EDUCATION LEADERS TODAY
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CHALLENGE CHARTER SCHOOL
Greg and Pam Miller, the husbandwife team behind the K-6 Challenge Charter School, left their jobs in civil engineering and banking, respecively, and decided to pursue their true passion: education.
FEATURE | CHALLENGE CHARTER SCHOOL
2 Winter 2010
CHALLENGE CHARTER SCHOOL | FEATURE
Challenge Charter School
Leaving their corporate backgrounds behind, husband and wife, Greg and Pam Miller, have dedicated their future to pursuing their real passion: education.
By Anne Brouilette
When you talk to the Miller family, you can hear the enormous pride they carry for the incredible school they’ve developed. Pam & Greg founded Challenge Charter School in 1996 and Wendy joined the Glendale, Ariz. school in late 1999. Greg and Pam started out as “supervolunteers” in the traditional public schools that their two daughters attended as they grew up. That volunteerism included school site roles such as committees on student services, booster club leadership, implementing student scholarship opportunities, etc. It moved on to district wide parental leadership opportunities where Pam served as president of “United Parent Council” and then was elected to two fouryear terms as a governing board member of the Paradise Valley Unified School District that serves over 35,000 students. “My driving force was the need for change, where students were considered first, not adult employees,” Pam said. But unfortunately, the changes she and her husband truly believed in, above all putting kids first, weren’t happening fast enough. Finally, Greg left his job in civil engineering and Pam left hers in banking and they decided to pursue their true passion: education as a vocation. “When the opportunity came along to start a charter school, we had been looking for the right outlet for us, and this one had an opportunity for a lot of our passion to work. So we hocked everything and jumped into the middle of it,” Greg said. “That was 15 years ago, and we’ve never regretted it.” They worked diligently as a team to improve
charter legislation. They worked on issues of funding, representation and internal controls with three different Arizona Superintendants of Public Instruction, the State Legislature and other charter school advocates. In working with the state legislature, they were very influential in passing legislation that put a charter operator on the Arizona State Board of Education, and both an operator and a teacher on the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools. During the first years it was a struggle, just like many other small businesses. Pam served as the school’s executive director and daily site administrator, while still serving on the PVUSD’s governing board. Greg was still running an engineering company and then they were spending every evening from 4pm to 11pm solving all the business and compliance issues associated with keeping the school afloat. They had over 100 percent growth from the first year to the second and Greg was able to come into the school full time and expand his role as principal and CEO. He still has the ‘rubber salary check totaling one dollar’’ presented to him for his first year totaling one dollar. “There weren’t any start-up dollars at that time,” Pam said. In 1999 Wendy, their daughter, graduated from Northern Arizona University and was working part time at minimum wage for the school while trying to find a job in her fields of study, political science and English. After watching her friends become quickly frustrated with the lack of fulfillment and limited opportunities she had turned down Education Leaders Today 3
CHALLENGE CHARTER SCHOOL | FEATURE
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If our staff has needs, the choices we make are in line with that. It’s fortunate that it started out as a family affair, because it didn’t take a lot for that feeling to extend that way. - Wendy Miller several significant job opportunities herself. Her parents finally sat her down and asked if she wanted to come and work at the school in a full time position. She started off as the executive administrative manager, then in 2004 became the Vice Principal and finally in the fall of 2008, after completion of her MBA at the W.P. Carey School of Business (ASU), received the promotion to the title she holds today, Principal. “It’s been challenging to assume that role, coming from a family perspective,” Wendy said, “We’ve all really perfected getting information from the field, lots of on-the-job training, since our backgrounds aren’t necessarily traditional paths to school leadership.” The three hold a lot of meetings and take a lot of input from parents, teachers and the community to ensure that whatever they do is best for the children. But these days, it’s hard
