Announcing the 2022 Dewey Award Review Board  

The Dewey Awards celebrate teachers who change lives every day, in and out of the classroom. Many of us have experienced the powerful impact of a caring teacher—someone who helped us get to where we are today.   

With our annual Dewey Awards, we’re inviting stories of teachers as change-makers in memory of Richard Dewey, a teacher close to our hearts at CSC. Educators, students, and parents are welcome to submit a story of their change-making teacher by October 28, 2022, for the chance at a $1,000 grant gifted to the charter school of their choice. 

SUBMIT YOUR STORY

Picking just three winners for the $1,000 charter school grants is no easy task, but our amazing Review Board will read or watch all submissions and select the most inspirational educator stories. We’ve asked them to judge based on what makes their heart pitter-patter. We’re not looking for grammatical perfection, video prowess, or writing expertise—just powerful stories of teachers that inspire. 

We are honored to be including the following Review Board participants in this year’s Dewey Awards:  

2022 Dewey Review Board image - Dr. Tandria Callins

Tandria Callins Ph.D., CCC-SLP, ADHD-RSP, Executive Director & Principal  

Language & Literacy Academy for Learning 

Combine ambitious, creative, engaging, and strategic, and you have Tandria Callins Ph.D., CCC-SLP, ADHD-RSP. Serving as an Executive Director and Principal at Language & Literacy Academy for Learning, Dr. Callins takes on challenging responsibilities, such as facility expansion and charter replication. 

She is a master presenter, professional business coach, and skillful writer. Her impressive operational management background allows her to successfully operate a charter school for students with disabilities and directly oversee rehabilitation services, while providing coaching as a certified Mental Health instructor and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Related Service Provider (ADHD-RSP) coach. She is currently seeking her certification in the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt in Education. 

In addition to 6 years in the charter school business, Dr. Callins is also very active in the community and serves on multiple boards. She maintains executive and regional roles within her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, and is a Licensed Funeral Director.  

Ask her about how to keep a smile on her face during the ebb and flow of business and life—it’s her secret talent. It’s the thrill seeking, competitive, and spontaneous person Dr. Callins is outside of work.  She is supported by her husband, three children, church, family, and friends.   

 

2022 Dewey Review Board image - Anna Schults

Anna Shults, Founder 

ACE Prep Charter School  

Anna Shults spent 12 years as an elementary school teacher and was honored as Indiana’s 2007 State Teacher of the year, giving her a sabbatical from the classroom for a year to talk to teachers statewide. During those travels, she saw firsthand the potential impact of a zip code on a child’s destiny—but that a solid foundation in the early grades can help any child soar, no matter where they live.   

Schultz went on to help shape elementary reading initiatives at the Indiana Department of Education. She was then sought after by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a yearlong opportunity to lead the Foundation’s body of work pertaining to empowering and celebrating teacher-leaders. Shults also became a part of Building Excellent Schools, a national non-profit that trains high-capacity individuals to design, found, lead and sustain high performing charter schools in communities where schools have a history of struggling.  

In August 2016, Shults launched ACE Preparatory Academy Charter School (an acronym for Academics, Character and Excellence), a K-5 charter school dedicated to the belief that every child deserves a great education, regardless of where they live.   

 At CSC, we are dedicated to helping schools provide a nourishing environment for their students, and excellent teachers are the heart of that effort. 

Team Member - Tricia Blum

Tricia Blum, VP of Consulting Services  

Charter School Capital  

Tricia Blum, formerly an interim turnaround CEO of a charter organization located in Los Angeles, California, is the head of the charter school business department at Charter School Capital. Tricia supports client schools that need strategic business, financial, and operational guidance.  

Prior to her tenure as a charter CEO, Tricia worked as an inspiring executive leader of a high-growth charter management organization. During Tricia’s time as a leader at both organizations, she created and instituted operational policies and procedures as well as strategic growth plans including replication and duplication strategies that enabled each organization to successfully scale their education programs.  

