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Description:
America's Choice School Design is a standards-driven reform that provides elementary, middle and high schools with curriculum and training designed to prepare all students to work at a rigorous college level before graduating from high school. Its founders looked at research from the United States and around the globe to identify the internationally benchmarked standards that inform the program's curriculum and overall framework. Five components are considered essential for success:
- Standards and Assessments
- Aligned Instructional Systems
- High-performance Management, Leadership and Organization
- Professional Learning Communities
- Parent/Guardian and Community Involvement
America's Choice has recently become a subsidary of the National Center on Education and Economy in order to become a for-profit organization and increase the money-making Capacity of the reform model. America's Choice emphasizes adherence to state and local standards and relies heavily on standardized testing to demonstrate success of the model.
The statutes in the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 provide much of the framework for the structure of America's Choice, including the mandate that school reform be research-based.
America's Choice takes a back-to-basics approach to learning with a strong emphasis on rigorous alignment between instructional goals, performance standards, and assessments in the Core Academic Subjects such as reading literacy and mathematics. While incorporating qualitative measures into the "balanced assessment" strategy, AC advocates strong adherence to traditional quantitative assessments as the true measure of student achievement (www.ncee.org).
Goal:
"The America's Choice® School Design is the result of our extensive study of the best educational practices in the U.S. and abroad. The aim of the design is to ensure that every student is successful on state and local assessments and prepared for college."
(America's Choice Goal Statement, retrieved January 1, 2004 from http://www.ncee.org/acsd/program/index.jsp)
Approach:
Early detection, Intervention, and Acceleration are key to the America's Choice School Design. Its curriculum is designed to help students improve on state and nationally mandated standardized tests, but the program also has its own exams to help assess student achievement levels. Students take the America’s Choice Reference Examinations in English language arts and mathematics as one of the continual assessment tools used to identify which children need additional instruction or "safety nets" to meet America's Choice standards, the cornerstone of the program. America's Choice works with students and teachers to identify standards to be met and how to go about meeting them. Class Teachers remain with their students for two or more years. Teachers are often asked to expand their expertise in different areas.
To insure effective Implementation, a leadership team provides guidance and reinfocement. The leadership team consists of the school principal, America's Choice coaches who will help in training, a Parent/Community Outreach Coordinator, and, for larger schools, a Design Coach who can assist the principal in efforts to coordinate throughout larger populations. Offsite Professional Development is also provided (www.ncee.org) Research:
In comparison to other schools in Plainfield, NJ, Duval County, FL, and Rochester, NY, one longitudinal study showed that America's Choice schools in these areas made significant improvements in the percentage of students at or above state standards in English Language Arts after only one year of implementation (www.nwrel.org).
A thorough PDF article on the America's Choice research base can be found through their website at http://colosus.ncee.org/pdf/acsd/research/research-based_model.pdf. Costs:
America's Choice estimates that implementation of their program will cost between $70,000 and $105,000 per school per year. This may vary depending on school size and specific characteristics. It is recommended that schools contact the program office based in their area of the country. America's Choice will also assist schools in seeking funding from other sources. (www.ncee.org) Implementation Sites:
Sheldon Clark High School
HC 63 Box 810
Inez, KY 41224
606-298-3591
Contact: John Haney
J. E. B. Stuart Middle School
4815 Wesconnett Boulevard
Jacksonville, FL 32210
904-573-1000
Contact: Carol Daniels
P.S. 16
41-15 104th Street
Corona, NY 11368
718-505-0140
Contact: Audrey Murphy
R. E. Davis Elementary
345 Eastern School Road
Sumter, SC 29153
803-495-3243
Contact: Brenda Bowens
As listed in NWREL's catalogue of School Reform Models, December 30, 2003: NWREL catalogue 12/30/03 |
                                                              
