New Charter Contract for Options - Carmel

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:28:02 -0400

Options High School - Carmel begins its tenth school year with a new five-year contract from its authorizer Ball State University. Options Carmel and its sister school in Noblesville (opened 2006) add a unique “option” to students in central Indiana. Last year, students from 22 school districts traveled to one of the Options High Schools for a unique, small and highly-personalized brand of education.

Under Indiana’s Charter School Law, charter schools exchange a degree of freedom from certain rules and regulations for a high degree of accountability. If schools don’t live up to

Stanford Reports on Indiana Charter Schools

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 09:43:34 -0400

“At a time where there is acute attention to quality in the charter sector, the charter schools in Indiana are proving to be a high quality option for students and parents.,” said Dr. Margaret Raymond, Director of Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO).

Dr. Raymond’s statement follows the publication of an addendum to the 2009 report, “Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States,” that added Indiana as the 17th state to be studied. The results are noteworthy partially because the CREDO report is often cited as evidence against charter school performance across the country, sometimes showing little or no difference between charter schools and traditional public schools.

The research methodology used by CREDO makes sense. Instead of just taking a charter school’s average test scores and comparing them to those of the local traditional public school, CREDO matched charter school students with “statistical peers” at the traditional public school and compared growth over a two-year period. Under this methodology, Indiana charter school students showed faster academic growth than their statistical twins.

Educators are finally beginning to define “success” in a way that matters - in a way that shows the value of schools like our Options High Schools. If you know central Indiana, you know the Options Schools will not compare favorably (in the traditional manner) to the public schools of Carmel and Noblesville. On snapshots of average test scores, Hamilton County schools frequently lead the state of Indiana. Options was not developed for that purpose. Backed by evidence in CREDO, what an Options High School will do is move a student forward academically faster than the traditional public schools would have moved that student.

What a clear illustration that there is room for the “specialist” in public education. At the Options High Schools in Carmel and Noblesville, we seek to enroll students who need an alternative learning environment to reach their potentials. These are often the students who don’t fit the traditional mold, but have much to offer the world and their families if they can reengage academically. They often need to reclaim their confidence, self esteem, and self discipline. At Options, we prescribe a very small, personalized learning community with high expectations and unique community programming designed specifically to reengage students who have otherwise struggled.

Options High Schools have an enrollment capacity of 158 students at each location. Lottery dates for the 2011-2012 school year are April 14 (Carmel) and April 21 (Noblesville). Students wanting to enter the lottery must register prior to these dates.

CLICK BELOW:

TO REGISTER FOR THE 2011-2012 LOTTERY

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OPTIONS HIGH SCHOOLS

TO READ THE FULL STANFORD CREDO REPORT

OCS Studying Calendar Alternatives

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:52:23 -0500

The Options Charter Schools are discussing alternatives to the traditional school calendar that could be put into place as early as the 2011-2012 school year. Though research is mixed on the topic, the Options staff and Board of Directors are continually seeking ways to more effectively meet our academic goals.

Both of the Options Charter Schools (Carmel and Noblesville, IN) currently operate on a traditional school calendar with 180 days of student instruction and a summer break of approximately ten weeks. While maintaining this calendar is an option, the pros and cons of two alternative calendars are also being studied.

A “spread” calendar would maintain the 180 days of instruction, but provide for longer breaks throughout the year with a shorter summer. In this calendar, teachers would meet for professional development and curriculum planning for three days between quarters.

The team is also examining an “Extended” calendar. In this model, 200 instructional days would be spread throughout the year with a shortened summer and breaks that are longer than the traditional calendar, but shorter than the spread calendar.

It is important that the staff and Board of Directors get opinions from students, parents and the community at large. We hope many who read this will take a few minutes out of their day to examine our calendar options and take a short survey. Results of the survey will be shared at the regular meeting of the Board of Directors on Tuesday, January 18, 5:30 PM at Options Charter School - Carmel. Options - Carmel is located at 530 West Carmel Drive.

For additional questions please EMAIL or call

Kevin Davis
kdavis@optionsined.org
317 945-7723

To participate in the survey, please Follow this link: Give Us Your Opinion

Three Charter School Facts

Fri, 1 Oct 2010 07:46:00 -0400

With all the attention focused on charter schools by the upcoming release of “Waiting for Superman,” here are three basic facts you should know:

CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

In Indiana, charter schools receive funds for the operation of their programs based on the number of students enrolled on “ADM Count Day.” each year. This amount is equal to the amount given per student to the local traditional public schools where the charter is located. In our case, the Options - Carmel school receives approximately $4,700 per student and the Options - Noblesville school receives approximately $4,800 per student.

Charter Schools in Indiana do not receive funding through state and local funds collections such as the capital projects funds, debt service funds, transportation funds, retirement/severance bond funds, or any referendum funds passed by the local voters. A fair estimate is that charter schools in Indiana cost taxpayers 25-35% less per student than the traditional public schools.

CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE HIGHLY ACCOUNTABLE

Each charter school in this state is “authorized” to operate by one of three types of authorizers:

1. A state supported university - As of this moment, only Ball State University has chosen to participate as an authorizer
2. The Mayor of Indianapolis
3. Any local school board

These authorizers not only approve the opening of the school, but are involved in rigorous oversight and evaluation to determine if the charter is meeting its educational objectives. Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools that do not fulfill their educational mission will be closed. This has happened in Indiana.

EACH CHARTER SCHOOLS IS UNIQUE

Charter schools are established to fill a need in the public school system. Those who want to start these schools must demonstrate that need to the authorizer. Since the strength of the traditional public school varies from corporation to corporation, so to do the needs. In the Hamilton County, Indiana area, the Options Charter Schools demonstrated the need for a smaller, personalized, project-based education for high school students. Though schools in this area rank among the state’s, and at times the nation’s, best, a public school choice in this setting, with this methodology was missing. Today Options educates 318 students who, along with their parents, believe they need this option to succeed.

As a career public school educator, I have split my time between the traditional public schools and public charter schools. My comment: I’ve never changed paths at all. We’re all in this together - trying to build a stronger educational system through fair and efficient use of public funds.

For more information see:

Options Charter Schools
Indiana Department of Education
Support Charter School Programs
Ball State University Office of Charter Schools
Indiana Public Charter School Association

A Powerful Communication Tool

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 08:38:34 -0400

PowerSchool has been an important tool for the Options Charter Schools since 2003. However, this year we upgraded to the newest version which allows parents to not only track grades and attendance, but have reports EMAILED to them on a regular basis.

PowerSchool offers parents real-time access to grades, attendance, homework assignments as well as class information. You can even e-mail teachers or ask for automatic updates on your student's progress and view the school bulletin. The PowerSchool link is available anywhere in the world, just by logging onto the Internet.

To enter the PowerSchool program:

Log onto the District's website at http://www.optionsined.org

Click on the PowerSchool button (upper left corner)

On the PowerSchool login page, enter your student's
confidential user name. On the next line, type in the
password, exactly as it appears on your PowerSchool
letter. Remember this parent password is confidential
…for your eyes only….and shouldn't be shared with
anyone.  Once you're inside the PowerSchool Program, you
have access to a variety of information at the click
of a button. If you have Internet access at home, at
work, or even your school library or media center,
you can view information about your student at any time.
PowerSchool is a great communication tool…but
remember…any questions you ever have about your son or daughter can still be answered the old-fashioned way…just by talking to our teachers or administrators.

Accessing Current Grades and Attendance

Once you've logged into PowerSchool, you will see a menu bar at the top of the page. On this screen, you also will find a complete listing of all your student's courses, teachers, grades and attendance information.By clicking on the teacher's name, you can send an email to your child's teacher. Remember your computer must be set up to send e-mails from your browser.

The blue links give you more information about your student. If you click on any of these links, it will take you to another screen that displays a list of individual assignments, projects, or class information. Click on those underlined items to find out the details for the assignment.
The date at the bottom of the screen shows you the last time the information was updated.
To return to the first screen, simply click on the Grades and Attendance button at the top of the page.

The Grades and Attendance screen also shows when your student was tardy or absent. Click on the numbers in blue to find out the days and classes in which your son or daughter was late or absent.
You can also look at the grades your student earned earlier this school year. Simply click on the icon marked Grades History for a complete listing of student grades.

Reviewing Attendance History

Click the Attendance History button to see your child’s attendance record. On days when school isn't in session, a dash will appear. For a complete listing of all attendance codes, scroll to the bottom of the screen.

Automatic E-Mail Updates/E-Mailing Teacher

You can receive automatic email updates and send emails to your child’s teacher(s). After you've logged into PowerSchool, click on the Email Notification button. To receive automatic email updates from the school, check off the information that you'd like to receive about your son or daughter, how often you'd like to receive it, and whether you want that information sent to you immediately. Be sure to include the email address where you'd like the information sent and press the blue Submit button. To stop receiving these automatic updates, simply unclick the boxes and press Submit.

You can email teachers from the Grades and Attendance screen or from the Teachers Comments screen (click the Teacher Comments button). From time to time, teachers may include remarks about your child. To respond to any teacher, simply click on his or her name.

Remember your computer must be set up to send emails from your browser. Contact your own Internet service provider for help with this feature. Since teachers work with a large number of students, they may not respond right away, so please be patient. They'll get in touch with you as soon as they can.

Viewing School Bulletin

The PowerSchool program gives students and parent access to the latest information happening in the school. Click on the School Bulletin button to pull up the list of school announcements for parents. At the bottom of this screen, you can also access information from the previous day's bulletin by clicking on that date. The Options Charter Schools will begin using this in October.

All screens give you the option of printing a hard copy of the information.

Class Registration/My Calendars

The Options Charter Schools are not currently using online Class Registration, so even though you can view this page, you cannot “submit” any classes.

The My Calendars button links to a page that works with an Apple/Mac program, ICal. The Options Charter Schools are just beginning to use this function. Look for improved functionality in a few weeks.

We hope our investment in PowerSchool impacts student achievement positively. Please use this tool and ask us for help if something doesn’t seem to work.