ASU's Polytechnic campus is reinventing the way school is taught this year by opening a new charter school.
The Polytechnic Center of Education Innovation, located on the Polytechnic campus, will open in July 2008 and will host students in preschool through 12th grade.
The center will open through Polytechnic's affiliate company, University Public Schools, said Debra Gomez, director for the Centers of Education Innovation.
The school will use faculty from ASU's four campuses to improve the delivery of the state standard curriculum by developing alternative teaching methods, she added.
"The new curriculum is very fluid, and students can move back and forth based on their level for specific subjects," Gomez said. "This way there is no glass ceiling on the learning and no limit to what students learn."
The school will deliver the curriculum in a new manner, she added. This will involve grouping grades together, such as first and second grades, and breaking the students into smaller groups based on their learning level for specific subjects.
The focus for the school is hands-on learning, said Larry Pieratt, executive director of University Public Schools.
But the school will adapt its curriculum as needed, he added.
"As innovations come, [the teaching plans] may twist and change if we felt it would improve the teaching," Pieratt said.
With its close ties to ASU, Pieratt hopes students will use the school as a stepping-stone to college.
"Our expectation is that all our students will go through to the University," Pieratt said. "With ASU being our affiliate, it will be a natural process for students to see themselves as part of the University."
Pieratt added that he thinks students who attend the Polytechnic Center of Education Innovation will benefit from this new style of teaching.
"For students, our first goal is student achievement and that they achieve quality education to the highest potential," Gomez said. "We really hope to [share] what works [with] other public schools. That's when we know we've been successful."
The charter school will be tuition-free and will have open enrolment, according to the school's Web site. Registration will be available through Feb. 26 at the Polytechnic campus.
Reach the reporter at: ktomlins@asu.edu.
