Holloway:
Good evening and welcome to Black Issues Forum. I'm Jay Holloway. Tonight we're addressing how private and charter schools are meeting the needs of students across our state, and how that compares to that of our public schools. On the program tonight we have, as our guest, both are from Raleigh, we welcome Exploris President, head of Exploris, President of Exploris and head of the middle school, Anne Bryan. Thank you for being with us.

Bryan:
Glad to be here.

Holloway:
And also, from Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, we have Jimmy Smith who is the principal there. Welcome, Mr. Smith.

Smith:
Thank you.

Holloway:
Let's talk first about, we look at our public schools and a lot of people are satisfied and a lot of people are dissatisfied and looking for some differences. Charter schools are the newest entity in our state. Now, there are 35 this year. What are charter schools doing differently, in general, and I guess in your schools specifically, as an alternative to our public school system.

Bryan:
Well, Jay, as you know, charter schools were the result of a law that was enacted by our General Assembly just last year, so, as you say, they really are very new and we're all just getting our feet wet, here. You said there were 35. I guarantee there are 35 different ways of looking at things because the charter schools have grown out of an attempt to look at things in some new ways and to come up with some innovations that will not only have an impact on the students that are atten

Holloway:
What do you do differently, I guess, to encourage really high student performance.

Bryan:
Well, I can tell you some of the basic tenets of our educational program. First of all we have a very small setting. This year we've begun with 53 sixth graders. In each of the next two years we'll be adding a new sixth grade class so that we have a school that has 150 students at its maximum. So, we have a small setting, an intimate setting where we can really focus on getting to know each and every student as an individual, that is key to us. Those relationships are so importantd knows there are adults there to whom it matters very much whether he or she is successful. So, that small setting was key for us.

Another aspect of our emphasis is the respect, the mutual respect that we are seeking to engender among all those who are working in the schools, who are learners in the schools. Parents, teachers, staff, students, all working together to enhance learning and support that student's learning, really creating a community of learners, very important for us.

Then the how of the educational program itself, we are dedicated to the concept of an integrated curriculum. By that we mean that while we are looking at every one of the critical academic disciplines and all of the very important basic skills, those are taught in the context of themes, of broad concepts that bring these major discipline areas together, just as we, as adults, deal with them in our every day lives. It is how the world works, it is how the brain works. And we teach basic skills and impor

Those are some of the major things we are trying to work on, of course, there are others, but if I had to name keys I think those would be the ones.

Holloway:
I want to get into that and actually we will take a look at that closer in a few moments. But let's ask Mr. Smith at Word of God Christian Academy, your K through 12 institution, how do you look at some of the key aspects that you encourage high student achievement or performance there.

Smith:
Well, one of the areas that we have looked at when we established the school was a small teacher to student ratio. The same as Ms. Bryan has stated earlier, the small environment, it does create a very family-like, loving environment that encourages the young people to learn. We go from K5 through the 12th grade and that also helps the young people to develop a pattern of learning in the lower levels and they follow that same pattern with the same type of curriculum structure all the

Holloway:
Now, your institution has been in operation, according to this, for its fifth year now.

Smith:
Yes, sir.

Holloway:
And so, have you found that the students pretty much stick with it during that time period so far.

Smith:
They stick with it. We have a very good retention in our school.

Holloway:
Well, let's take a moment now to just take a look at both your institutions and give our audience a chance to go inside and take a look. Let's do that now. (VIDEO)

Holloway:
Alternatives to public schools in North Carolina have increased considerably over the past three years. More and more parents are seeking other ways of meeting their children's educational needs. So, both private and charter schools have increased, catering to students whose needs have not been met in the traditional public school setting.

Exploris Middle School, one of 35 brand new operational charter schools in North Carolina, opened last year with 50 students. The school will combine the resources and tools of the Exploris Museum that is being built next door with basic classes and programs to create a unique learning environment for students.

FEMALE:
We are going to be using a lot of the materials of Exploris, a lot of the exhibit opportunities and program opportunities to enrich what happens with our school in every day of their school activity.

Holloway:
Only 54 students attend Exploris, keeping classroom size small and very manageable. Two teachers per classroom help assist students with questions in class work. Students coming from public schools really notice the difference.

CHILD:
There are only 54 kids in the whole school and when I went to elementary there was, like, 600 and it is just smaller and quieter than normal.

Holloway:
Word of God Christian Academy in North Carolina is one of 590 private schools that exist in North Carolina and 71% of those have religious affiliations. The students and teachers at many of these private religious schools benefit from smaller classes too.

CHILD:
I like it because I get one-on-one attention with my teacher and I get better focus.

FEMALE:
One of the advantages that I see coming from public school is that I have more time to spend with children that may have a problem. Whereas, in public school we had two teachers for 30 students. There was not really a whole lot of time to meet the needs of the children. We could teach the children, but not actually meet the needs of the children. Here we meet the needs of the children. We also have time to spend on the child who may be having a little more difficulty than any oth

Holloway:
Because Word of God Christian Academy is a K through 12 school, teachers have the advantage to follow student's progress for kindergarten through high school graduation.