Prior to joining the charter movement, Tricia practiced transactional law. As a new attorney, Tricia worked in-house at startup and high-growth companies in the mostly in Bay area. Tricia is also an aspiring “Bon Vivant.” In her off-time she enjoys spending time with her boys, designing, eating, traveling, reading and going to the beach. She has settled, for now, in her native California. 

The Teachers Who Changed Our Lives

Mr. Dewey was the 3rd grade teacher of Stuart Ellis, CSC’s founder, and CEO. Mr. Dewey was an exceptional teacher—he encouraged his students to think outside the box, and made his students feel that they had limitless potential. He worked hard to ensure each of his students felt loved, cared for, and special. He was one of those unforgettable teachers—teachers who change the very course of life.  

In memory of Richard Dewey, we’re asking you to call on your inspiration to tell your story: is there a teacher who helped you get where you are today? Maybe they taught you something you’ve never forgotten or helped you understand something for the first time. Maybe they were your ally during a difficult time and showed that they cared about you as a person. Maybe you’ve never had the chance to put into words or video how you feel about this person—the extent of your gratitude, or the depth of their contribution to your life’s path. Now is your chance to do just that. 

By sharing the story of your change-making teacher, you’ll have the chance to be granted $1,000 to be given in that teacher’s name to the charter school of your choice.  

  • Submissions are open to students, parents, teachers, and school supporters  
  • Stories can be submitted in writing (300 words or more) or video (1-10 minutes in length) 
  • Submissions are invited between September 14th  – October 28th 
  • Grant winners will be announced on November 16th

SUBMIT YOUR STORY HERE 

View Winning 2021 Stories  

https://charterschoolcapital.com/blog/dewey-awards-2021-announcing-contest-winners/

We’ve partnered with the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools to bring you an immersive, genius-bar-style experience focused on enrollment marketing, digital marketing, and school branding strategy. Along with one-on-one consultations with marketing experts, we’ll be hosting sessions throughout the 2022 National Charter Schools Conference. Come with all your marketing questions and find us in the Expert Alley in the Exhibitor Hall!

Digital Rebrand Bar Sessions

TELLING YOUR SCHOOL’S STORY IN WORDS 101 – Download This Presentation
Monday, June 20, 10:05 a.m. – 10:25 a.m.

Communicating your school’s mission and one-of-a-kind assets is essential to attracting new students and connecting with existing families. The right words not only inform, but also tell your unique story by providing a peek inside your school. In this 20-minute session, we’ll discuss:

  1. What do your parents want?
  2. How to create compelling connections in your community
  3. Creating peeks inside your school for that “I-want-my-child-to-go-there!” moment

TELLING YOUR SCHOOL’S STORY IN IMAGES 101 – Download This Presentation
Monday, June 20, 10:30 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.

Designing marketing materials and social content for your charter school is so much more than combining text and images, but for most of us, visual design isn’t our first language. In this presentation, we’ll cover core design principles and best practices, such as how to create a visual hierarchy to more effectively convey your message, use colors effectively, pair typefaces, and select the best images for your content. Get ready to create appealing and fresh designs that will help elevate your charter school.

TELLING YOUR SCHOOL’S STORY WHERE PARENTS ARE LOOKING 101 – Download This Presentation
Monday, June 20, 12:30 p.m. – 12:50 p.m.

Keeping track of the avenues where parents are getting their information can seem overwhelming. In this session, we’ll focus on which avenues to focus on, how to appeal to parents and best practices for keeping track of engagement.

TELLING YOUR SCHOOL’S STORY IN YOUR COMMUNITY 101 – Download This Presentation
Monday, June 20, 12:50 p.m. – 1:10 p.m.

Thinking of ways to get your charter school involved in the community? Trying to find the right people to support your efforts? Want to make your school more inviting? Where do you start?

