GIANNA CASSETTA

Gianna and son Caleb enjoying one of her favorite activities.

I am so excited to share news about SOAR's progress in our first newsletter! There's more to tell in just one newsletter, so please look for future issues

SOAR is extremely fortunate to open at the Dr. Evie Garrett Dennis Campus in Green Valley Ranch. This state-of-the-art facility will house several "pods"surrounding a student union that will be shared by several schools. Just recently, I visited the construction site, and there has been tremendous progress since I last was there. The primary academy already has splashes of paint color and bright tile patterns. I stood in the instructional commons imagining what it will be like with the buzz of teacher conversations and children laughing. What an amazing place this will be for us to spend our days together teaching and learning!

Student recruitment has been rolling. SOAR has received over 400 applications for the 2010 school year! And, we have begun hosting a series of family enrollment sessions. In these sessions, families hear an "Everything You'll Ever Need to Know about SOAR" presentation delivered by yours truly, followed by a Q and A session, and then filling out loads of paperwork, ordering uniforms, etc.

Staff recruitment and selection is also in full swing. SOAR's rigorous staff selection process includes written interview questions, individual interviews, viewing of teaching videos, and finally a group interview. Applicants from throughout the nation have been attracted to apply to SOAR, and a number of extremely talented staff have been offered and accepted positions.

A key to SOAR's success will be careful planning to prepare these teachers to be ready to deliver excellent instruction at SOAR. As you may know, one of SOAR's six Core Elements is professional development. SOAR staff members stay current on best practices in education and participate in ongoing, intensive professional development throughout the school year delivered by national experts in the field of education. All teachers also participate in a four-week summer professional development program.

I have spent a significant amount of time in the past few weeks beginning to sketch out a robust professional development plan for the 2010-11 school year. One highlight of the plan is the addition of Katherine Bomer. Katherine worked for five years at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, and she continues today her association with that community. With Lucy Calkins, she wrote The Writer's Bookshelf for Harper Junior Books, and with Randy Bomer, she wrote For a Better World: Reading and Writing for Social Action. Her most recent book is Writing a Life: Teaching Memoir to Young People. She consults across the country on various reading and writing topics. She will join SOAR staff this summer and throughout the school year to work with us on teaching for social action.

In addition to all the great things going on at the SOAR school to open this August, I want to let you know about an exciting plan to open more SOAR schools in Denver.

You may have recently seem the an article in the Denver Post regarding a study just concluded called "Locating Quality and Access: The Keys to Denver's Plan for Educational Excellence." It states, "About 57 percent of Denver Public Schools' 75,000 students attend schools that fail to meet district performance standards, according to a study by a charter school organization. In a break from recent reform plans, the report says DPS must bring in higher-performing elementary schools rather than concentrating on middle schools. It calls for the district to create new schools for 36,000 underserved students.

" 'There is a tendency to focus on middle schools and high schools, but what this report shows is there is actually a huge need systemwide at the elementary school level,' said William Haft, vice president of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and co-author of 'Locating Quality and Access: The Keys to Denver's Plan for Educational Excellence.'

"The report examined DPS performance data, enrollment statistics and demographics. It identified areas most in need of higher-performing schools: Montbello and areas that feed into North and West high schools."

In fact, the report calls on DPS to create 20 new elementary schools to serve 10,000 students in the next 5 years.

On February 22, DPS announced its "Call for Quality Schools,"the program which invites educators to submit proposals to start new, high-quality schools to serve the families of Denver (see "Links" section below for more detail). SOAR is specifically positioned to respond to this call. Therefore, the SOAR board of directors plans to submit an application to DPS in April to open two new SOAR schools in Far Northeast Denver – one to open in 2012 and one to open in 2013. The replication efforts are being led by Marc Waxman. Marc worked alongside me to build and run the successful Future Leaders Institute Charter School in Harlem, NYC. Click here to learn more about the SOAR replication plan.

Additionally, the SOAR board has grown from the initial 5 members who submitted SOAR's first application a year ago to 13 members today. The board is now a diverse group of committed individuals with the ability to develop and oversee several schools. From legal to financial expertise, from community knowledge to private foundation ties, from education expertise to development skills, this board is well-rounded and committed to providing schools that truly meet the needs of the students in Far Northeast Denver.

Given the capacity at SOAR and the need in Denver, and in Far Northeast specifically, the SOAR team feels a moral imperative to increase the scope of its work as aggressively as possible while still maintaining quality.

I look forward to writing to you next month with our newest updates.

Sincerely,
Gianna

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