ECRA’s Philosophy
ECRA will promote pre-collegiate expectations for all students, implement strategies to make the high school drop-out rate the lowest in the state, and institute business/financial/operational practices that are credible and transparent.
The report on “Making the Case for Educating the Whole Child,” endorses the philosophy that students must be healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. A child who enters school healthy and feels safe is ready to learn. A student who feels connected to school is more likely to stay in school. All students who have access to challenging and engaging academic programs are better prepared for further education, work, and civic life. These components must work together, not in isolation. That is the goal of whole child education.
Charter schools offer a choice for parents to enroll their children in a free public school that focuses on particular content or programmatic areas.
A charter school:
- Is funded the same way as public schools by the State of New Mexico
- Is tuition-free
- Is regulated by the Public Education Department of New Mexico and Federal Government
- Must have approval of it’s charter (contract) by an authorizing agent (either the local school district or directly from the Public Education Department)
- Must fulfill their responsibilities as outlined in their charter document
- Has a particular (specialized) focus for their curriculum and program
- Is approved for five year blocks of time
- Must enroll students through a lottery process
ECRA’s Objectives
ECRA will support by bridging their background knowledge and skills to those found essential for their current and next level of learning, as measured by the NMPED Standards and Benchmarks and NM ELD Standards.
ECRA will empower students using diverse sheltered instruction to acquire the academic language found in New Mexico State Standards and Benchmarks and apply this knowledge/skills to various content areas and problem-solving opportunities as measured by common formative assessment and NWEA MAP Assessments.
