MEMBER PROFILE: Passages Charter School
1447 W. Montrose Ave., Chicago, IL 60613
Phone: (773) 549-1052
Visit their website
Contact: Sally Ewing, Ph.D., Principal
Passages Charter School was founded by Asian Human Services (AHS) in 2001. Its goal is to provide a rigorous educational program to immigrant and refugee children and to offer their families ongoing social support through AHS social service programs. The school serves students in grades Pre-K through 5. Since many students come from non-English speaking backgrounds, “English as a Second Language” techniques are integrated into the curriculum. The curriculum is interdisciplinary and multicultural. The school stresses family involvement; families are required to volunteer fifteen hours a week in order to become more engaged in their children’s education.
SCHOOL STATISTICS:
SIGNATURE PROGRAMS AND PRACTICES:
- Full Service School: Because Passages Charter School is a division of Asian Human Services, our students and their families benefit directly from the wide range of social services offered by other divisions of Asian Human Services. We are able to offer mental health, legal, employment, family literacy, health education, and family health care services to all our families.
- Literacy Through an ESL Lens: As part of our mission to serve families who have immigrated to this country, in all areas of instruction teachers use multiple, research-based strategies to enhance learning. These include pictures, gestures, and actions to help clarify concepts.
- Passport through Passages: A social studies curriculum in which the school focuses on a continent and each grade chooses a country to study from that continent. Integrating the arts into social studies is a critical component of the program.
- Project-based Learning: Students study immigration issues, environmental issues, regional themes, etc., integrating various subjects in the curriculum. Self-assessment is a critical piece of project-based learning.
- Special Education: Services are provided in the classroom with the classroom teacher and the special education teacher working together to plan lessons and modifications.
- Family Involvement: A family literacy program in which parents are encouraged to increase their reading and writing skills in order to better meet the needs of their children.
CALENDAR AND SCHEDULING
Calendar: Passages has an extended school day; children are dismissed at 3:30 p.m. Several days are set aside in June, and 8 days in August, for staff development and school improvement planning.
ACADEMICS
Passages teachers are currently focusing on two instructional strategies that increasingly inform all teaching and learning at Passages:
- Cooperative Learning: This is the focus of Passages' '05-'06 Alliance project. To maximize their own and others' learning, students work in small groups. They are expected to be accountable for their own work as well as the work of others, and they learn to work together toward a common goal.
- Project-Based Learning: Passages defines such projects as in-depth investigations of real world topics worthy of children's attention and effort. Students actively direct their own learning - observing, questioning, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions from their inquiry. An Interdisciplinary focus brings together various aspects of the curriculum. Linking together information in this way and connecting it to the real world helps learners see the connections between what they learn in school and problem-solving outside the classroom. See especially the social studies curriculum below.using big books so students can appreciate books they may not yet be able to read themselves.
READING: Passages reading instruction is based on the guiding principles developed by the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English. The program includes the following strategies:
- Guided Reading: to assess and support individual student needs
- Shared Reading: using big books so students can appreciate books they may not yet be able to read themselves.
- Repeated Reading: returning to the same books over several days to build comprehension and reinforce a variety of skills
- Readers' Theatre: using scripts to tell or re-tell stories and connect reading with meaning and real human experience
- Literature Circles: in which small groups discuss, respond to, and reflect on their reading. Using structured guidelines, literature circles help students become more independent readers and thinkers.
The ESL “lens”: Strategies used to teach reading are based on research and best practice, but teachers at Passages must always be aware that while students may speak and English well enough to function in school, they often lack the vocabulary to work with deeper concepts, especially when reading more advanced text. Teachers therefore are vigilant about observing whether students comprehend subject-area material they are reading. One strategy is to provide extensive direct teaching of vocabulary before, during and after reading. Word sorts—especially those for meaning, focused on prefixes, suffixes, antonyms and homonyms--are one frequently used tool. Activities such as readers theater allow students to practice their oral English while giving them an opportunity to reread and become more fluent. When students are struggling as English language learners, teachers often provide texts closer to their present reading levels.
WRITING: The school uses a “writing across the curriculum” approach, as well as writers’ workshop in which teachers provide mini-lessons to teach specific skills and students spend most of the lesson writing individual pieces. Topics are generally chosen by students and some papers are put through a process which involves prewriting activities (brainstorming, graphic organizers, etc.), drafts, editing, (rewrite, edit, as needed) and publishing a final copy.
Passages has adopted two writing programs:
- Write Source (Great Source)--for teaching grammer skills.
- First Hand (Heinemann)--focuses on the writing process in depth and presents actual lesson plans. This program does not “dictate practice” but offers templates that encourage teachers to create their own original lessons. First to third graders use Units of Study for Primary Writing: A Year-Long Curriculum (Lucy Calkins). Third to fifth graders use Teaching the Qualities of Writing (JoAnn Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher)
MATH: The math curriculum emphasizes conceptual understanding, while building a mastery of basic skills. It explores the full mathematics curriculum, not just basic arithmetic; and is based on how students learn, what they’re interested in, and the future for which they must be prepared. Students study math in small groups using:
- Everyday Mathematics (University of Chicago)--emphasizes real-life problem-solving; balanced instruction (whole group, partners, individual); multiple methods for basic skills practice; opportunities for family members to participate in students’ math learning; appropriate use of technology.
SOCIAL STUDIES: In the social studies curriculum each year the entire school studies half the continents, with each grade choosing one country to study in depth, including such topics as local, state and national geography, social systems, history, culture, economy, etc. Students use a project-based methodology and prepare presentations for three or four other classes. Each continent study concludes with a celebration called “Passport Through Passages” in which classes visit one another to learn about the various countries. The following rubric is used to evaluate the projects.
