goes back to the early 1960s when Patrick Suppes and Richard Atkinson of Stanford University developed the first comprehensive programs of computer-assisted instruction in arithmetic and language arts for school children. The STEAM model that Drew Charter uses is an integrated learning system.6

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Piro, Joseph. "Going From STEM to STEAM." Education Week 10 Mar. 2010: 28-29.

Kulik, James. "Effects of Using Instructional Technology in Elementary and Secondary Schools: What Controlled Evaluation Studies Say." SRI International. 12.3 (2003): n. page. Print.

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During an interview with the CEISMC Race to the Top Project Director, Dr. Donna Whiting acknowledged the extreme importance of the arts in schools, “It’s the creativity and innovation aspect. For the future, our students are going to have to be more creative. The arts develop this kind of thought process. We are looking at the A from a technology focused piece of the arts.” She continued to elaborate on the approach that Georgia Tech and Drew are taking, “There are two main parts of the grant: the first part is working with the College of

Architecture at Georgia Tech to design concepts in the science courses at the 8th grade level. They plan to replicate some of the same first year projects of architecture undergrads. The second piece of the grant is focused on music technology in the fourth grade. They will be exploring technology by working with piano music and the Urban Remix app. The primary focus will be the physics of music.”

CLASSROOM APPROACH Drew offers several key elements that enhance the students’ experience within the school.

These include: extended school day, enrichment activities and preschool classes starting at age 3.

There are pros and cons to having a longer school day but many studies have found that the longer school day increases the dosage of education in students and in turn the students

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seem to actually enjoy school more. Christopher Gabrieli and Warren Goldstein argue that adding about two hours (Drew has done so) to the traditional six hour day would7: 

Narrow the achievement gap. While affluent families supplement their children’s educations with private classes, camps, and tutors, low-income students fall further and further behind.7 Drew’s demographic is on the lower income end. Drew is a Title I school and 85% percent of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

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Make life easier on working families. School may let out at 2:30 but parents do not get off work until later. Some parents already pay money for afterschool caretaking but some do not have these resources.7

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Improve student motivation. Students don’t initially jump at the thought of a longer school day, but the appeal is in the time to study fun stuff as well. Students in extendedday programs report that the quality of the teaching changes too; teachers have more time to answer questions, engage in dialogue, and get to know students.7

The second element of Drew’s unique classroom approach builds off the longer school day.

The enrichment activities that Drew has to offer allow for the students to explore extracurriculars that they would not experience otherwise. These include art, dance, drama, chorus, band, orchestra and Spanish and not to mention the physical education program. Students can participate in swimming classes at the adjacent YMCA and golf lessons at the neighborhood golf course 7

Boyd, Hannah. "What's to Gain With a Longer School Day?."Education Week. 06 Jan 2010: 34-36. Print.

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The final key part of Drew’s classroom is the fact that students can be a part of Drew from age 3 to eighth grade. The time spent at Drew provides a community for their students and sincerely affects their growth. During their entire time at Drew, students are tracked. Post Drew life, high school age alumni are encouraged to give back to Drew through outreach and many do. Some students go to their local school but many go onto Tech High School and some earn scholarships to private schools in the Atlanta area. Test scores have shown that the longer students stay at Drew, the more they improve.8

PARTNERS PROGRAM Drew offers a partners program unlike any other charter school in the state. Their success in gaining and maintain these partners lies in their priority for financial responsibility .

Drew Charter School has effectively managed an annual budget of over $9 million per year.

Drew receives major financial support for enrichment programs that support students’ intellectual, physical, social and emotional growth. Despite recent cuts to Quality Based Education (QBE) funding and austerity reductions, Drew has built and maintained an operating reserve. Drew’s proactive approaches to budgeting and finance demonstrate best practices in financial health for charter schools. Many of the members of Drew’s Board of Directors and Finance Committee have strong backgrounds in finance. These skills and experience allow Drew to budget effectively with strong oversight. The school’s fiduciary 8

Drew Charter School: Charter Renewal Petition

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responsibilities are clearly delineated, and internal controls and procedures are in place.

With the support of the East Lake Foundation, Drew has secured a long-term, low-cost lease for a top notch facility, which allows the school to operate debt-free. 9

Drew Charter School Partners include10:  Atlanta Public Schools • Center for Civic Engagement, Oglethorpe University • Center for Teaching, The Westminster Schools • Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta • Georgia State University School of Music • Georgia Tech Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing • Rollins Center for Language & Learning at the Atlanta Speech School • Sheltering Arms Early Education and Family Center • University of Georgia Athletic Association

ELABORATION As stated previously and demonstrated in the following tables and graphs, Drew Charter School has done outstanding across the board and has shown holistic improvement with their students. It is believed to be attributed to their STEM focus and newly developed STEAM curriculum. This recent STEM focus in the United States has taken serious spotlight due to President Obama’s Race to the Top campaign for systemic reform in education.

