[VegasMom]

We love living in Vegas, but now my oldest son is about to start Kindergarten next year. We can't afford the private schools or even the Catholic schools, and I'm not really happy with the public school he would go to, so I've registered him at Innovations International Charter School. I would love for him to learn Spanish fluently, but I've read bad reviews online from parents concerned about their children's safety. Does anyone have any experiences with this school?

[Chest Rockwell]

I wouldn't read too much into online reviews, especially when you could take a tour of the school and sit in on a class yourself. Get a first hand view of what goes on in the classroom. It's too easy for an upset parent to anonymously badmouth the school if something happens that's not to their liking. But definitely bring this up when you meet with the administrators and see what their side of the story is.

I agree that learning Spanish is crucial for students planning to live in the SW.

[olecapt]

I would be cautious. The school sounds round word great...but the objections raised by the parents are exactly what one expects for a "pie in the sky" school.

It is particularly difficult in that there are no results. They apparently don't have or don't publish test results.

I suppose one can go in and ask...but how do you deal with the information? The standard answer is often very difficult to interprete.

I would go for a top 20% school in the regular system if it was my kid.

[VegasMom]

Two good opinions. Thanks for the input.

[VegasMom]

Has anyone sent their children there?

[Gravypunch]

Originally Posted by VegasMom

We love living in Vegas, but now my oldest son is about to start Kindergarten next year. We can't afford the private schools or even the Catholic schools, and I'm not really happy with the public school he would go to, so I've registered him at Innovations International Charter School. I would love for him to learn Spanish fluently, but I've read bad reviews online from parents concerned about their children's safety. Does anyone have any experiences with this school?

I've recently registered my two students there for 1st and 5th grade next year. I feel pretty good about the decision, but I'm still doing research and asking around because I haven't found too much on-line (aside from the bad reviews).

I can tell you that they did make AYP "adequate yearly progress", which is a quite a task for any public school, so that is positive. Go on the CCSD website to see accountability stats of schools overall and you'll find Innovations International at an "adequate" status. My current school is on their way to a 3x "needs improvement" and I can't hang in there anymore.

Good luck and hope to share more information about Innovations as it comes my way.

[5kingsinvegas]

No surprise that Charter and private schools meet AYP. They have a say in who attends. The public schools don't. Meeting NCLB and AYP guideline is extremely difficult for any school with a diverse or transient population. CCSD has both. CCSD is making huge strides towards unifying their curriculum so that if a student moves from school A to school B with in CCSD they won't miss huge chunks of curriculm because teachers teach in a different order. For example, I teach 7th grade Earth Science. I have a week to week curriculum grid that I have to follow to insure that what I am teaching matches up to any other 7th grade Science teacher in the district. We are working hard to implement this system across all the grade levels at all the schools. The main roadblock is having classes with large numbers of ELL or spec ed students. They can't always keep up with the pace which means they either get left in the dust which kills your test scores and puts AYP in jeopardy or you slow your pace in those classes and hope those kids don't move before you can catch them up. NCLB is nobodies friend and did a lot more to hurt education than help it.

[VegasMom]

Thanks, Gravypunch. I had found that site already and had seen the adequate progress. I just wasn't aware that it was that difficult to achieve. The public school they would attend was listed as "watch", whatever that means. You made me feel a lot better.

[Gravypunch]

[quote=5kingsinvegas;3262514]No surprise that Charter and private schools meet AYP. They have a say in who attends. The public schools don't.

I definately agree that NCLB is nobody's friend. My 4th grader is a Straight A student that didn't perform like a straight A student on the CRT last year. So this entire year, while she is still maintaining her A student status, my student is being pulled out of class for testing strategy groups, tutor studies, and we're getting sent home reccomendations for After-school study programs all because of this one test. It is very inconsistent and seemingly unfair to teachers and students.

I did want to point out one thing about the CCSD sponsored charter schools. They are considered 'public schools' and registration is free and open. Innovations International is one of the first "inclusive school charters" as well with majority 45% hispanic (ELL/ESL).

I'm still trying to find out more about the school from feedback from actual parents and actual situations and so far it's a friend of a friend's niece that goes there and loves it. Still not enough info, but I'm still being an engaged parent and getting enough info to where I feel comfortable.

[VegasMom]

GravyPunch,
The only concern I have for the demographics is - I wonder if the English speaking students run into trouble in class. I know that it is supposedly a bi-lingual program, and that is one of the draws for me, but do they teach more to the Spanish speaking students as they are the majority? I've gotten my son a Muzzy kids language program in Spanish to try and gear him up, but I don't want him lost if they assume a background in Spanish. Forgive me for asking, but, is the "friend of a friend's niece" that is happy there hispanic?