Project Rubric
Group Member Names:
Date:
Total Score:______
| 3 | 2 | 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research questions | Our group developed thoughtful questions which guided our research focus. There is evidence of our questions in our final project. | Our group developed questions. Some questions guided our research, but some did not. | Our group developed weak questions but did not connect them to our research or the focus of our project |
| Math Graphic/Diagram (pie chart, timeline, table, graphing, etc. | Our group effectively used a graphic or diagram to show something we learned related to data (numbers). We connected this to our overall project. | Our group used a graphic or diagram to show data (numbers). We made only a few connections to our overall project. | Our group used a graphic or diagram but it was weakly presented. There were few or no connections to the overall project. |
| Creativity in Teaching | Our group presented what we learned in a way that was original and creative. Our presentation encouraged the learners to participate. | Our group presented information which showed some efforts at originality and creativity but it did not encourage the learners to participate. | Our group presented information that did not show originality or creativity. We did not encourage participation from the learners. |
| Teacher comments |
SCIENCE: Passages uses the FOSS (Full Option Science Systems) science kits, which develop investigative and inquiry skills and help students learn to think like scientists.
STUDENT ASSESSMENT
Students are assessed using the following:
- Authentic and performance-based assessment
- DRA - Developmental Reading Assessment
- Spelling Inventory
- Standardized Assessment: ISAT -- grades 3, 4, and 5; IMAGE -- grades 3, 4, and 5 students with IEP's or qualifying second language students.
- Self-Assessment: Used for book clubs and project-based learning. The following rubric is provided for studentsto self-assess participation in their groups.
Research Group Work Rubric
| POINTS | GOALS |
|---|---|
| 0 1 2 3 | Everyone contributed to the work of the group. |
| 0 1 2 3 | Everyone in the group completed their assigned jobs or roles. |
| 0 1 2 3 | The group reporter summarized the main work of the group. |
| 0 1 2 3 | Everyone in thegroup respected each other and their materials. |
| 0 1 2 3 | The group resolved conflicts independently. |
- TOTAL: __________
GRADING SCALE:
14-15 Expert Researcher
12-13 Intermediate Researcher
10-11 Beginner Researcher
0-9 Improving Researcher
Date: _________________
| Name | . . . . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . . . . |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Job | . | . | . | . | . |
F=Facilitator, R=Recorder, O=Organizer, T-Task Master/Complimenter, A=Assistant
WORK SUMMARY:
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
STUDENT CULTURE
Mental health and social work: From Asian Human Services - approximately 10% of the children use this service, with the counselor present three days per week.
Art therapy: Grades 2-5. Individual grade-levels meet once a week for four weeks to work on art projects and discussions of interest. The program cycles back so each grade level receives at least two rounds of activity.
Dance therapy: Students pre-k, kindergarten and first meet as a class once a week with the dance therapist to explore their bodies in space and work on movement activities, for half the year for each class.
Friendship groups: Small (3 children), short term groups led by the school psychologist to work on appropriate social behavior while playing games together. This service is provided to approximately 10% of students at any given time, on a targeted, as-needed basis.
All of the above programs are run by staff from AHS, which also supplies a part-time nurse and a nutritionist to Passages.
Conflict Resolution: Student responsibility is a critical piece of the student culture. Classroom meetings help resolve issues using conflict resolution techniques.
Second step: Second step is a violence prevention program that addresses social and emotional skills. It provides children with the skills to create a safe environment presently, in their classrooms, and as adults. This is taught weekly in each classroom.
Classroom Greeters: Students take turns as classroom greeters. This includes welcoming visitors to the classroom by making eye contact, shaking the visitor's hand and telling him or her what the class is doing.
TEACHERS AND STAFF
Peer Observation: Teachers regularly observe one another and complete observation rubrics to facilitate discussion about their observations.
Staff Committees: As a school committed to encouraging and supporting leadership from within, the teachers have selected and formed committees to work together on issues of curriculum, professional development and school events.
Staff Development: Staff development at Passages includes presentations by staff members, sharing readings from a variety of books and journals, outside conferences and working with consultants from local universities. Teachers also visit other classrooms and then meet to have discussions that are valuable to both the observer and classroom teachers. All staff are encouraged to share and learn from each other. For '05-'06 teachers have concentrated on cooperative learning, working on strategies to help second language learners, curriculum development and we have continued to focus on literacy across the content areas.
Alliance Project: Passages' in-depth project for 2005-06 has been to continue its partnership with Dr. Soltero of DePaul to explore and implement cooperative learning and literacy to support all students, with particular attention paid to second language students.
Teacher Evaluation: At the beginning of each year, teachers set three goals and then meet with the administrators to discuss and refine them. Throughout the year, the principal and director of instruction visit classes regularly and have ongoing discussions with teachers. As part of AHS, there is also a component evaluation form from the agency.
PARENTS AND COMMUNITY
Family Fun Night: Passages holds a Family Fun night once a month, during which students perform skits, songs, and readings for families. Parents also meet with teachers to discuss their child's progress. Parents plan one Family Fun night a year.
Family Services: The whole family is assessed for services it might need including affordable housing, translation services, and social services, which are then provided by Asian Human Services. Services include:
- Mental health support
- Community health education
- Low cost family health clinic
- English training and family literacy
- Employment services
- Legal services
HELPFUL RESOURCES
- Consultants from local universities: Dr. Sonia Soltero and Dr. Sharon Damore, DePaul University
- Illinois Network of Charter Schools
