It occurred to me as diplomas were awarded to our 135 graduates before their delighted parents, 32 teachers, and administrative staff, that the 600 people at this ceremony comprised the largest gathering of any type for our Personalized Learning school. Our classroom-based strategy of One-to-One teaching instruction rarely places us in large groups to demonstrate our success to each other.
Yes, we serve 1,100 of the 168,000 Independent Study Instructional Strategy (ISIS) students in California. Its easy to visualize a crowd, but that is not how we see ourselves at Desert Sands. We all know how many of us can get lost in a crowd or a crowded classroom. At Desert Sands, each student’s success is individually navigated. A teacher sees each student one at a time to enhance personalized success. Thus, we do not often see crowds moving in unison.
Mary Zimmerman, now a Desert Sands Charter High School 2004 graduate, spoke to other graduates about self-determination to keep a promise to her father to graduate from high school. She is a mother of seven and grandmother of twelve children. In previous attempts to complete high school, she could not afford to sit for a major block of time in schools away from family responsibilities. Our mutual respect for a convenient weekly appointment schedule with a teacher, adapts to real life. Both she and her daughter have earned a DSCHS diploma.
Expect others to watch our determination for inspiration. Graduate Cheri Warren credited looking into the eyes of her baby daughter Ashanti for the motivation to be an educational role model to her. That was the source for her dedication to graduate.
At Desert Sands, there is not a crowd to be ahead of, nor a crowd that will leave you behind. It’s just you versus your own one credit homework goal studied at your own pace throughout the week. Unlike a “lockstep” four-year curriculum, our graduates achieve the credit total required for graduation one credit at a time. It is simply a coincidence that 135 people of various ages and abilities all finished their independent study goals in their last semester by their definition, not a school’s pace.
Graduation Speaker Hollyrose Wilmot noted, “For once we all look the same. We all have our blue gowns, hats, and tassels. Yet it’s our differences that make us who we are.” She also quoted F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Either you think, or others have to think for you, and take power from you.”
This charter school is dedicated to thinking differently to meet the needs of individual students, most of whom were considered at-risk or gone from the district.
Commencement Speaker, Superior Court Judge Steve Ogden, addressed the smiles of graduates, “Every time you fill out an employment application form and it asks you to check a box that says High School Graduate, you can now say: Yes, I am a high school graduate!”
This graduating class is double the size of last semester’s class of 2003; consequently, both Antelope Valley Press and Adelphia Channel 3 took notice of our students’ success. Part of that success is organizing the ratio of 1 teacher to 25 students per week to answer tough questions! Part of that success is parents being homework shahs and a homework chauffeurs. Most of the graduate’s success is due to each student deciding to develop their own self-discipline required to study at home and to attend their teaching appointments.
One graduate told me, “Real life is full of keeping appointments with professionals like doctors, and taking their advice. How logical it is that gaining a diploma depends on keeping appointments with professional teachers and taking their advice.”
For those that have not graduated yet, keep up the good work and keep your appointments.
President Bush Declares
National Charter Schools Week
May 2 through May 8, 2004
America looks to its schools to give all students the skills they need to realize their dreams and reach their potential. Charter schools help fulfill this mission. During National Charter Schools Week, we celebrate the successes of these institutions.
Charter schools are an important part of our effort to improve the public school system and offer broader educational options to every family. Like other public schools, charter schools are open to all students. Because they are subject to fewer State and district regulations than other public schools, charter schools offer teachers and administrators more freedom in tailoring programs to meet specific student and community needs. In exchange for this freedom, they must meet stricter accountability standards.
Now in their second decade, the demand for charter schools is growing among families from all backgrounds. During this school year, our Nation's charter schools will educate nearly 700,000 students. Many families choose charter schools because of the innovative curriculum and focus on academic achievement, and because these schools can be a promising alternative to a low-performing neighborhood school.
Charter schools are an important part of the No Child Left Behind Act. They provide parents with more choices for their children's education. The greater autonomy of charter schools allows them to employ innovative educational practices. Studies have shown that many charter schools improve academic achievement for their students and that parents of students in charter schools are satisfied with their children's schools.
My fiscal year 2005 budget includes an overall 49 percent increase for elementary and secondary education over 2001 levels, and it proposes $219 million for charter school grants and $100 million for charter school facilities. Together, funding for these two charter school programs has increased 68 percent over 2001 levels. By raising expectations, insisting on results, and refusing to accept failure, we are strengthening our public schools and improving education for all children in America.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 2 through May 8, 2004, as National Charter Schools Week. I commend our Nation's charter schools, and I call on parents of charter school students to share their successes to help all Americans understand more about the important work of charter schools.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-eighth.
GEORGE W. BUSH
