The North Little Rock School District wants to expand its traditional high school course offerings to include instruction in manufacturing, medical professions, engineering, computer science and transportation/logistics.
To that end, the School Board on Tuesday authorized district staff members to submit an application to the Arkansas Department of Education to establish in the 2017-18 school year the "Center for Excellence," which would be a district-operated conversion charter school.
The conversion charter school would be a school-within-a-school on the North Little Rock High School campus. The courses in industry and business would equip participating students with knowledge, skills and even workplace experiences -- through mandatory internships and/or apprenticeships -- to enter directly into jobs in the targeted fields upon graduation.
"Our mission is to help our students find a career in things they are passionate about and, not only help them find a career, but prepare them to the point that they can come back to us as productive citizens," Deputy Superintendent Beth Stewart told the board about the proposal.
Once the application -- which will require waivers of some state laws and rules for operating a public school -- is submitted to the state Department of Education by Thursday's deadline, it will be evaluated by the Education Department and then sent to the agency's Charter Authorizing Panel later this year and ultimately to the state Board of Education for approval.
Stewart pointed to the district's low achievement levels on state exams as evidence of the educational need for the new programs.
The five-year goals of the charter program include raising math, English and reading achievement among the district's high school students on state exams -- by 40 percentage points in math and in reading and 20 percentage points in English, Stewart said.
In addition to the educational need of students, Stewart said there is "an outcry" in the business community for a skilled workforce. "Right now we have a huge skills gap" between what the job market needs and the availability of workers to do the jobs -- many of which are now held by older workers on the verge of retirement.
"We want North Little Rock students to get those jobs," she said.
North Little Rock High School already is offering courses on medical professions, manufacturing and engineering -- all of which will be expanded with approval of the charter proposal and waivers that will give students the flexibility to take their 30 required hours of course work, including core academics, in settings that work best for them. That might be in a traditional classroom, or online with just once-a-week labs on campus, or a blend of classroom and online courses.
The district is seeking state waivers of rules and laws requiring instructors to hold state teacher licenses. Other requested waivers are for rules regarding the length of the school year, the hours of the school day and caps on class size and the numbers of students per teacher per day.
New students in the charter school would participate in a two-week career orientation program during which their math and literacy skills would be assessed. Those students who do not score on grade level in math and literacy will work all day, every day on math, reading and writing until they reach grade level.
Another component of the charter-school proposal is the personalized opportunity plan that would be developed for each student in consultation with parents, teachers and industry representatives. Student course work will be structured around career paths. The career paths will change as the demands in the job market changes.
Other features of the proposed Center for Excellence will include embedding the teaching of "soft skills" such as punctuality in all courses, forming teams of students of different ages and skill levels to accomplish projects in the career fields, and developing electronic portfolios that can be used by the students to show potential employers. The portfolios will become part of a privacy-protected student employment data "warehouse" that will be available to potential employers in need of workers with specific skills.
Christie Toland, the district's director of college and career readiness told the School Board that the district has more than 25 business and industry partners who have demonstrated repeatedly their commitment to aiding the district with the charter school. She said the charter school has the potential to attract home-school students and students who are underserved in other educational programs in other districts.
The district will ask for the ability to serve as many as 3,000 students in the conversion charter school.
Stewart said district leaders believe the charter school can be opened and operated at little or no new costs to the district.
School Board member Scott Teague urged the district to take steps to market the charter school plan to the public.
School Board members Tracy Steele and Sandi Campbell recommended that the promotion of the school be the work of a district employee, rather than assigned to an outside agency.
Metro on 08/03/2016