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ARIZONA Benjamin Franklin Charter School/ Gilbert Campus 1475 S. Val Vista Dr Gilbert, AZ 85296 480-632-0722 Benjamin Franklin Charter School: Crimson Campus 22120 E Queen Creek Rd Queen Creek, AZ 85142 (480) 987-0722 Benjamin Franklin Charter School/ Power Campus 22951 South Power Road Queen Creek, AZ 85142 480-677-8400 Canyon Springs STEM Academy 42901 N. 45th Ave. Anthem, AZ 85087 623-376-5300 Challenge Charter School* 5801 W. Greenbriar Dr. Glendale, AZ 85308 602-938-5411 CALIFORNIA Bryant School of Arts & Innovation* 4324 Third St. Riverside, CA 92501 951-788-7453 Parnassus Prep Academy 28649 Crestridge Rd Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275 https://www.parnassusprepacademy.com 310-567-6251 The Principled Academy 2305 Washington Ave, San Leandro, CA 94577 510-351-6400 Old Town Academy Charter School* 2120 San Diego Ave. San Diego, CA 92110 619-574-6225 Saint John Lutheran School* 4500 Buena Vista Rd Bakersfield, CA 93311 661-664-8090 Saint Paul Lutheran School* 2916 N. McKee Rd. Merced, CA 95340 209-383-3302 Village Charter Academy * 7357 Jordan Ave. Canoga Park, CA 91303 818-716-2887 COLORADO Academy Charter School* 1551 Prairie Hawk Dr. Castle Rock, CO 80109 303-660-4881 Apex Community School 3565 Celestial Ave Castle Rock, CO 80109 855-582-1200 Ben Franklin Academy * 2270 Plaza Dr. Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 720-383-4519 Caprock Academy* 714 241/2 Road Grand Junction CO 81505 970-243-1771 Colorado Springs Charter Academy 2577 N. Chelton Rd Colorado Springs, CO 80909 719-636-2722 Flagstaff Academy * 2040 Miller Drive, Longmont, CO 80501 303-651-7900 Frontier Academy 2560 W. 29th St Greeley, CO 80631 970-396-3617 Heritage Heights Academy* 20050 E Smoky Hill Rd Centennial, CO 80015 720-870-9541 Grand Peak Academy* 7036 Cowpoke Rd Colorado Springs, CO 80908 719-424-8519 Littleton Academy Charter School* 1200 W. Mineral Avenue Littleton, CO 80120 303-798-5252 Monument Academy 1150 Village Ridge Pt. Monument, CO 80132 719-481-1950 Prospect Ridge Academy* 2555 Preble Creek Pkwy Broomfield, CO 80023 720-399-0300 Rocky Mt. Academy of Evergreen * 2959 Royale Elk Way Evergreen, CO 80439 303-670-1070 Vanguard Classical School 801 Yosemite Street Denver, Colorado 80230 303-691-2384 Vanguard Classical School * 17101 E. Ohio Dr. Aurora, CO 80017 303 338-4110 FLORIDA Tallahassee Classical School* 4141 Artemis Way Tallahassee, FL 32311 805-391-3830 True North Classical Academy 9393 SW 72nd ST Miami, FL, 33173 305-749-5725 True North Classical Academy Gateway 6500 SW 97th AVE Miami, FL, 33173 786-788-5600 True North Classical Academy 7900 SW 86th St Miami, FL 33143 305-487-8884 MASSACHUSETTS Saint Benedict Classical Academy 2 Pleasant St. South Natick, MA 01760 508-650-1900 Morse School 40 Granite St. Cambridge, MA 02139 617-349-6575 MICHIGAN Will Carleton Academy* 2001 W Hallett Rd Hillsdale, MI 49242 517-437-2000 MINNESOTA Cologne Academy 1221 S. Village Parkway Cologne, MN 55322 952-466-2276 NEW HAMPSHIRE Crossroads Academy* 95 Dartmouth College Hwy Lyme, NH 03768 603-795-3111 NEW JERSEY New Hope School* 780 Clifton Ave. Clifton, NJ 7013 973-473-4144 The Willow School 1150 Pottersville Road Gladstone, NJ 07934 908-470-9500 NEW YORK Charter School of Educational Excellence 260 Warburton Avenue Yonkers, New York 10701 914-476-5070 NORTH CAROLINA Aristotle Preparatory Academy* 81001 Fallsdale Dr, Charlotte, NC 28214 980-237-0371 Bonnie Cone Classical Academy 10700 Asbury Chapel Rd Huntersville, NC 28078 704-727-6833 Community Public Charter Schools 400 Ralph Handsel Blvd, Stanley, N.C 28164 704-931-4418 Southside Ashpole Elementary School* 607 N MLK JR Blvd Rowland, NC 28383 910-422-3791 Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy* 1110 South Broadway Forest City, NC 28043 828 245-9526 OHIO Cardinal Pacelli School 927 Ellison Ave Cincinnati, OH 45226 513-321-1048 OKLAHOMA Terra Verde Discovery School 1000 36th Avenue SE, Norman, OK 73026 OREGON Sweet Home Charter School* 28721 Liberty Rd. Sweet Home, OR 97386 541-367-1833 SOUTH CAROLINA Belton Preparatory Academy* 5901 Belton Hwy, Belton, SC 29627 864-392-1173 Cherokee Charter Academy* 3206 Cherokee Ave, Gaffney, SC 29340 TEXAS Saint Paul's Episcopal Montessori School 1018 E Grayson St San Antonio, TX 78208 210-271-2861 VERMONT Saint Michael Catholic School 48 Walnut Street Brattleboro VT, 05301 VIRGINIA Providence Classical School 6000 Easter Circle Williamsburg, Virginia 23188 (757) 565-2900 WISCONSIN Lake Country Academy* 4101 Technology Parkway Sheboygan, WI 53083 Phone: 920-208-3020 WYOMING Fort Caspar Academy * 4100 W. 38th St. Casper, WY 82604 307-253-3400 KENYA Our Lady of Grace School Kisumu, Kenya PUERTO RICO TASIS Dorado* 11 Carr. 693, Urb. Sabanera, Dorado, PR 00646 787-796-0440 |
Old Town Academy Charter School -