TELLING YOUR SCHOOL’S STORY IN WORDS 201 – Download This Presentation
Monday, June 20, 1:10 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Establishing your school’s vocabulary will create a bridge, connecting your school’s values with its voice. Consistent phrases, taglines, and calls to action will provide your students and team with a sense of unity and security.

TELLING YOUR SCHOOL’S STORY IN IMAGES 201 – Download This Presentation
Tuesday, June 21, 10:00 a.m. – 10:20 a.m.

Problem-solving your resources while designing marketing materials is no easy task. In this presentation, we’ll share some free online tools that can help you along the way. Let’s jump into ways to get resourceful and elevate your designs for your charter school.

TELLING YOUR SCHOOL’S STORY WHERE PARENTS ARE LOOKING 201 – Download This Presentation
Tuesday, June 21, 10:25 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Let’s deep-dive into social media and take advantage of the algorithm. For many of us, social media can be a side project that can become a back burner project. In this session, learn how to make the most of your charter school’s pages and the importance of activity.

We look forward to seeing you there!

We’re thrilled to be joining over 2,000 charter school leaders in Washington, DC for the 2022 National Charter Schools Conference. We’ll be leading two sessions, hosting the Digital Rebrand Bar, and bringing along our ever-so-popular #welovecharterschoolsocks. It will be exciting being back together after almost three years!

“The Future of…” Conference Sessions

Our team’s sessions will be under this year’s theme, exploring the “The Future of…” school buildings and future students (described in detail below). We look forward to seeing you there!

The Path to Finding and Funding Your Forever School
Monday, June 20, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Charter schools are the home of education innovators, and as such, your school has a very special place in your community. In this session we will reflect on the school building itself: does it reflect your mission? Is it a safe and sustaining space for your students, staff, and teachers? Can you grow your school and your legacy in your building at the same time? Join us to explore your funding options for your forever school—whether you’re in it today or planning for the decades to come. You’ll get an understanding of your funding options, how to plan for your school’s future and growth, and how to find and fund the facility that reflects your school’s mission.

Download the Session Presentation or our Facilities guide

Enrollment Marketing 101 = Thriving, Forever Schools
Wednesday, June 2210:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

Connecting with prospective families is an essential part of increasing or maintaining enrollment—but engaging with current families to keep existing students is equally as vital. How can you do both effectively? Join this information-packed session to learn about the “ground game” and “digital game” needed to support and elevate your school’s enrollment. Walk away with actionable tips on the best ways to tell your story, reach your future students, and increase enrollment.

Download the Session Presentation or our Digital Marketing guide

The Digital Rebrand Bar

This year, we’ve partnered with the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools to bring you an immersive, genius-bar-style experience focused on enrollment marketing, digital marketing, and school branding strategy. Introducing: The Digital Rebrand Bar, where we’ll be hosting sessions throughout the day. Come with all your marketing questions! Look for The Digital Rebrand Bar at Expert Alley in the Exhibitor Hall.

#welovecharterschools Socks

And, of course, it wouldn’t be the National Charter Schools Conference without our #welovecharterschoolsocks. You’ll find our 2022 socks and our team at Booth #500.

Check out the video below for a little sneak peek.

 

As celebrations of Pride Month happen around the country, schools in the charter school movement have stepped forward to support LGBTQ students around the country. And one, Magic City Acceptance Academy (MCAA), is Alabama’s first LGBTQ-centered charter school. After being rejected by the Alabama Public Charter School Commission three different times, they finally opened their doors last fall. 

The building, educators, and school leaders provide a safe place where LGBTQ+ students can attend school free from harassment, racism, and bullying. The 240 6th-12th grade students who attend MCAA can be themselves at school without fear.

The staff at MCAA focuses on social-emotional learning and goes beyond academics by directing students to learn more about self-awareness, self-management, decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness.

The school has a strong commitment to the social-emotional learning process. The school leaders want to go beyond academics, fostering learning on self-management, self-awareness, decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness.

