Questions and Answers Connect the Dots Overview Brochure

Introduction

This is about a school, a school like no other. This school will be a tuition-free, privately-funded, community-based school that will act like a public school but will get the kinds of results that are lacking in the public school system. This public/private school will value and attend to the needs of the whole child. This school will produce students who attain high academic and high health and fitness levels at the same time. This school will produce students who love to learn.

This school will be ethnically diverse, with students coming from advantaged, mid-level, and disadvantaged backgrounds. This school will have strong parental involvement and close ties to the community. This school will operate year-round and be open daily from early morning until late evening. This school, as with public schools, will be open to all students in the surrounding communities. This school will be a training center for current and future educators. This school will be a model for transforming America's public-school system.

Background

America's and California's public school systems are in trouble. Billions of dollars have been spent and thousands of programs put forth to turn around our public schools. Sadly, there hasn't been much change. In addition, most students are apathetic about their academic courses. If this weren't enough to make Americans and Californians sick, over the past 20 years, the health and fitness levels of schoolchildren have deteriorated to the point where overweight and obesity among our nation's youth, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, is now at epidemic proportions, predisposing an entire generation to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Current Situation

The trouble in our schools is validated by the most recent California achievement test scores and by a survey of attitudes regarding students and their academic courses. In addition, the most recent data for California and the nation show the grave condition of students’ health and fitness levels.

Student Academic Performance

In 2007, for all California students in grades 2 through 11, the percentage of students who scored at or above the proficiency level through the state testing program in English language arts is 43%. This means that 57% of California’s students are not proficient in language arts. For math, the percentage of students who scored at or above the proficiency level was 41%, meaning that 59% of all California students are not proficient in math. For history-social sciences, 33% are proficient and 67% are not. And for science, 38% are proficient and 62% are not.

These figures represent where California stands regarding student academic proficiency despite seven consecutive years of increases in the scores. What makes this even more disturbing is that according to a 2005 RAND Corporation report, California’s national test scores are significantly lower than the average scores in the nation.

Student Attitudes

Most kids go to school not to get an education but to get out. Rather than loving to learn as they once did as young children, as they move up through the educational system, they become increasingly apathetic about learning, resigned to simply go through the motions. For the most part, the students are bored.

The nonprofit American Sports Institute (ASI) has conducted an attitudinal survey over the last seven years related to the students’ state of mind regarding school. This two-question survey has been presented to thousands of legislators, state education officials, district superintendents, principals, counselors, teachers, parents, students and the general public. The questions are:

Question 1: On a scale of 10, with 10 being totally excited and 1 being totally apathetic, how excited are middle and high school students about going to school for their academic courses only? This does not include the social or extracurricular aspects of school.

Question 2: Are human beings, especially children, natural or unnatural learners?

The range of responses for the first question has been between 2 and 5, with the greatest number of responses being 3. However, everyone says that kids are natural learners.

This begs the question: If kids are natural learners, but the response given most often to the first question is a 3 and the overall range of responses is 2 to 5 on a scale of 10, the conclusion is obvious and inescapable: There is something fundamentally wrong at the core of our nation’s educational system.

Health and Fitness

Compounding the problems of low academic performance and student apathy, current research shows that the very process we use to educate students in our schools is contributing to the children’s becoming physically unfit, overweight, and obese, which often leads to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer in adults.

Nationally, the incidence of overweight children in the United States aged 4-12 has gone up dramatically in the past 12 years. It has increased 50 percent among Anglo children, 120 percent among Latino children, and 175 percent among African-American children. Prior studies show it normally took 30 years for the overweight prevalence in American children to double. At current rates, projected over 30 years, this would be a 125 percent increase in Anglo children, a 300 percent increase in Latino children, and a 438 percent increase in African-American children.

We see evidence of this serious problem right now. According to the nonprofit Public Health Institute of Berkeley, nearly one in three California adolescents is considered at risk of becoming or is already overweight.

Further, in California, only 27 percent of the grade, 5, 7, and 9 students tested in the latest Fitnessgram, the test used to determine the health and fitness of California students, met minimum standards—not highly efficient or even mid-level, but minimum standards—in all six of the measured categories.

Given the low academic performance, the high level of apathy, and the deteriorating health of our students, it could be said that figuratively and literally, America’s schoolchildren are dying to learn.

Institutional Response

As the data show, the remedies to turn around America’s and California’s public schools have fallen flat. Legislators; education officials at the federal, state, and local levels; and teachers have put forth high-stakes testing, increased requirements, more and longer school days, intensified course work, cuts in electives, and charter schools as remedies. While all educators should be accountable for the performance of their students, these measures have proven to be ineffective.

