District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Charter Renewal - Vote on Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School

This month, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (Board) will vote on the charter renewal application of Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School (BArT).

Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School

BArT, a regional Commonwealth charter school, is located in Adams. The school opened in 2004. BArT is chartered to serve grades 6-12, with a maximum enrollment of 308. BArT reached its maximum grade span in 2007-08 and is currently serving 246 students in grades 6-12. The school expects to reach its maximum enrollment in 2010-11. BArT is chartered to serve students from Northern Berkshire County and currently enrolls approximately 27% of its students from Adams, 41% from North Adams, 19% from Pittsfield, and the remainder from approximately 12 other communities.

The school's mission statement reads: "The Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School integrates the study of the arts and technology with core subjects to promote mastery of academic skills and content, prepare students for college and graduate independent thinkers, dynamic workers and active citizens for life. The school provides middle school and high school students in Northern Berkshire County with an intellectual community that regards everyone, including teachers and parents, as perpetual learners."

Basis of Recommendations Regarding the Renewal of Charters

The charter school regulations state that "[t]he decision by the Board to renew a charter shall be based upon the presentation of affirmative evidence regarding the success of the school's academic program; the viability of the school as an organization; and the faithfulness of the school to the terms of its charter" 603 CMR 1.12. Consistent with the regulations, recommendations regarding renewal are based on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's (Department) evaluation of the school's performance in these areas. In its review, the Department has considered both the school's absolute performance at the time of the application for renewal and progress the school has made during the first four years of its charter.

The superintendents of all of the local districts that send students to BArT were invited to submit written comment to the Department regarding the renewal of the school's charter. No written comment was received from the superintendents.

The accountability process for charter schools recognizes that in exchange for increased freedom, a school must demonstrate results within the term of its five-year charter or risk non-renewal. The summary document that follows this memorandum compiles the school's record for the term of this charter.

Recommendation for Renewal

Based on the evidence gathered in the attached Summary of Review, summarized below, I recommend that the Board grant a probationary renewal of the school's charter with one condition requiring that, by 2010, the school demonstrate academic success by achieving growth in student achievement against standards set by the Department or by making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2009 and 2010.

Areas of Charter School Accountability

I. Faithfulness to Charter

• BArT's unique mission is to integrate visual and performing arts and technology into the academic curriculum. The school is making progress in implementing this mission.
• The college preparatory aspect of the program has become increasingly central. In the summer of 2008, the school's mission statement was revised to emphasize the goal of preparing all students for college.

II. Academic Success

• Teachers use the Understanding by Design backwards planning model to create a curriculum that is aligned with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. All of the quarterly units contained in the curriculum include performance-based assessments that integrate the arts and technology.
• Increasing the rigor of the academic program is a major focus for improvement. With the assistance of an outside consultant, BArT engaged in a whole school review process during the 2007-08 school year. As a result of this process, several initiatives implemented this year include:
• the separation of math/science and English language arts (ELA)/social studies into discrete classes taught by highly qualified teachers;
• grouping students by skill level to better target their needs;
• the use of formative assessments with quantifiable results that are used to inform curriculum and instruction;
• frequent, ongoing, and regular assessment of teachers by means of a newly adopted 5-10 minute observation protocol.
• 28% of BArT's students receive special education services, 9% are on 504 plans, and approximately 10% are involved in the state's social service system. The school has met the needs of its population of diverse learners by developing a strongly supportive school culture and offering a full array of special education services. BArT offers its students extensive academic support and remediation services, including a daily targeted supported study period. There are four special education teachers, a student services coordinator, a social worker, and seven special education paraprofessionals on staff.
• BArT has not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in ELA or mathematics in the aggregate or for subgroups during the course of its charter.
• The school's NCLB status is Corrective Action for mathematics and Improvement Year 2 for ELA.

III. Organizational Viability

• BArT has faced several major challenges during the course of its first five year charter, including the initial inability to secure a facility, a difficult reception from local sending districts and consequent difficulty in attracting sufficient applicants, a disproportionately large population of students with special needs, and persistently low academic performance.
• Though the school was initially unable to secure the financing necessary to obtain a building because it opened at a time when a charter school moratorium was threatened, within six months of opening, it moved from a rented space in a district school to its current facility, which it purchased by the end of its second year of operations.
• The school has not yet reached its maximum enrollment of 308 students, which was set assuming 44 students in each of 7 grades. It expects to reach its maximum enrollment in the 2010-2011 school year, when our original 6th grade reaches 12th grade.
• BArT is fiscally sound and stable. The school has not met its enrollment targets throughout the charter term, but has budgeted carefully, secured a short-term line of credit, and raised additional sources of revenue to support operations.
• The school's executive director has served in that role since the school opened. The principal is new to his role this year, but has worked at the school as dean of students for the past two years.
• The school is governed by a nine member board of trustees, two of whom are founding members of the school. Appropriate channels of communication have been established between the board and school leadership, and the board has been proactive in supporting the school.
• Families and students have consistently expressed high levels of satisfaction with the school

IV. Dissemination

• The school's board and its executive director have done extensive outreach in the local community to promote the school and correct misperceptions concerning the school's program. Examples include presentations on local access television and radio, speaking at community group meetings, and building relationships with local colleges.
• BArT is a member of the Commonwealth Corporation's Diploma Plus network. Through this network, the school participates in professional development workshops and shares its best practices with other network schools, which are public schools in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and California (Renewal Inspection Report, p. 26).

If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Jeff Wulfson, Associate Commissioner, at 781 338-6500; or Mary Street, Director of Charter Schools, at 781 338-3200; or me.

   Summary of Review