The students at MCAA have been watching a challenging civics lesson unfold this year as the State of Alabama debates over the transgender health care law that wouldn’t allow anyone under the age of 19 to seek hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgeries. Because of their charter school, students have a safe space to discuss these topics and process their feelings. 

While the world around them argues and debates the future, most students and staff breathe a small sigh of relief as their first academic year comes to a close. MCAA has plans for the future, as school leaders hope to boost enrollment to 350 students next year and add Mandarin to their foreign language department, which already includes French and Spanish. There is also a discussion of adding Advanced Placement classes down the road.

For the students and staff at Magic City Acceptance Academy, the school is a refuge where everyone is free to be who they are, making MCAA an extraordinary place in the charter school education landscape.

As part of National Charter Schools Week, these parents needed their voices to be heard about their choice of a high-quality education for their children. So they went to D.C. to share their stories of how their local charter schools have had a positive impact on their children. 

The new regulations being proposed by the Administration would cripple growth, expansion, and the startup of charter schools across the nation and the 3.6 million students they serve. And about 65% of these charter schools are in low-income, Black, and Hispanic neighborhoods where students are already struggling to get a quality education from public schools.

Why are charter schools important? The evidence is undeniable:

Charter schools are important for several reasons. The first reason is that charter schools are usually created by former teachers or groups that want to pursue education in an innovative way. Some charter schools tend to lean more into the arts while others focus more on STEM, and still others concentrate on college prep. Each charter school is unique. So the curriculum is very student-focused with specific goals. More specific goals can allow for smaller class sizes.

In addition to smaller class sizes, a study by the Manhattan Institute discovered that charter schools average an additional 59 learning days of math and 44 days of reading. This means that students in charter schools generally perform better on tests, but more importantly, they have higher graduation rates for Black and Latino students in comparison with traditional public schools.

A study done by the New York Department of Education showed that Black students who attended a charter school in elementary and middle grades were 60% more likely to get into the most desirable secondary schools. Latino students who attended charter schools were 2 times more likely. This then transfers to higher graduation rates for minority students as well as higher college acceptance rates.

And, charter schools have better behavioral records in general, because charter schools often have more community involvement. This means their attendance is more steady, teen pregnancy rates are lower, suspension rates are lower, and incarceration rates are also lower.

Be an advocate for Charter Schools!

As part of National Charter Schools Week, the National Alliance for Charter Schools is celebrating 30 years. You can also join the festivities and learn more about charter schools and how you can support them in your community.

For years, I worried about my grandson Dion’s challenges with learning. He did not respond to reading phonics lessons, he had problems deciphering compound sounds, and he struggled to read and write. By seventh grade, I was so concerned about his delays that I put him in a new school: West Hawaii Explorations Academy, a STEM Charter School in Hawaii.

A teacher there, Erik Swenson, assessed Dion’s learning style and brought him to an exciting educational platform. Instead of holding Dion captive in a classroom, where my grandson had always felt unsure of himself, Mr. Swenson took Dion outside to study live marine animals on campus. Mr. Swenson taught my grandson how to make scientific observations after allowing him to visit and feed the animals.

Mr. Swenson - WHEA

When Mr. Swenson worked one-on-one with my grandson, he let him read about marine animals, particularly sharks, an exciting book subject my grandson willingly read out loud.

West Hawaii Explorations Academy - Writing contest winner Dion

Dion not only became a better reader, but he learned to include scientific observations in his writing.  Mr. Swenson gave Dion encouraging feedback rather than focusing on his mistakes whenever my grandson wrote a paper.

Mr. Swenson allowed Dion to experience regular outdoor movement while learning, and he integrated marine science projects into Dion’s classroom assignments. My grandson’s confidence was steadily growing as he read and wrote in ways he had never done before.

Dion joined in with his classroom projects with more enthusiasm, and he began to perceive himself as a capable learner. By the end of the school year, Dion had completed several reports, including marine life anatomical reports with drawings, history reports, science projects, and he won first place in Mr. Swenson’s creative writing contest.