San Diego, CA Old Town Academy (OTA), a K-8 charter school for 270 students, has been using the Core Virtues program for nine years. Principal Bob Hamm (who employed the Core Virtues program for nearly two decades at his former school) says: "This is our anti-bullying program. We have almost zero bullying here. Core Virtues take care of that. It works." The school focus this month was loyalty, and since our visit was at the beginning of the month, teachers led the children in energetic discussions of what it meant to be loyal: to stand up for your friends or your beliefs, for example. And how did we see loyalty at work in Charlotte's Web, which the class had read. Which characters were loyal and how? Teachers had lots of quality picture books lined up to read at Morning Gathering for the weeks ahead.
Old Town Academy is a Core Knowledge school, and CVF President Mary Beth Klee was mightily impressed by the big worlds of the children. When asked by their teacher (Miss Klum) where they would go, if these San Diego second graders could travel anywhere in the world, answers were: Paris, Athens, Sparta, Australia, Montana, San Francisco Museum, and Lego-land....These are well educated children with high aspirations! Challenge Charter School - Glendale, AZWe loved our February visit to the Challenge Charter School in Glendale, Arizona. Principal Wendy Miller and her team have employed the Core Virtues program as their character education springboard since the school's inception in 1996, and it shows. A kinder, livelier, more joyful, or more respectful student body is hard to come across. Challenge Charter is a Blue Ribbon school, recipient of the nation's highest award for schools.
We attended a whole school assembly, focused on "Love of Country," in which the second graders recited a poem about Martin Luther King, Jr. and fourth graders (in costume) spotlighted courageous Americans - among them Alexander Hamilton, Sacajawea, Robert Fulton, Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks. Individual students described how each of those figures embodied courage in their time, and what their accomplishments had been. All presentations were polished, moving and touching. Most impressive were the high spirits, but self-control in this assembly. All the children (475 of them!) were sitting “criss-cross applesauce” on a gymnasium floor, but with no pushing, shoving, “he hit me!” or falling into each other’s laps. They were attentive, curious, intrigued. We visited the Kindergarten, where February focus was on "honesty," and teachers were reading Ruthie and the (Not So) Teeny Tiny Lie by Laura Rankin. As story-book Ruthie went through her own self-recrimination about having lied to her teacher, Mrs. Grubb asked “how does it feel when you lie?” Lots of student feedback: “It’s like a dark feeling deep in your stomach!” After the story, the children did “Pair and Share” on “Ways I know to be honest” (don’t tell a lie, tell the story right the first time, you need courage to tell the truth; sometimes it’s hard and takes courage; tell your teacher the truth). We also sat in on a fifth-grade class with Mrs. Bobrowitz focusing on citizenship: doing your part for our democracy, taking care of our country, understanding the constitution as our basic law. This is a mature and integrated program, featuring "Eagle Buck" recognition for virtues put in practice (classmates and teachers catch them being good), service projects, weekly newsletters indicating content and virtue focus, and a homework "menu," that in January included "discuss the virtue of courage with your parents." When did they have to show courage in their lives? My favorite question came from the children in a fourth grade we visited at day's end: "Which writers inspired you in your work?" Ya gotta love it.... Vanguard Classical School -
Aurora, CO Vanguard Classical School’s commitment to the Core Virtues program is visible everywhere: with definitions posted in every class, a tree of virtue on each floor of the school, students recognized on the tree of virtue with leaves or “hawks,”(see below) as well as quarterly assemblies that recognize students who go above and beyond in the practice of virtues.They combine the Core Virtues literature approach with their school’s hawk mascot. For them, “HAWK” stands for Honor, Achievement, World citizenship, and Kindness.
The tree of virtue on each floor is populated by leaves on one level and hawks on the second floor. Keria McCafferty, assistant principal, explained that all staff try to catch the children being good. When any staff member (from aid to teacher to janitor) sees a student showing behavior exemplifying a virtue that month, they are able to give the student (on one floor) a seed (construction paper seed). When the child collects three seeds, he/she may pin a leaf (with their name) on the tree of virtue. The upstairs uses the same system with eggs (3 eggs) turning into hawks. We saw a second grade, which for grouping purposes had “Team Courage,”“Team Mercy”“Team Perseverance”etc. The Core Knowledge Sequence is much in evidence. http://www.vanguardclassical.org/ |