to believe they didn’t come from a traditional educational background. “There’s a bond of trust, and in the bond of trust, you know two things,” Greg said. “You can discuss anything and get the input you need, and you know that nothing is going to walk out the door and cause a ripple before you are ready to implement it.” This feeling of trust emanates from the Miller family all the way through their staff. “If our staff has needs, the choices we make are in line with that. It’s fortunate that it started out as a family affair, because it didn’t take a lot for that family feeling to extend to all involved,” Wendy said. The school has 33 teachers for their 24 classrooms and 630 students all on one campus. Challenge is Arizona’s first official Core Knowledge school, a content-rich curriculum, and instructional model that provides each
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Challenge Charter School’s Partner in Success:
Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Challenge Charter school has been using McGraw-Hill Treasures Reading/ Language Arts program and has seen a rise in their reading scores. Treasures provides Tier I and II resources to meet the needs of the majority of today’s students. For intensive intervention, Reading Triumphs, with weekly connections to Treasures, provides Tier III resources to ensure all students are making maximum reading gains. For more information go to http://macmillanmh.com/reading Education Leaders Today 5
FEATURE | CHALLENGE CHARTER SCHOOL
Challenge Charter School’s Partner in Success:
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6 Winter 2010
CHALLENGE CHARTER SCHOOL | FEATURE
teacher the opportunity to create their own professional learning environment inside a team-structured system. This educational system engages the students through projects and integration of subject matter. The Millers have also incorporated an overlay of science and technology to enrich the curriculum even further. The school offers a variety of activities to round out the Core Knowledge program, including art, gym, drama, music and computer science. Challenge also utilizes a program called Study Island, an Internetbased instructional program that uses games, lessons and quizzes to help students keep on track in reading, writing, math and science. Teachers send home suggested lessons for the students to complete that complement what the students are learning in school, but the kids are encouraged to explore all of the lessons available. In addition to academic rigor, Challenge strives to provide each student with strong character education as well. Pam implemented a number of rewards programs, to encourage good behavior and recognize students for making good choices. From the “Caught Being Good” award, one of
the hardest to achieve, to the “Principal’s Pride” award, which rewards academic improvement, students can be rewarded for any number of successes. Each month awards are handed out in front of the entire school, acknowledging personal growth, academic success, and the good choices kids make. “It’s made a huge difference in how kids feel about coming to the school,” Pam said. Each classroom is also required to participate in the school assemblies, rotating so that each class gets to perform on stage at least once a year, building public speaking skills and helping kids feel comfortable in front of a crowd. “And the system works!” said Pam. “After they graduate, the kids come back and tell us great stories about what they’re involved with, where their lives are taking them, and what their time at Challenge meant to them. Some of them even intend to come teach at Challenge.” The Miller’s dedication to the school has paid off. They’ve received a number of remarkable awards. They’re a National Blue Ribbon school, a National Charter School of the Year, and they received one of four Small Business Impact Awards in 2008
Challenge Charter School’s Partner in Success:
KINGCO ENTERPRISES Phoenix-based Kingco Enterprises is a full-service HVAC company that sells, installs and services air conditioning and heating equipment throughout the southwest. Kingco has extensive experience in providing new installs, maintenance, air balancing and indoor air quality control for a variety of clients including many within the education sector such as Challenge Charter School. With a full staff of sales consultants, service technicians, duct installers, A/C & heating equipment installers as well as a metal shop on premises, there is no job too small or big. For unbeatable service at a reasonable price, consider Kingco to service your school’s HVAC needs. For more information, visit www. kingcoenterprises.com
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from the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. Pam and Greg were recognized as Charter School Leaders of the Year, both by the Arizona Charter School Association, and nationally by the Center for Education Reform. In 2009, they were recognized for their business innovation by the Microsoft Partners in Learning Network. In 2010, Greg was nominated by the Governor of Arizona and confirmed by the State Senate to serve on the State Board of Education. But these aren’t the kinds of rewards that the Millers talk the most about, although you can hear notes of pride in Pam’s voice as she talks about her husband’s achievements. For the whole family, what’s most important is putting the student’s needs first. That mantra has been put to the test as the economy has taken a hit. Since 2007, the school has