Mr. Swenson changed the trajectory of my grandson’s learning. While Dion may have challenges in his future, he now knows how to rise above them and excel as a unique and capable learner. This is a lifelong lesson that only a gifted teacher can impart.

WHEA Charter School


About Mr. Swenson

Mr. Swenson holds a master’s degree in special education from Chaminade University. He has been teaching for thirteen years. His interests are surfing, diving, fishing, and hiking. Mr. Swenson leads a surf team from West Hawaii Explorations Academy.

 

Inspirational Teachers - NYOS
Since 2017, Charter School Capital has held an annual essay contest celebrating exceptional teachers. We call it the Dewey Awards, in celebration of Mr. Richard Dewey – a teacher who provided exceptional mentorship to our founder and CEO Stuart Ellis. Every year we get a brilliant selection of stories written by students from charter schools all over the nation. This year’s winners are featured here. But each of these stories is worth sharing.
This week we bring you a story written by Lucas Harman, about his fourth-grade teacher at NYOS Charter School in Austin, Texas.

I remember really wanting to stay in the same teacher’s class as I was entering fourth grade. At our school, NYOS, you had two years with the same teacher in repeat until middle school. I had one teacher in Kindergarten and 1st Grade. Then another in 2nd and 3rd. And finally, one in 4th and 5th. And I really wanted the same teacher. A lot of my friends wanted her, and I wanted to be in their class. Some of their older siblings had been with her and had heard a lot of positive things.

However, while most of my friends ended up in that class, I went to a new teacher’s class. I didn’t really have any familiar friends, and I didn’t know her very well, besides some occasions throughout the last year or so. But instantly I realized, even at the young age of 9 and 10 in 4th and 5th grade, that this new teacher was a phenomenal teacher. Like I said, I didn’t really know anyone in that class, but over those small, quick two years, she instantly bonded us tighter than atoms (which I didn’t learn in her class, more like 7th or 8th grade. If only she did, and I might understand all that stuff a little more.)

I am close friends to many of kids from that class even now almost four years later, and I am very grateful for that. My 4th grade teacher was and I’m sure still is a fantastic teacher. People and teachers always say they try to make learning fun, but I have seen few to actually fully succeed. But she definitely did.

She was very engaging in her lessons and taught me so many things. She also had the perfect level of tolerance. Obviously not comparing her to an old grandmother, but her level of strict well was perfect, and a lot like a classic grandmother. She always expected the best of us, which brought out the best of us, and she made sure we were always kind to each other. Like I said, her lessons were always engaging, but she also made other great activities. I remember she would occasionally have us all make a meal together. We made some killer cheesy orzo, and it was a great teamwork experience. My fourth-grade teacher is a fantastic teacher.

She includes her students, makes them good people, teaches them efficiently and makes it very entertaining, and is like I said, just a plain legit teacher. I have so much respect for her, and I am absolutely positive my classmates do as well. She has definitely shaped me to become as good of a person as I can be. My fourth-grade teacher is great teacher. But an even better person.

Inspirational Teachers - Mr. Lacey
Since 2017, Charter School Capital has held an annual essay contest celebrating exceptional teachers. We call it the Dewey Awards, in celebration of Mr. Richard Dewey – a teacher who provided exceptional mentorship to our founder and CEO, Stuart Ellis. Every year we get a brilliant selection of stories written by students from charter schools all over the nation. This year’s winners are featured here. But each of these stories is worth sharing.
This week we bring you a story written by Cynthe Burbidge, about Mr. Lacey of Faith Academy, in Manila, in the Philippines.

The wall of hot sticky moisture greeted my 9-year-old body as I stepped out of the cool air-conditioned van, backpack on my shoulders, and my unkempt long mousy hair still plastered to my neck despite the twenty-minute respite from the heat the ride to school provided. I was still getting used to this humidity, among other strange and unfamiliar encounters that daily racked my senses.

