GREAT VALLEY
EDUCATION FOUNDATION
Creating Distinctive Public Education Opportunities for California’s Youth
We show students a way to do something they enjoy doing; to experience the need to know required academic subjects – the English language skills, the math skills, the science skills, the understanding of cultures, of history, of governments – by helping them create projects around their interests that spark their curiosity about these subjects. This way, we are helping students create a reason to know normal academic subjects themselves rather than telling them they must know these subjects without making the connections between classroom theory and practical application in the real world. TTT
Keith Bandy
Founder/CEO
Great Valley Education Foundation
The Public Understands
84% Believe that better use of existing funds would lead to higher quality.
71% Believe that school districts in lower-income areas should receive more resources.
65% Believe that additional state funding would lead to higher quality.
64% Believe that increases in teacher pay should be based on merit, including student performance, rather than seniority.
53% Believe that California ranks below average (39 percent) or near the bottom (14 percent) compared to other states on test scores.
52% Believe that the quality of California K–12 education is a big problem. Teacher quality is at the top of the list that needs improvement.Source: Public Policy Institute of California statewide surveys, 2005 and 2007
“California will spend $50 billion on K–14 education this year. ... What do we get for that money? We get many wonderful and dedicated teachers. We get many children who are doing terrific. But $50 billion, and we still have 30 percent of high school students not graduating. That is a human disaster. Fifty-billion dollars, and we still have hundreds of schools that are failing. That is an institutional disaster. Fifty-billion dollars, and the majority of our students cannot even perform at their grade level. That is an educational disaster.”
— Governor Schwarzenegger,
January 2005 State of the State Address
Click HERE to view a short video about the Denver School of Science and Technology, upon which SciTech Charter School will be modeled. The video depicts an exciting example of how the design of an educational facility can help promote student achievement. Our new schools will be similar in design and functionality. Click HERE for a promotional folder that reviews SciTech Charter School as it is envisioned in its new facility. Click HERE to watch a short video about making the impossible possible, a Bill Strickland presentation.
Note: some links below may require you to have Adobe Acrobat Reader. You may install it free here.
All About Charter Schools
California Charter Schools Overview
Charter School Business Newsletter
Charter School Q&A
Current California Charter School Law
Education Blogs
Education Links
Education Research
Education Stats
Funding Sources
Great Education Websites
Great Valley Education Foundation Background
Newsworthy
No Child Left Behind ActTen Signs Indicating You Need to Find a Different Kind of Education for Your Child
MISSION STATEMENT
Our mission is to establish, in communities within the Central San Joaquin Valley, specialized k-12 grade charter schools that target low-income, traditionally underserved student groups that are underrepresented within the University of California system or are not properly prepared to enter the workforce. These new schools will have a project-based curriculum, student centered atmosphere and teacher oriented management structure.
The Great Valley Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt non-profit California corporation whose purpose is to gather funds and conduct activities intended to gain support from citizens and local education agencies in communities within California's Central San Joaquin Valley for the purpose of expanding public education choices through the establishment of community k-12 grade charter schools that target traditionally "underserved" students.
These new schools will feature, among other things:
MicroSociety Program: MicroSociety is an innovative design where students create a microcosm of the real world inside the school. Each student has a role in running that world. Young entrepreneurs produce goods and services, elected officials establish laws, CrimeStoppers keep the peace, judges arbitrate disputes, and reporters track down stories. All citizens earn wages in the school’s "micro" currency, invest in product ideas, deposit and borrow money from "Micro" banks, and pay taxes, tuition and rent. Classroom connections are made throughout the day. Click here to learn more. Click here for SciTech Charter School's k-8 MicroSociety program brochure.
Personalized Learning Plans (PLP): Each student will be guided by a PLP that will be developed for him or her by school staff in collaboration with students' parents/guardians and that fits the needs of everyone involved.
Career and Technical Education (CTE): CTE, the new name for Vocational Education, prepares students for specific vocations rather than simply supplying them with general knowledge that may or may not be used to find work or get into college.
Strict Academic and Character Building Instructions: Students will receive academic and character building instructions designed to thoroughly prepare them for continued education, career training, employment and civic life.
Project-Based Learning (PBL): In grades 9-12, students will create projects around CTE themes in which they have interest. Academic content will be injected into projects so students will be prepared for state and federally mandated tests. Click here to learn more about PBL. Click here to read supporting research. Click here to view a short video explaining PBL.
Performance-Based Format: All Foundation schools will have a performance-based rather than a rule-based instructional format. This means that lessons and projects are created and graded according to how successfully they contribute to student learning in each situation, not according to how they have been rated by some district or state committee.
School-Wide Assessment & Strategic Planning: Assessment and planning will be conducted using a unique set of guidelines that have been created through rigorous experiments, which have provided proven and accurate measures of what students are learning. Click here to view these assessment and planning tools.
Non-Traditional Learning Environment: Our students will not be confined to traditional classrooms adorned with rows of seats/desks. Instead, they will spend most of their school day working within what is called an advisory group in which 20 or fewer students work at their personal workstations within a large open space. Advisory groups will be separated by low partitions giving the appearance of a commercial office building rather than a traditional middle/high school. However, when needed, group lessons will be given in the traditional manner within a traditional classroom setting with a student teacher ratio of 20-to-1 or less. To learn more about this revolutionary educational model, click here.
Web-Based Project Progress Tracking System: A web-based project progress tracking system called Project Foundry, or equivalent, will be available that parents may use at any time to view their student’s daily up-dated project progress. This system allows parents to be continuously aware of their students’ progress in school and in constant contact with their teachers. Click here to view a video that shows how this system dovetails into a project-based approach through the eyes of students.
Low Student-to-Teacher Ratios: Each traditional class setting will have twenty or fewer students. But, because of the open nature of school facilities, many students will be working one-on-one or in small groups of three or four students with their teacher/advisor or project manager.
The FIVE PROMISES, a guideline adopted by America's Promise: Alliance for Youth to help students succeed, have a powerful impact. Young people with the Five Promises do better in school, are more likely to pursue higher education and enjoy better relationships with their peers and families. They are less likely to engage in risky behaviors, and are five to 10 times more likely to become productive citizens in their communities.
Links to other creative schools
List of California Charter SchoolsClick here to view excerpts from Oprah Winfrey's special report: "American Schools in Crisis," which aired on her show in April 2006. It emphasizes how bad things really are in our nation's public schools and offers some cutting edge solutions dominated by charter schools.
Recommended Reading List
This site last up-dated March 25, 2008