In addition, school officials readily admit that the health and fitness levels of their students are extremely low. But since the officials are not held accountable for this, and room and time in the curriculum is at a premium, little attention is paid to this growing problem.

All of this begs the question: With our schoolchildren dying to learn, what type of school needs to be created to address this concern, and how can this school become a model for transforming the public school system?

A Different Response

Given the current state of affairs in our schools, the need becomes clear: What is called for is an educational system that:

• Truly values and is accountable for the needs of the whole child—physical and
social/emotional needs as well as mental.
• Provides curricula that are engaging, relevant, and challenging.
• Creates a learning environment that is safe, nurturing, and provides a sense of
place and belonging.
• Enables all students to fulfill their potential, especially those from
disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Arete School

Based on its work in educational reform since 1989, the Marin-based, nonprofit American Sports Institute is in the process of creating a school in Marin County that addresses these needs and can become a model for transforming America's public school system.

The schoolís official name is The Arete (ëar-uh-tay) School of Sport Culture and Wellness in the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences. Because the full title is so long, it is simply referred to as The Arete School. Arete is defined as: A continuous striving for excellence in an integrated and balanced physical, mental, spiritual way.

The foundation of the School will be based upon the positive aspects of sport culture. All learning, all teaching, all social/emotional conditions, all extensions into the community will be based upon the positive aspects of sport culture. While there certainly are negative aspects to sport culture, there are far more positive ones that can be used as a model for operating a school.

Curriculum Focus

The Arete School’s curriculum will focus on two major themes—sport culture and wellness, including personal, social, and environmental wellness. These two thematic areas will be studied in a balanced and integrated manner through the arts, humanities, and sciences. In other words, sport culture and the three dimensions of wellness will be studied through a balanced and integrated approach by using the disciplines of math, language arts, the physical sciences, the social sciences, physical education, the arts, and international language.

At The Arete School, the students will not only get the basic ABC’s, they will also learn about and be held accountable for the ABC’s that few, if any, students in America get. On an ongoing basis, The Arete School students, in appropriate ways for each developmental level, will work on and be held accountable for their: A-erobic capacity; B-lood pressure,
B-lood sugar, and B-ody composition levels; and C-holesterol levels.

The Arete School will be bilingual. Three days a week, students will be taught in English, and two days a week, they will be taught in Spanish.

Curriculum Context

The foundation or context for learning that underlies the curriculum are the positive aspects of sport culture. The goal is to have The Arete School curriculum be as engaging, relevant, and challenging as sports are. The following is a partial list of the positive aspects of sport culture. After each listing is a brief explanation of how the item is used in a learning context:

• Self-Paced Learning — All students learn at their own pace.
• Mastery-Based Learning — Students do not move to the next assignment or
grade level without first mastering the skills at the current level, no matter how
many times they must work and rework the current assignment.
• Relevance — Students understand the importance of why they are
learning something.
• Engagement — Students are actively engaged in the learning process,
not simply sitting at their desks.
• Coaching Instruction — Students receive constant feedback until an assignment
is mastered.
• Demonstration Learning — Students regularly make presentations of
their schoolwork to classmates, parents, teachers, and the community.
• Team-Oriented Learning — Every student is responsible for the performance
of their peers as well as for themselves.
• Character Development — Character issues are emphasized throughout
the curriculum.

Outcomes

With The Arete School's two major themes of sport culture and wellness being studied through the arts, humanities, and sciences via a balanced and integrated approach, it is important to articulate what the final outcomes will be for all students.

On a day-to-day and year-to-year basis, teachers will be held accountable for the self-paced, mastery-based learning of their students. Specific objectives will be established as guidelines for determining mastery at every phase of every student's development. Finally, upon graduating from The Arete School, all students will have demonstrated mastery in and/or a high affinity for:

• Their ability to communicate through reading, writing,
and public speaking
• Their ability to compute mathematically
• Their ability to think critically by evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing
• Their ability to imagine and create
• Their ability to sense and feel
• Their ability to lead and to follow
• Their ability to work independently and with others
• Their ability to be healthy and fit
• Their ability to move about freely, gracefully, and in a coordinated manner
• Their ability to respect one's personal, social, and natural environments
• Their ability to experience a sense of place and belonging locally,
regionally, nationally, and internationally
• Their ability to be patient, to persevere, and to stay positive when things
are difficult; to laugh and to cry; and to demonstrate self-discipline,
self-assertiveness, courage, honor, justice, loyalty,
responsibility, courtesy, kindness, benevolence, respect,
compassion, empathy, community involvement, tolerance,
a sense of humor, humility, love, joy, and happiness
• Their ability to concentrate and be balanced, relaxed, powerful, rhythmic,
flexible, and instinctual
• Their ability to use technology
• Their ability to play
• Their ability to love learning