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Drew Charter School: Charter Renewal Petition Drew Charter School: Charter Renewal Petition

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Obama quotes, “What I’ve also said for a long time is that our success will not be attained by government alone. It depends on teachers and parents and students and the broader community. It depends on us restoring an insistence on excellence in our classrooms and from our children. And that’s why last year I challenged scientists and business leaders to think of creative ways to engage young people in math and science. And now they are answering the call.”11

After undergoing this Race to the Top challenge, Georgia secured $400,000,000 (Innovation Fund) to foster and fund innovative changes in Georgia schools. With this Innovation Fund, Governor Deal then distributed it to different programs across the state; many of which had a STEM focus. The state will use the Innovation Fund to determine best practices in innovative programming related to STEM education, applied learning and teacher and leader recruitment and development to influence future education policy efforts. At the core of the Innovation Fund is the following theory: IF, public and private organizations are encouraged by financial resources, policy environments and supportive operating conditions, THEN, the State of Georgia will be benefit from a stronger commitment from diverse stakeholders to support and advance K-12 public education, the ability to replicate

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United States. The White House. STEM Education Campaign Press Release. 2010. Web. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/16/president-obama-announce-major-expansioneducate-innovate-campaign-impro>.

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innovative practices with a demonstrated record of success, and ultimately, improved outcomes for students. 12

The overseer for the Race to the Top funds for Drew Charter, Dr. Donna Whiting quotes, “The basis for the move in this direction is the recognition that we (Drew Charter) want our future scientists and engineers to be more creative and innovative. Drew and Georgia Tech want to integrate technology in a different way; one that fosters an appreciation for the arts.”

This STEAM initiative is not necessarily a project that all schools should undertake for success, but rather small aspects can be applied to any school and are extremely scalable to science and technology classes. Dr Whiting quotes, “This model is very scalable to other schools; especially in the technology application aspect. It is simply calling on teachers to use technology in a different way—in science, math, art and all classes. For example in the seventh grade, Drew used claymation with the science classes. Each student group was assigned to create a short film or video on different things in their life science class: metamorphosis of a butterfly, cell meiosis and mitosis etc.”

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Georgia. Governor's Office. Georgia Race to the Top Winners Press Release. 2011. Web. <http://www.georgia.gov/00/press/detail/0,2668,165937316_173980087_174183278,00.html>.

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Tables and Graphs of Drew Charter School Success13 5th Graders in the State

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Drew Charter School: 2009-2010 Annual Report

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LIMITATIONS There are obvious limits to the STEAM innovation that Drew Charter embodies. The most prominent of any policy proposal today holds true for this one: funding. Drew Charter is able to produce these programs due to their funding from Race to the Top as well as their outstanding number of community partners. Drew Charter is fiscally smart and does not stop at giving their students the quality education that they truly believe each child deserves. If a school were to try and emulate this partners program, it would need to evaluate its location in relation to major companies and/or universities and research institutes. Drew Charter is in the ideal place because it is surrounded by the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three largest universities- Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia and Georgia State University.

In addition to the higher education resources, many corporate sponsors are based out of Atlanta, ie: Coca-Cola. A charter school in a rural area would have a more difficult time acquiring these partners simply due to their geographical location.

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The other limit in this STEAM education initiative is the professional development that the new curriculum would require. Dr. Whiting elaborates on this part of Drew’s professional development, “We want our teachers to have a basic knowledge of what project and problem based learning is. To do this every teacher must participate in a 3 day seminar put on by the Buck Institute and then complete an online 6 week program. The online course has been developed by Georgia Tech. All people participating in the Drew project will participate.” Drew Charter School has the funds to do this and the staff that is actively trying to improve their curriculum. Unfortunately this is not the case for most schools in Georgia or the country right now. This is a severely limiting factor.

RECOMMENDATION Based on outside research of the state’s fiscal climate, the national need for more STEAM education and a thorough look at Drew Charter School, we recommend that all public schools implement a stronger emphasis on the STEAM model and develop a deeper connection with their community partners. The particular focus should be put on the Science, Technology and Arts areas due to the easier implementation process. This would require some professional development and revision of current curriculum. Developing stronger ties with community partners is a long term process but will ultimately benefit each school financially and academically. These changes will serve put school as a vital part of the community and advancement in STEAM fields as a reachable goal.

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