SDEA Charter School

San Diego Education Association
and
San Diego State University
College of Education

KWACHIIYOA CHARTER SCHOOL
6365 Lake Atlin Avenue
San Diego, CA 92119
(619) 668-4830

Jill Kerper Mora, Ed.D.
Professional Development Coordinator
San Diego State University

The San Diego Education Association (SDEA) Kwachiiyoa Charter School was granted charter school status as #134 by the State Board of Education on January 7, 1998. Kwachiiyoa Charter School reflects the vision stemming from a collaborative project with the National Education Association, the California Teachers Association, the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education and the College of Education of San Diego State University. These entities articulated their common goals and innovative model in the SDEA/CTA/NEA Charter School Proposal pursuant to the Charter Schools Act of 1992, approved on September 9, 1997.

The fiscal agent (LEA) for the Charter School is the San Diego Unified School District, which served more than 136,000 students in 1997-1998 at 169 school sites. The collaborative was awarded a two year implementation grant in the amount of $150,000 to complete planning and begin operations of Kwachiiyoa Charter School by the Department of Education in June 1998. The school began operations in September 1999 at the site of Cleveland Elementary School at 6365 Lake Atlin Avenue, San Diego, CA 92119 with a student body of 125 K-5 students. Students from the Mid-City/City Heights neighborhood will be bused to the site until a site within the neighborhood is secured. Kwachiiyoa Charter School operates on a modified singe-track year round calendar that begins in September and ends in July.

The goal of Kwachiiyoa Charter School is to provide unique opportunities for excellence in student achievement to the Crawford cluster of schools and to the surrounding community, although admissions are open to students from throughout the San Diego school district. The school will also serve as a model for improving student achievement by implementing innovative teaching and learning practices, establishing and maintaining strong school/community ties and enhancing professional development for pre-service and in-service teachers.

The name Kwachiiyoa was chosen for the school because of its significance as an expression of the mission of the school. The word "kwachiiyoa" comes from the language of the Kumayaay nation of Native Americans who settled what are today San Diego and Imperial counties. According to Jane Dumas, one of the few surviving speakers of the Kumayaay language, the word expresses the concept of both teacher and learner. In the Kumayaay culture, the two roles were indistinguishable in the learning process. As the teacher teaches, s/he becomes a learner, just as the learner becomes a teacher of the teacher and of others. This is the traditional Kumayaay way of transmitting knowledge and cultural values. Kwachiiyoa Charter School has adopted as its motto an English version of this concept: Everyone a learner. Everyone a teacher.

The original group of Charter School Founders created the charter for the Kwachiiyoa school to be located within the boundaries of Crawford High School attendance zone of the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). The Hoover/Crawford cluster of 23 public schools serves a five-square mile neighborhood that is highly culturally diverse in the Mid-City/City Heights area of San Diego. The total population of the area is 78,000, with 80% under the age of 40. Mid-City/City Heights has been called the "Ellis Island of San Diego." The area has drawn recent immigrants from East Africa, Southeast Asia, Mexico, Latin America, the Middle East and the Balkan states, all joining the blue-collar-white base of long term residents. Around 30 languages are spoken in the schools. In less than 40 years, this neighborhood has gone from 90% white to 95% non-white minority residents.

The Mid-City/City Heights has been designated a federal Enterprise Community. The neighborhood has been economically impacted by business closings and middle-class flight to the suburbs. Civic leaders attribute some of this impact to the fact that the neighborhood schools are over-crowded, due to increases in the elementary school age population. Consequently, Kwachiiyoa Charter School permanent site provides a much needed educational alternative that will serve to promote the economic and academic revitalization of the area. The school will serve as a vehicle for attracting community resources, to build and expand community participation and thus help to revitalize this inner-city neighborhood.

In a recent report (September 1997), the San Diego school board documented the need for addressing the educational achievement of students in the Mid-City/City Heights attendance zone. Table 1 illustrates the comparison of educational performance for students in the San Diego schools district-wide with the performance levels of students in the Mid-City neighborhood to be served by Kwachiiyoa School.

Comparison	San Diego City Schools	Mid-City/City Heights
Suspensions	2 per 100	9 per 100
Free/Reduced Lunches	59%	83%
Limited English Proficiency	28%	51.7%
Retention	2.7%	3.6%

When fully operational, Kwachiiyoa Charter School will serve students in grade levels traditionally known as pre-K through 12. At capacity, the school is limited to 450 students. Planning for the school was based on the belief that small schools foster a more focused educational community that enhances the climate of trust between families and schools, recognizing that all children and adults associated with the school are teachers and learners. Neighborhood schools also enhance the possibility of increased community and parental involvement, as all stakeholders participate in decision making and in providing enriched learning experiences for students through links to business and civic activities, as well as the linkage to the College of Education at San Diego State University.

