Four schools, including three in Northwest Arkansas, have earned "school of innovation" status from the state, a designation allowing them to take different approaches to typical instructional and administrative practices.
Those receiving the innovation status include Agee-Lierly Life Preparation Services Center, an alternative school in the Fayetteville School District; Bentonville's Cooper Elementary School; Springdale's Sonora Middle School; and White County Central Elementary School. Nine schools applied. The state announced successful applicants last week.
Innovation procedure
Schools must follow a certain procedure when they apply for innovation status. A school council made up of teachers, staff members, students, parents and community members must solicit innovative ideas and proposals and select ideas to be voted on by school employees. At least 60 percent of school employees must vote in favor of an innovation plan before that plan may be submitted to the local school board for approval. Then it goes to the Department of Education for approval.
Source: Staff report
The state's first schools of innovation were established this year under a 2013 law that provided another option for testing instructional models apart from charter schools. The law allows the Department of Education to waive some state regulations. There are 11 schools of innovation in the state, including seven in the Springdale School District.
The commissioner of education approves schools of innovation for four-year periods. Innovation status may be renewed for additional four-year periods thereafter. Schools of innovation also must submit yearly reports to the state.
Shawna Lyons, principal of Sonora Middle School, said receiving word about becoming a school of innovation injected great energy into the building.
Sonora Middle's plan involves creating a more flexible school day for its sixth- and seventh-graders. Students will no longer follow a rigid schedule of class periods. Instead they will map out their own schedules each week based on what they need to accomplish and what teachers they need to see, Lyons said.
"We're not driven by bells," she said. "Learning doesn't stop every 48 minutes. It's ongoing."
There will be more integration of subject areas at Sonora Middle and a greater emphasis on learning through projects and solving problems. It's the kind of education model the staff has been talking about implementing ever since the school opened three years ago, Lyons said.
Staff members will receive training this summer on how to facilitate that model and hold students more accountable for their own education.
Denise Hoy, principal of the Agee-Lierly Life Preparation Services Center, said her school staff is "extremely excited" about the innovation status they've been granted.
The Fayetteville alternative school sought permission to give students Friday off provided they abide by certain academic and behavioral standards and maintain good attendance, Hoy said. She noticed last fall attendance dipped below 50 percent on some Fridays.
In October, Hoy worked out an alternative schedule for a student who couldn't come to school on Friday because he was unable to find someone to take care of his child that day of the week. That's how the idea came about to seek a waiver from the state regulation that students must be in class 30 hours per week.
The center, which enrolls 242 students in ninth through 12th grades, still will offer optional activities on Fridays for students to prepare for life after high school. Those activities will include job fairs, college tours and workshops on applying for scholarships, Hoy said.
Cooper Elementary School sought innovation status as part of its plan to focus on E-STEAM, an acronym for economics, science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
Cooper sought a waiver of class size restrictions in order to allow more inclusion possibilities with special-education students. Class sizes will not go more than three over the maximum number of students typically allowed per teacher, according to the application Cooper submitted.
The school also requested flexibility in how teachers are given planning time to allow for more team collaboration. This will allow the school to give teachers larger chunks of time for planning.
Bentonville Superintendent Michael Poore shared news of Cooper receiving innovation status in a written report to board members last week.
"We're excited for the opportunities this designation will provide the students at Cooper Elementary and are most anxious to support (principal Matt Young) and his staff as they begin implementation," Poore wrote.
NW News on 05/06/2015