I looked around me, shy and stunned by the swarm of students flooding the hallways. The last two years of my life had been spent in a van very different than the one I was exiting. Most of my education up to this point had been with my mother as my teacher and the van as my schoolhouse. We were missionaries, we spent two years raising enough support to make this trek across the world to another country, two years visiting churches, sleeping in unfamiliar beds, and eating unfamiliar dinners with unfamiliar faces. You would think unfamiliar had started to become familiar to me.

But this was a whole different level of strangeness. Everything from taste to touch to smell was new.

And it had been three years since I had stepped foot in a schoolroom. As I stepped up those tenacious cement stairs to my classroom, my palms were sweaty but not from the heat, and my heart raced in my chest. I didn’t know what to do here.

At that moment, the warmest smile I had ever seen in my life greeted me. It was my 4th-grade teacher, Mr. Lacey. I’ll never forget his balding head and glasses and that gentle grin of his. Somehow, he knew today was new to me and his very persona emanated warmth and welcome and pleasure. He was delighted to see me!

He quickly ushered me to my desk and showed me the pencil sharpener and the class pet and the place to set my backpack. And he handed me a freshly sharpened pencil and asked me to write my name on a placard for my desk.

I am not precisely sure what went through my head that day. I don’t recall my train of thought. But that day, the day I was greeted by Mr. Lacey, I gave myself a new name. No longer would I use the childish nickname I had been known by all my life. Here I would remake myself, and no one here in this classroom would know the difference. Here I would embrace the new, become the new, and new would no longer scare me. I marked that placard brightly and clearly for all to see — here in this land of unfamiliar, Mr. Lacey’s welcome gave me the courage to bridge the unknown and to begin what would become the rest of my life.

Cynthe Burbidge
Cynthe Burbidge, now – and then.

Magic City Acceptance Academy (MCAA) is Alabama’s first LGBTQ-centered charter school. After receiving three different rejections from the Alabama Public Charter School Commission, the school plans to open its doors in Birmingham to students beginning Fall 2021. MCAA was born out of the need to provide kids who face bullying, violence, and a greater risk of suicide with a safe, inclusive learning environment.[CallOutBox bgcolor=”ltblue”]“I can’t wait to hear the laughter and joy that will be in this space. Also, I’m so excited to see the passion that students will start to ignite in themselves once they see what education can do and what is possible for their lives.”
– Charity Jackson, Chief Academic Officer, Magic City Acceptance Academy[/CallOutBox]

The learning model the school embraces is project-based learning, which is moves away from rote learning and allows students to explore subjects conceptually, allowing for creativity and critical thinking.

“We’re looking at servicing the whole student, from academic to the whole being that is in front of us.” – said Charity Jackson, the school’s chief academic officer, in a recent interview.

The school has a strong commitment to the social-emotional learning process. The school leaders want to go beyond academics, fostering learning on self-management, self-awareness, decision-making, relationship skills and social awareness.

 

As Birmingham’s premier LGBTQ charter school, MCAA plans to serve 6th through 12th-grade students. The school is purposely designed to provide not only LGBT students but all students with an inclusive learning environment that prioritizes trauma-informed instruction while making all students feel seen and safe.

The need to give marginalized students a safe learning environment plus the tools they need to succeed is a trait that diverse charter schools all around the country share.

LGBTQ-Affirming Charter Schools are Thriving

MCAA isn’t alone in its efforts to provide LGBTQ a safe haven. The Albert Einstein Academy is another example of an LGBTQIA-affirming charter school. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, the school aims to create as a safe space for students of all backgrounds and identities.

Another charter school designed to support LGBTQ students is The Alliance School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It’s possibly the oldest, longest-running charter school with such a focus. Established in 2008, the school received a charter school excellence award in 2011 and continues to thrive.

Although there aren’t many existing LGBTQ-affirming charter schools, public school districts around the country have stepped up their efforts to support marginalized students by hosting inclusive events, implementing safety programs for LGBTQ+ youth, and providing resources. For good reasons, there is a growing movement to protect LGBTQ youth in schools.