The vision of Kwachiiyoa Charter School is to accomplish the goals of high student achievement, teacher development and community participation through an innovative curriculum, a unique school structure and governance model and opportunities for pre-service and in-service teachers to grow professionally through a well-coordinated collaborative between organizations and institutions. The Charter School will serve a community that will be enhanced by the school's operation through the collaborative efforts of the participating entities and will be a model for other public schools to emulate. The design of the school's curriculum is based on the nine common principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES), founded by Theodore Sizer in 1984. These principles include having an intellectual focus, with personalized teaching and learning and high expectations for all students. Diplomas in the Essential School are awarded upon demonstration of mastery. School governance and administration are organized on behalf of student learning based on collaboration and mutual responsibility, rather than on bureaucratic/political interests. Kwachiiyoa Charter School will have the model of over 700 schools that have been organized using the CES model.

Kwachiiyoa Charter School has as its primary goal to educate all students to meet high academic standards. The focus on achievement takes into account the diverse learning styles and interests of students, making them decision-makers in their own learning process, along with caring mentoring adults. This goal will be met through a standards-based and performance-based curriculum that is structured developmentally through integrated interdisciplinary multicultural learning activities. The curriculum is planned and implemented around community issues that develop students' abilities to think critically and solve real-life problems. Students' learning of higher order thinking skills will be achieved as students and teachers together examine the broader context of knowledge and ideas that is not compartmentalized or fragmented by artificial divisions into grade levels or subject matter.

The structure and implementation of the curriculum of Kwachiiyoa Charter School is based on the philosophy that students must be fully engaged in their own learning. Many students drop out of school because they become separated from constructive learning in schools (Sinclair & Ghory, 1992). Students may become marginal or "at risk" because of contradictory pressures without the clear direction that comes from strong adult role models and guidance from significant others within the learning environment.

The goal of the Charter School is to provide students with a community consisting of primary relationships among people who help each other accomplish individual and common goals. The community also provides a context and a rationale for learning for the skills and content students study that makes sense in terms of their background and experiences, building on these as strengths for creating alternative ways of thinking and acting effectively. Based on this paradigm, the three goals of Kwachiiyoa Charter School are high student achievement, teacher development and community participation.

Progression through six academic performance levels based on a series of exhibitions whereby students are assessed on their demonstration of mastery of skills and content in five academic areas: The arts and humanities, mathematics, science, Internship/Senior project and the advisory portfolio to demonstrate completion of graduation requirements. Kwachiiyoa has adopted the model outlined in the Senior Institute Handbook of Fenway Middle College High School, Boston, MA where teachers and community partners assist the students in developing exhibitions of mastery. Advancement through the academic levels requires demonstration of mastery of the academic standards required by the California Department of Education.

Each student signs a compact identifying responsibilities and academic goals upon admission to Kwachiiyoa Charter School. This compact is reviewed and amended each year to include school requirements for the academic performance level and individualized goals based on the student's interests and needs. The student's review meetings include his/her academic advisor and the parent/guardian or mentoring adult.

Each student's progress toward completion of graduation requirements and future school to career transition or pursuit of higher education is carefully planned and monitored through the Internship/Certificate of Mastery and Senior Institute (Meier, 1995). The Senior Institute requires successful completion of both college level placement examinations and senior exhibitions. Students must earn a passing score on both the San Diego State University English Placement Test and the Elementary Level Math to be eligible to earn the Diploma of Excellence. All students will complete 120 hours of internship with local businesses or civic organizations based on identified career interests.

The structure and environment of Kwachiiyoa Charter School reflect innovative thinking and planning that depart from traditional school arrangements in order to overcome barriers to high student achievement. The structure of the Charter School is focused on a shared decision-making and team-building paradigm that empowers teachers, parents, students and community members to share responsibility in designing a learning community of active and productive life-long learners. The teachers and learners in Kwachiiyoa Charter School will be provided opportunities to explore, practice and embrace core beliefs in human dignity, social conscience, cooperation, community service, self worth, diversity, and democracy.

The sponsorship of the San Diego Education Association in conjunction with the National Education Association and its California affiliate CTA, through professional expertise and funding represents a strong commitment from teachers to the vision of the Charter School. Consistent with the goal of nurturing and encouraging high levels of teacher performance and professional growth, Kwachiiyoa Charter School has embraced the propositions and process of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) as the model for teaching practice. The NBPTS is based on the policy that teachers have a high level of commitment to students and their learning. The standards provide opportunities for teachers to increase their knowledge of their subject matter and how to teach those subjects to their students. Based on the standards, teachers participate voluntarily in multiple assessments to demonstrate principles, professional judgment in a variety of situations, leading to National Board Certification that is a symbol of professional teaching excellence.

