NEXT UP FOR CHARTER SCHOOL EXPANSION: New Mexico!

NEXT UP FOR CHARTER SCHOOL EXPANSION:
New Mexico!
Public charter schools across New Mexico are getting a $52 million boost! The U.S. Department of Education has just awarded a federal Charter School Program grant to the Public Charter Schools of New Mexico Association. (PCSNM)

The majority of the money is headed directly to schools. Most of the grant will be distributed over the next five years, but some public charter schools in the state could get funding as early as next fall. PCSNM says the bulk of the money (90%) will be dedicated to helping great charter schools expand and serve more students. The rest will be spent supporting those schools’ success.

New Mexico currently has 98 public charter schools. PCSNM will create an application process for schools to apply for expansion subgrants. PCSNM says they know many are already planning to apply. Monica Logroño, $52 Million Heading to Public Charter Schools in New Mexico, KOB4 News, November 2, 2023

 

CHARTER SCHOOL MARKET SHARE CONTINUES TO GROW

Parents Are Not Done Voting With Their Feet

Public Charter school enrollment is continuing to grow following the pandemic, 

building on the momentum gained from school building closures and distance 

learning during COVID-19, according to a report released by Moody’s Investors  Service this month. Charter school growth is highest in pro-school choice states like Florida, Arizona, Idaho, Texas and Utah, the report said.

Between fall 2017 and fall 2022, for example, the share of students attending 

charter schools grew from 5.1% to 7.4% in Texas and from 10.4% to 13.3% in 

Florida. Still, charters in less choice-friendly states like California and New York 

are also experiencing gains in market share. 

In those states, increased charter market share may be attributed to enrollment 

losses at traditional public schools. Additional competition from public charter 

schools is exacerbating those enrollment losses. For example, in Pennsylvania 

— the only state that experienced overall enrollment growth in the Mid-Atlantic 

region during this time period — most K-12 traditional public school districts saw 

a net enrollment loss because of a growing preference for charter and cyber schools. 

Naaz Modan, Charter Schools Continue Market Share Gains, K-12 Dive, October 30, 2023

Middle School Library: "...curriculum that inspires and can inform life-making decisions"

So many resources available to help our kids get off to the best start ever!  (This is just an example--we'd have to research the quality and fit into what we're working on.) 

Middle School Library

Provide students access to curriculum that inspires and can inform life-making decisions

The Middle School Library offers middle schools unique elective and career courses for students to explore a variety of professions and receive the knowledge and preparation needed to make life-shaping decisions prior to high school. Digital courses can serve as a textbook replacement or to supplement the classroom curriculum.

The middle school library contains 40+ courses, including some of our most popular courses:

 Career Exploration
 Coding
 Game Design
 Journalism
 Digital Citizenship

At eDynamic Learning, all of our courses are developed in-house by teachers and subject matter experts offering one consistent and simplistic design and interface. This allows teachers, staff, and students to focus on what’s most important: teaching and learning.

Each course is designed and written with engaging curriculum narratives that employs backwards design methodology to support best practices on how today’s students learn. Each lesson is chunked into bite-sized pieces of text with the integration of visuals to keep students engaged.

Teachers can also customize course units and lessons allowing them the flexibility to personalize instruction.

What peace looks like, by a 13 y/o student

The HA'ALA model is designed to help students grow, in part, by looking at life through prisms they like.  These prisms often include Athletics, Arts and Leadership, the "A'AL" parts of the HA'ALA model.  The art with the note by this young student are a perfect representation, life milestone, of what we are trying to help our students achieve w/the HA'ALA model.

This drawing is by Anja Rozen, a 13 year old primary school student in Slovenia. She was chosen from 600,000 children around the world to create a piece of art to show what peace looks like. She is the winner of the international Plakat Miru competition.

“My drawing represents the land that binds us and unites us.” Humans are woven together. If someone gives up, others fall. We are all connected to our planet and to each other, but unfortunately we are little aware of it. We are woven together. Other people weave alongside me my own story; and I weave theirs," said the young designer

- Courtesy: Fatima Anfig, 2023.10.21

Fear. Accept it. Push through it. Grow with it.

Fear.  Accept it.  Push through it.  Grow with it.  Act in the face of fear.

Mike Tyson boxing coach Cus D'amato

"For me, fear is the greatest obstacle to learning. And unless one understands fear, he could never mine it as quickly as he should. Fear is like fire. If you learn to control it, you can make it work for you. You let it get out of control, and it can destroy you and everything around you. It's like a snowball on a hill. A snowball on the hill, you can pick it up and do whatever you want with it. But let that snowball roll down the hill, it gets so large, if you try to stop it at that point, it'll crush you. So, fear is like that. We've learned to understand, see it.

Most people think of fear as something to be ashamed of, something to be really embarrassed about. But I teach these boys that fear is a normal, healthy thing. I often ask them, "Who is your best friend?" Well, they try to name individuals. I tell them, "No, your best friend is fear." Do you know the difference between being afraid and being yellow? Or the difference between a hero and a coward? And I tell them, there's no difference between a hero and a coward at all in how they feel, but what they do makes them different. That's what makes the difference between a hero and a coward.

Now, the people who watch you, judge you on what you do, not how you feel. If you go out there and you do what you do in a heroic manner, they think of you as a hero. And if you do things that a person does that's often referred to as cowardly or whatever, they think of you in that way. But the hero and the coward is exactly the same. You have to have the discipline to do what a hero does and to keep yourself from doing what a coward does or the so-called normal. Everybody's a coward more or less, for him.

Persistence in the face of frustration and failure is so, so, so important

Leadership by an example of persistence.

"Thanks for showing yourself genuinely sight reading and screwing up at times. Persistence in the face of frustration and failure is so, so, so important. Seeing a leader and teacher like you be vulnerable in front of thousands of students is a marvelous teaching tool. It's easier to takes chances, fall down, and get back up when we see our wise elders do it (though you look super young for a "wise elder" [I guess it's true what they say: black don't crack!].) It's also necessary. Thank you as always!" Comment to a youtube piano teacher. The teacher was showing a new way to practice site reading without being able to see the keyboard. Mistakes were made.

Students welcome from various viewpoints on life.

 If you are a person of faith and hope and charity, we respect that at this school.  Here is Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa talking about his faith. We are not a religious school but we respect people and students of faith and hope and charity.