FEMALE:
You have the same teachers, you see the same teachers year after year. You know that these teachers are praying for you, you know that these teachers are loving you and nurturing you as you are guided through your life.

Holloway:
Word of God Christian Academy opened in 1993 with 63 students. The school has grown to 215 students, and more classroom space has been added to accommodate the increase. The curriculum is Christian-based, incorporating religion into basic courses. The academy is open to all races, however it places special emphasis on meeting the needs unique to black students.

MALE:
Here we have a proportionately large amount of male teachers. We are able to offer the students strength, with the increase of divorce and single parenting, a lot of the students needs a strong male image, a positive male role model. We are able to offer that to them to help balance their lives.

Holloway:
Well, let's talk about that, Mr. Smith. Your academy puts emphasis also as a religious institution on the Christian faith and specifically targeting African-American students. But here, I believe, Mr. Ector just mentioned something about the larger number of male teachers. How important is that in your school, that you find the target audience you serve.

MALE:
Extremely important. Because now, the population of single parenting is extremely high, especially among the African-Americans and many of the youth do not have a male figure that is close in their life, that can give them some guidance and some direction. Therefore, the tend to get lost after about the fourth grade. By us having strong male figures in the middle school and high school areas and also even the younger kids have an opportunity to have a relationship with these male stu

Holloway:
Anne, what about these social implications, have you all taken any of that into context in the charter school movement.

Bryan:
Well, I feel that we really have. And while we're very different from Jimmy in that we don't have a direct relationship with any church or religion, we are an independent public school, we are absolutely committed to values and the basics that we all, as human beings, agree on are important in life. As the film clip indicated, Exploris Middle School is a program of Exploris, the new interactive global learning center in downtown Raleigh. And just to give you the mission of Exploris,

Holloway:
Let's talk about that category now, because I think there is a similarity between the two, but yet where there may be a difference in terms of exploring differences and similarities and respect. We're dealing with an era right now where President Clinton is encouraging talking about the race relations initiative and we are trying to encourage more discussion across racial lines and differences and that kind of thing now. In the public schools you have that integration and legally set that way, but yet students still tend to segregate. I guess from a Christian perspective, does that come at all into the curriculum in terms of differences and appreciating others and that kind of thing, similarities.

Smith:
Well, from the religious perspective, one advantage of the Christian school, as well as private but also Christian, is that we have no barriers on making our curriculum God-centered, as opposed to public schools, you cannot incorporate God into the curriculum. So, by doing so, since God has no perspective person, that theme is throughout the school. In fact, we have started putting other racial groups on our staff so that we can help to encourage other ethnic groups to join, as well as staff, as well as in our student population as well.

Holloway:
If we could jump to the diversity issue now, how, of the charter schools, do you have the same kinds of mandates that the public school system, or you may have to explain the charter I guess.

Bryan:
Right. Just to go a little more fully into that, each charter school, as I said, is different and that is because each charter school is governed by an agreement we have with the state Board of Education. We each submitted an application which stated our beliefs about education and laid out exactly how we proposed to operate a school. And then, based on negotiations with the state Board, we were then awarded a contract, a charter, if you will, to operate the school as we had determi

Now, there are some requirements in state law that specifically address the diversity issue. The primary one, stated very simply, is that our make-up as a charter school must reflect the communities make-up, in general terms. And for us, in Exploris, the Exploris Middle School this first year, that worked itself out very naturally and I can tell you just from my observation these first few weeks of school, we have a group of 53 students all of whom work together as a big family, I think I am delighted t

Holloway:
Safe and orderly schools is another major priority of our public schools. And because it is a major priority, obviously, probably have had problems with that. Do you have any problems with the safety and the orderliness that you've seen in your school situations. Jimmy?

Smith:
Well, I have not experienced any major problems. I mean, like any other institution, you put a lot of young people together, you are going to have some small problems, but there's been no major trouble whatsoever. And it is not all so much because we select certain students to come to the school. We do give students who have had problems opportunity to come to the school. And we have not had any of those students, that I know of, during my time at the school, that we've given oppor

Holloway:
Prior to coming to yours?

Smith:
Prior to coming to mine. So the change of coming to our school put them in a different environment, enabled them to look at life different and they began to feel better about themselves and they put forth a different effort to accomplish something, and they are doing awesome. I've got some students that have come from that type of environment, was making F's, skipping school every day, they are making A's and B's.

Holloway:
And what about that.

Bryan:
Well, I only have 9 weeks to pick from, but I can tell you in those nine weeks it has been wonderful to see. We have students who are so busy there is no time to think about trouble. They are very actively engaged in the joy of learning every day. They are up and around and fully involved in many, many different projects, many, many different learning activities. And when you're busy and when you're enjoying what you're doing and feeling a sense of accomplishment about it, getting

Holloway:
So the issues of, the violence that many of our public schools are dealing with and having to struggle with you haven't seen yet in the charter, private school as much. And largely because of the reasons you mentioned, the smallness, the relationships with each other.

Bryan:
It means a lot.

