Wimauma Academy Location: Wimauma
Enrollment: 125
Opened: 2000
Type: Elementary school
Students: 66 percent poor, 11 percent disabled
Grade: None, too small
The school targets the children of migrant workers. Ninety-eight percent of its students do not speak English fluently, but nearly half of them passed the FCAT in reading and math. Principal Daniel Oceguera credited part of the success to that fact that the school is the hub of the community. Run by Redlands Christian Migrant Association, the school transports families to medical and legal services. It offers English classes for parents. They are well-intentioned, turning out en masse at parent meetings, but few speak English or have an education past fourth grade. That makes it hard for them to reinforce children's learning, Oceguera said. He earns about $23,000, a fraction of the salaries of most charter or regular principals. The migrant group also runs Collier County's B-rated Immokalee Community School, which faces struggles similar to Wimauma's.
Princeton House Location: Orange County
Enrollment: 239
Opened: 1998
Type: Special education school
Students: 16 percent poor, 97 percent disabled
Grade: None, school type
Started as a private school, Princeton House serves students with autism in pre-kindergarten to ninth grade. Though the school is ungraded, about half the students passed the FCAT in reading and math last year. The school also measures success by how well students meet goals set for them in customized learning plans. Princeton House Executive Director Carol Tucker credited the staff with the school's ability to meet all of the goals set for each student. The school has 110 full-time employees, almost one for every two students. Because students are disabled, the state provides about $18,000 each for their education. In addition to 29 certified instructors, Princeton House also employs 15 therapists of varying specialties. The school raises about $150,000 a year through a golf tournament and gala. Teachers make more than in regular Orange County schools and share in the $90,000 of incentives the charter provides the staff. With a 4-inch-thick waiting list of prospective students, the school is at maximum attendance at its two sites and plans to consolidate them on the main campus, Tucker said.
Compass Middle Charter School Location: Bartow
Enrollment: 178
Opened: 2002
Type: Alternative middle school
Students: 77 percent poor, 10 percent disabled
Grade: None, school type
Compass shares a campus, lunchroom, buses and even a principal with Bartow Middle School. Principal Harry Williams said he founded the charter in hopes of using small class sizes and additional reading classes to help struggling students. Most students have been retained a grade. More than 40 percent of students missed at least four weeks of school last year. Though the school is ungraded and has gotten a D and an F in recent years, it has driven up test scores every year. More than 70 percent of its lowest-level readers showed improvements on last year's reading scores. Williams, who gets a full salary from Bartow Middle and an $800 monthly stipend from Compass, said he can do things at Compass that he could not do at his other school: handpick school materials, require students to take two reading classes, motivate students with Compass Cash for school parties. The school uses intensive techniques to keep these very challenged kids in the system, said Carolyn Finch, who oversees charters for Polk County. Almost all students transferred from Bartow Middle, but Williams said he did not start Compass to pump up Bartow Middle's test scores. Compass students needed things Bartow didn't have, he added.
Academy of Positive Learning Location: Lake Worth
Enrollment: 90
Opened: 2002
Type: K-8 school
Students: 78 percent poor, 16 percent disabled
Grade: B
Former American Embassy Principal Renatta Adan-Espinoza, a curriculum specialist, founded the charter after watching her son fall behind in elementary school, losing self-esteem and becoming the target of bullies. She eventually sent him to a 12-week program with the Lindamood-Bell learning process and was so impressed with the results that it inspired her to launch the charter. With mostly students from Central America, it focuses on improving reading through a variety of methods including regular instruction, visuals and games. Now ranked as one of the most improved charters in the state, the academy's rating went from D to B last year, with three-quarters of its lowest-level readers showing improvement. Though the school has more poor and disabled students than the average Palm Beach district school, more than half of students there read at grade level. Educators also teach students ways to communicate without bullying. Rather than provide transportation, the school reimburses parents as much as $400 a year for bringing their children. The campus shares space with First Church of the Nazarene but has been working with the city of Lake Worth to find a new site so it can expand, Adan-Espinoza said.
Spring Creek Elementary Location: Paisley
Enrollment: 570
Opened: 1997
Type: Elementary school
Students: 70 percent poor, 19 percent disabled
Grade: A
Spring Creek Charter Elementary has the distinction of earning four consecutive A ratings from the state even though the school has more poor and disabled students than the average Lake County school. The first conversion charter in the state, Spring Creek was a regular elementary campus that became a charter a decade ago to get more freedom from state rules. The school was known for its innovations, with specially devised teaching techniques and a campus with a vegetable garden and livestock for children to help raise. Principal Robert Curry said converted charters work like regular schools, only with more freedom. For instance, Spring Creek distinguished itself with some of the area's highest math scores several years ago partly by using teaching materials that were not on the state's approved list of classroom materials. Spring Creek has been able to drive up the test scores of disabled children by continually analyzing their individual performance in reading, math and writing, he said.