School Structure

The Arete School will be comprised of an ethnically diverse group of pre-K-12 students and families. The School will start with 50 kindergarten students the first year and add 50 additional kindergarten students each year thereafter until it is a fully functioning pre-K-12 school. Beginning with the first year, a minimum of 40% of all students will be from low-income, minority families, most of which will be Latino.

Based in San Rafael, California, the School will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. This will enable parents to drop off their children before they go to work and not have to pick up their children until they get off from work. Transportation will be provided for those students needing it.

Besides being on a full-day schedule, the School will be on a year-round schedule. Students will attend school for three intervals of 14, 12, and 12 weeks, with breaks of six, six, and two weeks vacation in between. During these breaks, students will be able to come to The Arete School to continue working on projects, to just hang out in a safe environment, or to do volunteer work for the School.

Parental and Community Involvement

With research showing that parental and community involvement increase the potential for high student achievement, these two elements will be integral to The Arete School. Parents will be required to meet with School officials on a regular basis regarding their child’s progress. In addition, there will be an open invitation policy to visit the School whenever a parent wishes. Also, parents will be required to volunteer at the School in a variety of ways.

The requirements of the parents will be reciprocated by the School. The School will offer in the evening low-cost community education courses for the parents and community members to help meet their needs. Child care will be provided for the very young so the parents can take these courses. As with the students, transportation will be provided to those who need it for all School functions.

Another community involvement dimension of the School will be the School-to-Career program in which students will have internships and/or jobs with organizations and businesses in the local communities. And, as a part of the curriculum, all students will be involved in projects that enhance the environment of the local communities.

School Context and the Big Picture

The Arete School will operate as if it were a public school. As was stated earlier, this means it will be a private school but tuition-free and open to all students in the surrounding communities. In this way, The Arete School will be free of federal, state, district, and union regulations that would otherwise compromise its chances of being successful. If The Arete School is to hold itself accountable for the growth and development of its students, it must be free to apply the principles and implement the practices it believes are necessary to enable our standard public schools to best meet the needs of the whole child.

With the latest preliminary research already validating The Arete School’s principles and practices, the School will be engaged continuously in research studies. The School will constantly monitor itself to validate that which is working and change that which is not, and outside researchers from respected institutions will conduct studies on the School’s effectiveness.

In order to create awareness about what it does and influence the public school system, The Arete School will use the internal and external research studies as resources to conduct workshops, seminars, presentations, conferences, symposia, etc., for current and prospective educators as well as those from other institutions and the general public. As has been done in the past, this will include presentations to members of the California Legislature as well as state and local education officials. Eventually, The Arete School will become a public-school, teacher-training institution.

Steps and Timeline

In order to open the doors to The Arete School, eight major steps must be reached. The steps include the following:

1. Create and articulate the vision of and plan for the School;
2. Secure the funding;
3. Secure the School site and insurance coverage;
4. Recruit personnel in two phases. Phase One includes the personnel needed
immediately to begin the logistical process of putting the School together,
and Phase Two includes more of the School’s staff;
5. Create the curriculum, along with School policies and procedures, that focuses
on the whole child in a self-paced, mastery-based context, and uses a
balanced and integrated approach to the study of sport culture and
wellness through the arts, humanities, and sciences;
6. Recruit students and forge relationships with organizations that will work with
the School by going into the surrounding communities to meet with parents
and local officials;
7. Secure equipment, furniture, and supplies; and
8. Open and operate the School.

The Arete School will begin operating 18 to 24 months after full funding is established.

Conclusion

Students are much more likely to pursue endeavors wholeheartedly when they love what they are doing. And, if this is coupled with a natural inclination for what they do, then the experience is one of joy and fulfillment. Given that kids are natural learners, if they are allowed to pursue endeavors they love, they will not only find joy and fulfillment in the process, but their performance will be at a high level. And, if the environment in which all this takes place is supportive, challenging, engaging, and includes physical, mental, emotional, social, and environmental wellness, then positive results are almost guaranteed.

The Arete School is being created with the love of learning and the whole child as its focus. A model of true educational transformation will be established. This model will be applicable to any school or school system if its educators truly want this to happen for their students.