Smith:
One thing you have to recognize too is that, for my school, and also Ms. Bryan's school, the student as well as the parent, they choose that school. And because they have the ability to make that choice, they tend to be more willing to be more cooperative and go along with the program. As opposed in the public schools, they are usually forced to go to a particular school. They have very little say-so about what goes on in the school. So, them nor their parents are motivated to supp

Bryan:
That's right. And I don't think either of us would want to cast any aspersions of what's going on, problems that have been spoken of in the public schools. Certainly there are some wonderful programs going on there. But I think we are trying to emphasize the aspects of our programs that we think can be helpful with that.

Holloway:
Well, another priority of the public schools are high quality teachers, administration and staff. How do you all go about, and I guess it is safe to say competing or at least establishing high quality teachers, administration and staff so that the parents would choose to come to your school.

Bryan:
Well, in our case, I can tell you that in our selection process for teachers we were very selective. We had a number of people who had indicated interest in working with us at Exploris and we couldn't select all the excellent ones that we had. But the folks that have joined us we have tremendous trust in and we've, what we've tried to do is set up a philosophy and a standard of practice and within that we've asked these excellent teachers to go and do what they do best, and that is c

Holloway:
What about at Word of God Christian Academy, Jimmy?

Smith:
Well, annually we review all our hiring practices and we improve upon that. We have training programs. We have also, for our staff, development. We've been working with St. Augustine College in some programs for developing our staff to even greater levels. We are just getting ready to start our accreditation process, which is a process you have to wait until about three years before you can even get involved with it.

Holloway:
Who accredits the private Christian school.

Smith:
A variety of sources. You can get the Southeast Region that can do as well as, but we are looking at the American Association of Christian Schools International to do our accreditation. It is a national and international accreditation source. It is also an organization that supports and helps to develop staff within Christian schools through a Christian perspective.

Holloway:
Now, I would assume that the similarity there is you've already mentioned the state Board of Education, Department of Public Instruction establishes your charter which is the equivalent.

Bryan:
That's right.

Holloway:
Well, that is interesting. Let's, in our last segment, kind of back to where we started, all of this surrounds the real student performance and student achievement. Is the goal really to provide a favorable opportunity for a parent to make a decision so that the student can achieve even higher at your charter or private school? And how do you really go about doing that because when we look at, in this program we've looked at a disproportionate number of minority student in this slly.

Bryan:
Well, I can speak to what we are doing that I think is going to have an important impact there. And I guess it all boils down to the fact that we are looking at each student as an individual. We strongly believe that all students can learn and all students can learn at a very high level and we're looking at the kind of approaches that that student needs to take to utilize his or her strengths best, and then we're getting in there and making sure that those activities, projects, ways of going about learning are available for that student. So, we are taking advantage of the learning style that that child is just simply born with. And the combination of strengths that he or she has to build on bringing along those that they are not as strong in and them maximizing those in which they are to yield the highest achievement possible. And I might also add that that is not just academic achievement, because we are seeking people who are, who don't just achieve high academically, but adults who are able to learn independently, continue to learn throughout their lives. Adults who are caring individuals, that are able to develop relationships and have a commitment to making a difference in their world. To leadership capabilities, to those who are creative and able to solve problems. So there is wide range of skills and strengths that we are trying to develop in developing and individual program for each child.

Holloway:
Jimmy, what about Word of God.?

Smith:
Well, I think it goes back to what we stated earlier, about smaller environment, which allows the teacher to have more time to work with the student that may have problems. We've also been, since the school has existed, had a tutoring program from 3:00 to, and I know you all have a same kind, similar type of program, but from 3:00 to 4:00. All the teachers are available throughout the school to help any child that has a problem. And many students get the help and their grades tremen

Holloway:
Let me ask you, just under a minute left, how in terms of testing that the students of your two schools can be compared on a similar level of those of the public schools. Do you participate in standardized testing?

Bryan:
We will be participating in the ABC's program, the end of grade testing. The remainder of our assessment and reporting program is very non-traditional, though. We don't use letter and number grades. We are reporting to parents through narrative reports, through conferences, through checklists of skills that we've been working on with our students.

Holloway:
Jimmy, real quick in 15 seconds.

Smith:
15 seconds, _____ tests.

Holloway:
That was quicker than I thought. Well, thank you all very much for being on the program and we appreciate you sharing more about private, religious schools as well as the charter school system. Thank you very much again. And whether you are satisfied or not with how our public schools educate your child then we hope that you are now better informed about the options that both charter schools and private schools. Last year in North Carolina there were nearly 600 private schools and most with religious emphasis and 35 newly established charter schools. We hope that you will rethink how you view the education of our children in this state and more closely consider the views that are different from your own. And if you'd schools in North Carolina, please contact us at 919-549-7167. Fax us at 919-549-7168. E-mail us at bif@unctv.org, and please visit us on the World Wide Web at www.unctv.org/bif. Thank you for watching Black Issues Forum. I'm Jay Holloway. You have a blessed evening and we'll talk to you next week, every Friday night at 11:00 on UNC-TV. [MUSIC]