had their budget cut by nearly 20 percent and they could see up to another 16 percent go in the next two years. One of the hardest parts has been watching families move away for new jobs. “We have close relationships with our families,” Wendy said. “It’s been heartbreaking to watch them go.” But with the 96 percent return rate, they luckily don’t face this problem too often. Most students come in kindergarten and stay all the way through sixth grade. “We have a very extensive waiting list,” Wendy said. Looking to the future, Pam and Greg are hoping to retire at some point. But they both refuse to leave until they’ve secured Challenge for the future. While they have fantastic staff and support, they’d like to pass along some more of the business and financial side before they step out. The school has also been under pressure to expand since 1998. But again, Pam and Greg want to ensure that the children’s needs come first, and so they won’t look at franchising or replications at this point. “We have a good system in place,” Greg said. “What we wanted to do was create the very best school we knew how to do. If we could do it, hopefully others would emulate the things that helped our school perform.” Since Challenge opened, a significant number of Core Knowledge schools have opened, both in several school districts and as independent charter schools. Greg sees their charter school as an example of what traditional public schools could be. “The educational 8 Winter 2010
Challenge Charter School’s Partner in Success:
LEARNING COMPASS: ABT IN ACTION ABT in Action congratulates Challenge Charter School for being an amazing example of “asset-based thinking” in action! ABT in Action is pleased to be a part of Challenge Charter School’s endeavors, using initiatives called “labs” that facilitate and encourage youth and adults to use an asset-based thinking (ABT) approach to learning, leadership and life supported by the best-selling national books by Dr. Kathryn Cramer and Hank Wasiak, Change the Way You See Everything. For more information how to Engage, Inspire and Empower, please visit www.abtinaction.com today.
CHALLENGE CHARTER SCHOOL | FEATURE
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We have a good system in place. What we wanted to do was create the very best school we knew how. If we could do it, hopefully others would emulate the things that helped our school perform.
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- Greg Miller Challenge Charter School’s Partner in Success:
MAD DOG MATH To be successful in math, students must master their addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. Telling a student, “go learn your math facts,” is daunting and unrealistic. Designed for kindergarten through 5th grade students, and even remedial middle/high schoolers, Mad Dog Math takes this huge task and breaks it down into manageable, bitesized pieces. The program is an easy to use, step-by-step system designed to make mastering rudimentary math facts fun and easy for students. Mad Dog Math supplements any math curriculum, and not only meets, but surpasses the requirements of most state standards. According to Tammy Tamayo, 4th grade teacher at Challenge Charter, “Mad Dog Math is a great way for students to challenge themselves to better their math facts skills. They consistently want to move higher whether it be in the facts or into a new club. It is a quick way for them to do that and for the teacher to check for comprehension of those skills.” To get started, visit www.MadDogMath.com to order your comprehensive binder or CDROM which includes everything you need to help your students master math facts. Your students will be happy you did! A software download is available for PCs for home or classroom use. Education Leaders Today 9
FEATURE | CHALLENGE CHARTER SCHOOL
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By putting kids first in all of our decision-making processes, you get really great returns. - Wendy Miller
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system in this country is in trouble,” he said. “It has not been a high enough priority by enough people. Lots of talk but not nearly enough action.” The students at Challenge, no matter their background, score very high on standardized testing. They are consistently 20 to 40 percent above the state average in every grade and in every academic core area of reading, math, science and writing. It’s clear that if more people like the Millers were involved in traditional public, charter, or private schools, the educational system would be in much better shape. “We are so passionate about this. Anything and everything we can do to make people wake up and see what has to be done, we’re willing to do,” Greg said. For now, they’re letting the school speak for itself and hoping others out there will take notice. And with Greg’s recent appointed position on the Arizona State Board of Education, they have a real chance to put those changes into action across the state. Wendy sums it up perfectly. “By putting kids first in all of our decision making processes, you get really great returns.” ELT 10 Winter 2010
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