A Look at Charter Schools Off to College Four years ago, Ronnetta Hill worked at a cheerleading camp helping KIPP Atlanta Collegiate’s team get ready for competition. The coach wanted to know if she had considered sending her daughter, Promise, to a KIPP school. Hill went on a tour and fell in love with the warm environment, the nurturing teachers and the excitement about attending college. “Everything was college, college, college,” she says of the tour. “We push that in our household, so it was refreshing to see that they were affirming it.” Promise is now 8 years old and in the third grade at KIPP Vision Primary. “It’s like a big family,” Promise says. “My teachers are super nice and energetic.” She’s on the cheer team, dance team, basketball team and is the anchorwoman for the news station. Hill volunteers at the school, where she sees the development of the kids’ character through their core values of honor, love, teamwork and excellence. “They take those characteristics and push the kids to become better citizens,” she says. “Academics is always first, but they’re building kids to know how to treat each other and how to be leaders.”
n KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program): Metro Atlanta Schools.
Start-up charter schools part of a national network. College prep and success. Enrollment: 3,800 students. Metro Atlanta Office: 1445 Maynard Rd. NW, Atlanta. kippmetroatlanta.org
Learning a Language Deepa Narang and her son, Jai, have been with the International Charter School of Atlanta since its beginning in Aug. 2015. Jai is now a fourth grader, and his younger brother, Neel, is in kindergarten this year. Narang believes learning a new language exercises new muscles in the brain and stimulates memory, creativity and critical thinking. She’s seen these traits develop in both of her children. She thinks learning a language helps in the long-term by creating gateway opportunities for the future. “We live in a global world. The school makes you feel like you’re a part of something bigger,” she says. “It’s fostered a love for learning, and learning a language is creating pathways in the brain that helps facilitate other learning.” In kindergarten and first grade, students spend 80% of the day learning their second target language, and 20% in instruction in English. From second to fifth grade, they spend half the day in each language. In sixth through eighth grade, they take 1-2 language classes per day, with the rest of their subjects in English. Tanya Parker, the Executive Director at the ICSAtlanta, started out as a founding board member. The school engages students in appreciating the cultures accompanying the languages they’re learning. Students participate in cultural and heritage celebrations. “Our students not only receive 76 Atlanta Parent January 2020
a rigorous academic experience but also develop a sound cultural awareness that leads to respect and tolerance for others,” Parker says. “Our language immersion program naturally creates a culturally rich environment as our teachers and staff bring not only multilingualism to our school but also the multiculturalism necessary to nurture our students into globally-minded citizens.”
[ Focus on Education ]
n International Charter School of
Atlanta. Start-up charter school. Language-immersion in French, German, Mandarin or Spanish and International Baccalaureate. Enrollment: 785 students. K-3rd: 1335 Northmeadow Pkwy., Roswell; 4th-8th: 1675 Hembree Rd., Alpharetta. icsatlanta.org
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