The linkage of Kwachiiyoa Charter School to the community is enhanced by the school's collaboration with the College of Education (COE) at San Diego State University, which is located nearby. The COE has actively participated in the Charter School proposal and will provide technical and academic expertise for the project in several ways. First, COE faculty will coordinate staff development and action research activities to foster ongoing, self-directed inquiry into the processes and outcomes of teaching and learning. Second, as the school grows to full capacity, a Professional Development School will be established to serve as a laboratory for teacher candidates in the COE credential programs and graduate studies programs. This reciprocity of expertise will prepare future teachers with knowledge of innovative and effective teaching practices and with field experiences working with a culturally and linguistically diverse student population within a new paradigm for constructing positive learning environments that promote excellence in student achievement. A primary goal of the this collaboration is a focus on action research, whereby teacher candidates and teachers in conjunction with SDSU faculty will conduct investigations, case studies, systematic observations and evaluations of teaching-learning, curriculum and programmatic structural features to enhance Kwachiiyoa Charter School's effectiveness.

Through links with businesses and civic organizations, Kwachiiyoa Charter School will provide opportunities for students to apply their growing knowledge to practical career-oriented and civic-based projects to support improved self-esteem, effective social skills and to gain control over their own lives and learning. The use of technology is a key component in achieving this goal by providing access to the growing body of knowledge and information through advanced educational tools such as the Internet. As students learn the use of technology, they become better prepared for future careers that require high levels of skill in research and information processing.

Community linkages have been established through involvement of the Adams Avenue Business Association in meetings of the Interim Governing Board, where representatives of civic groups have shared their objectives and concerns regarding the role of the schools in the economic development and quality of life issues of the neighborhood. Businesses and community service agencies involved in the Charter School effort include the Science Applications International Corporation represented by Brenda Raker, Vice President for Education; Gay Lynn of the United Way and San Diego City Council representative Judy McCarty.

The Professional & Community Development Director funded initially under this grant will serve as a liaison and primary actor in collaborative decision making regarding the Charter School's relationships with local businesses and community organizations. The Governing Board will also function as a forum for active participation of parents and community members in carrying out the mission of Kwachiiyoa Charter School.

Kwachiiyoa Charter School begins operations on September 7, 1999 at the site of Cleveland Elementary School, but will serve students from the neighborhood of the Mid City/City Heights area of San Diego San Diego Unified School District under the authority of the Board of Education. The Charter School will have a total of 450 students. The initial opening of the school will be for 235 students from traditional grades kindergarten through fifth grade or Performance Levels 1-3 under the Charter School academic structure. The school will add grade levels incrementally until it reaches a capacity of 450 students within five years. Performance levels four, five and six will be added in subsequent years, with a projected complete K-12 enrollment by the fifth year of operations. Students will come predominantly from the Mid-City/ City Heights neighborhood and will be served at a permanent site within that neighborhood as soon as this facility is secured. Enrollment at Kwachiiyoa Charter School is open to students from within the San Diego school district. The Charter School operates on a year-round schedule that suits the needs of the local community within the parameters of the scheduling requirements of the school district.

The curriculum will be structured around six academic performance levels of student study that cover approximately twelve years. The levels culminate in a Senior Institute where eligibility requirements for graduation are assessed and satisfied. These levels are not age- or grade-specific. Rather, the levels are based on developmental levels and advancement through specific performance criteria and satisfaction of academic achievement standards. The content and performance objectives reflect an interdisciplinary approach that integrates content knowledge and skills development that cross subject areas and monitor expansion of higher order thought processes and application of new knowledge. The performance levels are as follows:

Level 1: Establishing a foundation for academic and social growth (Equivalent to traditional grades K-2)

Level 2: Building core knowledge and skills (Equivalent to traditional grades 3-4)

Level 4: Establishing a foundation for graduation (Equivalent to grades 7-8)

Level 5: Building connections with the larger community (Equivalent to grades 9-10)

Level 6: Expanding personal capacities: Senior Institute for completion of 120 hour internship, preparation for graduation and preparation for admission to a four-year university, community college or for entry into a career (Equivalent to grades 11-12)

Instruction in each performance level of 75 students will be the responsibility of a teaching team, with a student-teacher ratio of a maximum of 20 to 25 students per teacher. According to the principles of the Coalition for Essential Schools, the curriculum is thematic and interdisciplinary to provide various points of entry into learning for student of different levels, while maintaining high standards. The teaching team will plan collaboratively using thematic interdisciplinary planning so as to utilize the best content-area knowledge, teaching skills and interests of each member of the teaching team to full advantage. This structure allows for double instructional periods to enter more in depth into the subject areas and to develop projects that provide learning of inquiry and problem solving skills.

