Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the tuition to attend this charter school?
There is no tuition to attend. Banning Lewis Ranch Academy (BLRA) is a free public charter school with enrollment open to any public school student. When capacity is reached at this school, priority will first be given to students residing in the Banning Lewis Ranch Village; second, to siblings of current students; third, to students residing in the Falcon District; and fourth, to non-district students.
NOTE: Once a student has enrolled in BLRA, he or she will have space reserved as long as the student remains enrolled in BLRA.

2. Where is the school located?
The school located at 7094 Cottonwood Tree Drive (Marksheffel and Dublin):
• Adjoins an approximately 9-acre park and recreation center site
• Provides a one-story facility with 27 classrooms and more than 65,000 square feet of space
• Provides a Library resource center
• Features a full-size gymnasium

3. What are the dates for the 2007 – 2008 school year?
August 13, 2007 - June 19, 2008

4. Will the charter school follow the same schedule as Falcon Public schools?
BLRA’s calendar differs from D-49. BLRA students will attend for 200 days per year and will be in school for approximately one hour per day longer than the Falcon 49 School District. (During the K-8 years this longer school day and school year means that each student receives the equivalent of two additional years of education).

5. Are uniforms required?
Yes, students are required to conform to the school’s uniform dress code.

6. Will there be free transportation to the school?
Volunteers are always necessary. Bus transportation will not be provided.

7. Will the school’s teachers be certified?
All teachers at BLRA are highly qualified. Fifteen days of professional development are provided to teachers as well as a full-time curriculum coach to provide daily coaching and mentoring to develop and enhance best teaching practices.

8. My child has special needs, how do you provide for specialized services like speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy?
Special arrangements will be made to provide these services within the school setting through a partnership with the Falcon school district.

9. Describe how disciplinary issues are handled and the general philosophy on discipline.
A code of student conduct has been established by the Board of Directors. It describes the school’s philosophy on discipline as follows:
“Discipline is the positive direction of behavior toward established standards of conduct, fully understood and based upon reason, judgment and consideration of the rights of others. Ideal discipline is self-directed and self-controlled. Schools, community and parents share the responsibility for helping students develop self-discipline. When self-control falters and self-discipline fails, disciplinary forces from outside the individual must be imposed to protect the rights of others and to ensure uninterrupted instruction by teachers for students.”
This code of conduct also lists the specific behaviors that warrant disciplinary action.

10. Parents are expected to volunteer two hours per month. What type of volunteer activity is expected of parents?
Parents are asked to volunteer in areas that meet their skills and interests. The specific tasks vary widely from reading to Kindergarten students, helping in the lunch room, aiding in office duties, afternoon pick up, to name a few.

11. How often will parents be invited to attend activities at the school?
There will be many activities specifically for parents. In addition to the Parent-Teacher conferences there will be “Paragon Nights” held approximately every six weeks in which students demonstrate their learning accomplishments and, at times, perform in plays/skits/songs for their parents/families and member of the community.

12. How can parents provide feedback to the School Leader or the Board of Directors?
Parents are welcome to attend the monthly meetings of the BLRA Board of Directors where public comments are welcome. Parents can speak with the school’s leader (known as a Chief Administrative Officer) or drop an e-mail to her/him. In addition, there is an annual written Parent Satisfaction Survey which is a perfect vehicle for providing feedback and suggestions.

13. How do you handle the standardized state tests? Are these administered just as they are in the local public schools?
Students will take the CSAP just like any other public school. We participate in the same tests and use this data to help develop our school improvement plan to move the school to continuously higher levels of achievement. In addition, students will take a national norm-referenced test (i.e., the Iowa Test of Basic Skills) to determine academic progress during the school year.

14. Why should parents be confident that the school’s curriculum would help children excel on the state’s standardized tests?
Parents should feel confident that the school’s curriculum would help a child excel on the state standardized test because our curriculum is aligned to the state standards and benchmarks. It is also important to know that the school uses the Grade Level Content Expectations that have been put out by the state for English Language Arts and Math.

15. Is there any evidence that can be provided to help a parent assess the improvement of students who have been instructed using the school’s curriculum?
One way for parents to assess the improvement of their child is by reviewing the grade level content expectations. A child should know at the end of the school year all of the skills listed in that book in the grade level just completed. Parents can also use report cards as a means of reviewing the improvement of the child.

16. How does your method of instruction address the variety of learning styles?
Our proprietary curriculum (Paragon®) is one of many tools used to tap into students’ multiple intelligences. We also use Personalized Student Achievement Plans to help clarify and focus on the attainment of specific academic and social goals.

17. I know there is a video on Paragon but I did not get a chance to see it. Can you describe Paragon and its elements?
Paragon Teaches Rich Content Through Hands-on Study
With a hands-on approach, Paragon addresses students’ multiple intelligences and individual learning styles. Through this engaging curriculum, students gain historical information, and come to understand the expansive potential open to them if they can identify with early clarity their individual strengths and sense of purpose.
Rather than teach history in bits and pieces in arbitrary sequence, Paragon’s fully integrated, chronological approach demonstrates to students how one idea builds on and evolves into another. The curriculum illustrates how sweeping cycles repeat and leads students to understand the evolutions of world cultures. In Paragon, students study history across continents, and gain a profound understanding of the manner in which many ideas develop at the same time in independent cultures unaware of the other’s breakthroughs. Through this, students develop a larger picture of history and the associated interrelationships. Rather than memorize names, dates, and events in isolation, students recall the sequential circumstances surrounding these events and remember more readily both factual information and conceptual relevance.
Paragon Curriculum is Practical Because it is Meaningful
Students learn connected networks of knowledge, skills, beliefs, and attitudes that they will find useful both in and outside of school. The significance and meaningfulness of the content is emphasized both in how it is presented to students, how it is developed through activities, and how it is authentically assessed. Step-by-step daily lesson plans are organized around essential questions- questions that have captivated thinkers for millennia and that will continue to fascinate students, thereby connecting them with the content more profoundly, more personally, and more purposefully.

18. What are the “Personalized Student Achievement Plans” and how are they determined?
Each student has a Personalized Student Achievement Plan (PSAP). This plan is a document that the student (if age-appropriate), parents and teacher complete. The teacher, to individualize instruction, uses all information gathered on this document. This document helps in the goal setting process as well as the collection of student data. A couple times a year the parent, teacher and child review this PSAP.

19. How does your curriculum change as students move into Middle School?
In the middle school (grades 6 to 8), the school departmentalizes the instruction. The students have four different teachers who are highly qualified in the content that they are teaching. The students change classes and have more specialized instruction. The middle school curriculum revolves around Paragon and Paragon World Literature for the Humanities block. In Mathematics, the children are working towards the understanding of Algebra. This is a pre-requisite of most high schools before entering into the 9th grade. In Science, the students do lab instruction and have science experiments that they must complete with an integration of technology (e.g., teachers might have students dissect animals on-line!). In the English Language Arts block, students read novels and use more of a literacy circle approach to instruction.

Also, middle school students will be located in their own wing of the school building distinct from the lower elementary grades.

20. Can you describe how students use computers in your classrooms? On average, how many hours a week is a student spending on a computer?
Technology is used in the classroom throughout the day. Students view the Paragon Images during Paragon time; some use the computer to type up a story that they have written, while others use the Internet to do research. The children can average about 30 minutes a day using the computers in the classroom. Some teachers also have the children use the computers to learn to type or to use different math software.