Bart: a college prep charter school

Planting the seeds for college

In May, 2007, a parent explained to me, “We are going to transfer our son to another school. He’s made a remarkable turnaround at BART and is now doing really well in his classes. But he’s really not college material.” What?! He’s a good student, but not college material? How is that possible?

Frankly, it’s not. He was college material, but this parent had an image of a college student that didn’t match her son. In a county where only 30% of adults have a bachelor’s degree or higher (and arguably, this number is lower for BART’s immediate area), there are many parents who may have a misguided image of what “college material” is.

This is one of the most significant and complicating factors in our jobs as educators in Berkshire County. How can we prepare our students for a college education, when neither they nor their parents share our vision for their future? We can create the path for students to get to college with the necessary skills, but it takes hard work and commitment to make it happen: the student’s hard work, and the parents’ commitment to support their child’s efforts. The student who doesn’t believe s/he is college material will ask, why bother working so hard?

We’re proud of BART’s results so far – 100% of our graduates have been accepted into college! But not all students have gone to college after graduating from BART, and it’s not because they didn’t know they were college material. In fact, they proved they were during their senior year when they passed their required college course and were accepted into college.

And importantly, not all students who entered BART graduated from BART – in fact, too often we are disappointed by students leaving because “it’s too hard.”

That’s our next challenge. We have built a school with a true college-preparatory curriculum and the supports in place for any student willing to work hard. Now we have to help students and their families understand that BART’s goal for them – college – is a realistic one.

Epic News: BART is an EPIC School

The Effective Practice Incentive Community, or EPIC, program awards schools that make the greatest gains academically, as measured by state standardized tests. And BART is an award-winning EPIC school this year – one of just 18 charter schools to receive this award out of almost 5,000 charter schools nationally. We are quite proud of this accomplishment.

So what does it mean to be an EPIC school?

One of the things EPIC schools do is contribute to a national knowledge database of proven strategies that work to raise the achievement of all students. We are eager to codify our program so that others can benefit from our experience. How great to have an impact on the broader education sector – beyond the wonderful 270 students in our building!

One of the things teachers in EPIC schools receive is a monetary bonus in recognition for their amazing work to support students, and in return for collaborating in the documentation of our best practices. How amazing to reward those professionals who put so much of their time, effort, and selves into the success of our students!
But perhaps the most amazing thing to me about being an EPIC school is the validation it gives us that hard work pays off. There are no short cuts in life. BART students overcome all sorts of challenges to succeed in school each and every day. Some students have accepted on blind faith that our prescription for their success – a varying mixture of time and effort – would yield good results. Others have questioned our authority a bit more. But those who have chosen to stay at BART should now recognize that we ask them to work hard for a reason: that in doing so, they will be able to compete with – or better yet outperform – their peers nationally.

And that is what makes all BART students college material.