The curriculum of Kwachiiyoa Charter School is based on the California Performance Standards for K-12 public schools and the San Diego Unified School District's grade level standards. The highly qualified faculty of Kwachiiyoa have designed a curriculum around performance standards by establishing developmentally appropriate exit criteria for each performance level. Students will be taught the important content-area knowledge and literacy skills required by the state and school district utilizing a development progression that is appropriate for each student. In this way, the teachers at Kwachiiyoa School continually assess and support each student's achievement of high educational standards through their ability to apply and integrate their knowledge through experiential and community-based projects. The curriculum is organized around Essential Questions (Jacobs, 1997) through the process of curriculum mapping.

As students progress through a challenging and demand standards-based curriculum, advanced components will be added to the core for each performance level. The innovative City Works, which is organized around projects that explore real-life problems in the students' neighborhood, will be used as a starting point for integrating content objectives and academic standards for levels 4-6 as enrollment of these levels occurs. Using the Future Search Method, Kwachiiyoa Charter School will continually identify the community assets to locate potential job internships and volunteer mentors from local businesses and civic organizations for job shadowing and internship opportunities. These community-based activities are coordinated with academic studies to enhance and enrich the students' learning experiences in the total learning context of the surrounding neighborhood.

Students in the Kwachiiyoa Charter School will be assessed for advanced through each performance level based on the exhibition process, which requires student presentations and multiple criteria portfolio assessments in the following areas for each level. The exhibitions are as follows:

In addition, for advancement from Level 5 and Level 6, students from qualify through exhibition in the following areas:

Kwachiiyoa Charter School is a professional development school (PDS) co-sponsored by the College of Education (COE) at San Diego State University. The focus of the PDS activities in the initial stages of implementation will be on preparing the teaching team and developing the curriculum and assessment plan for Performance Level 4: Readiness for high school. The model of professional development selected for the start-up phase is training in the application of the "curriculum mapping" model for integrating curriculum and assessment for K-12. In Mapping the Big Picture, Heidi Hayes Jacobs (1997) outlines a seven-step process for creating and working with curriculum maps, from data collection to curriculum review. This model of curriculum planning is consistent with principles of school reform because it sets aside time and resources for teachers to reflect on the curriculum and assessment procedures in a holistic manner. Teachers' active involvement and participation in curricular decisions lead to systemic change and high levels of commitment to teaching and learning.

The curriculum mapping model involves seven phases wherein the curriculum grows and evolves in a dynamic fashion. In the first phase of data collection, teachers identify the processes and skills emphasized in the curriculum and define the content in terms of essential concepts and topics. Teachers will be guided in this process by the California Academic Standards for Language Arts and Mathematics. The curriculum mapping model is the continual review cycle that maintains a high level of accountability for the up-dating and revision of Kwachiiyoa Charter School's curriculum in response to the interests and needs of the students and community resulting from action research and stakeholders' input.

Phase 1	Identification of processes & skills emphasized in curriculum Definition of content in terms of essential concepts and topics
Phase 2	Teachers edit map of school curriculum Definition of areas of integration, timeliness of tasks & assignments
Phases 3 & 4	Small groups and large group identification of gaps, repetitions, potential areas of integration, mismatches between outcomes and assessment
Phases 5 & 6	Focus on each of 6 performance levels separately and as a continuous cohesive progression through the CDE Academic Standards.(To be completed as academic levels are added to enrollment.)
Phase 7-Ongoing	Identification of immediate needs for curriculum revision and long-term action & academic research for refinement and overall curricular evaluation

The initial curriculum mapping process for Kwachiiyoa Charter School was completed in July 1999 through the efforts of the new teaching staff and Teacher Director Pat Rousseau. The continuation of standards-based alignments in curriculum development and on-going augmentation and revisions will occur intensively in the first two years of operation. Subsequently, the curriculum will be disseminated so that public education can benefit from these innovations.

After the third year of operations of Kwachiiyoa Charter School, the Professional Development School will be expanded to include teacher education and graduate students from San Diego State University's College of Education. Of particular importance are opportunities for these teacher candidates to participate in field experiences and student teaching in the classrooms of exemplary teachers using innovative teaching strategies and a highly effective integrated curriculum. Preparing teachers for linguistic and cultural diversity in urban communities requires multiple exposures to the educational lives and perspectives of the children, and immersion in and teaching practice in those urban communities. The professional development opportunities provided through the PDS will encourage teacher education students to integrate theoretical knowledge with teaching experiences in diverse classroom settings, under the guidance and expert supervision of the SDSU faculty and cooperating Kwachiiyoa Charter School teachers and mentors.

The Principal Investigator for the California Department of Education grant is Jill Kerper Mora, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at SDSU. Dr. Mora is a Cross-cultural Language and Academic Development (CLAD) credential specialist in the School of Teacher Education. She has extensive experience in preparing public school teachers and teacher candidates in instructional methods for enhancing the achievement of culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Dr. Mora coordinates the professional development activities for Kwachiiyoa Charter School and will plan the establishment of the Professional Development School.

Professional development activities will be enhanced by the collaboration between the SDSU College of Education and the San Diego Education Association under the leadership of President Marc Knapp.

The school will be governed by the twelve-member Governance Council that is elected from among the stakeholder groups which includes the following:

The Governance Council functions under democratic principles and follow the Brown Act requirements for establishing agendas and conducting open meetings, referred to as "town hall meeting" at a minimum of two per year. The town hall meetings will involve status reports on the school from teacher leaders and input from all stakeholders and valued critical friends to set direction and guide the school in its mission and goals of excellence. The responsibilities of the Governance Council include personnel and fiscal decisions, developing school policies, review of school and student instructional needs, and obtain and allocate resources.

The Governance Council, whose members serve three year staggered terms, will also be responsible for identifying programs and procedures to ensure high levels of academic achievement and to oversee compliance with terms and conditions of each employee group's contracts and school district policies. Decision making within the Governance Council will be through a consensus process wherever feasible. Agreement of some items not attainable by consensus will be decided by at least a two-thirds vote.

The governance structure of Kwachiiyoa Charter School is based on the philosophy that teachers are professionals whose voice in school management and operations is essential to achieving academic goals. Consequently, the chief administrative officer of the school will be the Teaching Director. This position is to be funded at the 50% level through this grant. The Teaching Director is an expert teacher with demonstrated management and leadership skills who also serves as part of a performance level teaching team. The Teaching Director is authorized to enter into agreements on behalf of Kwachiiyoa Charter School with neighboring schools, colleges/universities, businesses and community agencies to provide access to specialized programs, activities, internships, college level experiences and courses for students.

Plans to involve the community, including local businesses, neighborhood associations, local families and community service organizations have been a priority since the founding of the Charter. Grants from the National Education Association for $12,000 and from the California Teachers Association for $12,500 have been given to fund activities to engage the community in giving the school its "final signature."

Anderson and Marsh of SRI International (April 1998) presented a paper titled Early Results of a Reform Experiment: Charter Schools in California at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San Diego. The findings from their survey of 124 charter schools representing 30 counties and 80 districts suggest that an effective way for charter schools to be held accountable is to look at the degree to which they are meeting the objectives that are specified in their original charters. The evaluation plan for Kwachiiyoa Charter School is based on this model of evaluation.

Below is a table specifying the charter objective and the documentation that will be provided to assess progress toward the achievement of each objective.

Objective	Documentation of Evaluation Criteria	Timeline
High levels of academic achievement for all students	Administration of State mandated achievement tests Numbers and percentages of students completing exhibition requirements for each performance level Percentages of compact goals fulfillment within levels for each student Comparison with achievement results from equivalent grade levels in other Mid City schools Attainment of a cumulative GPA of 3.0 for university admissions by 60% of graduates. Records of attendance and student retention	Annual reporting Comparison of academic growth with base-line data from first testing after start-up in January 1999
Teacher Development	Number of hours of teacher participation in professional growth activities Evaluations of professional growth activities Curriculum design products Accounting of teachers' progress toward National Board Certification SDSU-COE field experience and student teaching evaluations Documentation of action research and collaborative scholarly research resulting in publications or conference presentations	August 1999 assessment of readiness for start-up Annual reporting
Community Participation	Percentages of compacts signed by parent/guardians and students Agendas and sign-in sheets from Governance Council and town hall meetings Records of job shadowing, mentoring and internship relationships established Summary reports or letters from sponsors	Annual reporting

For further information about Kwachiiyoa Charter School, contact Teacher Director Pat Rousseau at 619 668-4830 or by e-mail at <sdeapat@aol.com>

Kwachiiyoa Charter School
6365 Lake Atlin Avenue
San Diego, CA 92119
(619) 668-4830