The  Mission  of  Brookhaven  Innovation  Academy  is  to  provide  students  with  the  resources,  knowledge  and  skills  required  to  access,  organize,  and  apply  the  World’s  information  while  

making  learning  magical  and  relevant  for  every  student.                                                                                                                        FREQUENTLY  ASK  QUESTIONS_________________________      What  is  Brookhaven  Innovation  Academy  (“BIA”)?                    BIA,  while  opening  in  August  2015  with  420  students  in  grades  k-­‐6,  will  ultimately  educate  up  to  1300  students  as  a  k-­‐12  public  charter  school  with  multiple  campuses,  plus  a  virtual  component.  BIA  will  offer  Brookhaven  families  a  student-­‐centered  learning  environment,  implementing  a  combination  of  STEM  focused,  project-­‐based  and  blended  learning  curricula.    Inspired  in  part  by  the  highly  successful  programs  operated  by  the  High  Tech  High  Charter  School  Network  in  San  Diego,  California  (www.hightechhigh.org),  students  attending  BIA  will  develop  projects,  learn  to  problem  solve  and  document  their  findings  before  presenting  their  learning  to  peers  and  community  as  well  as  learning  to  Code  from  Kindergarten  onwards.  Digital  portfolios  evidencing  both  achievements  and  competency  will  supplement  traditional  examinations  and  tests.      What  are  public  charter  schools?    Charter  schools  are  tuition-­‐free,  locally  grown  public  schools  that  are  held  accountable  for  improved  student  achievement  in  exchange  for  the  freedom  to  be  flexible  and  innovative.    They  are  nonsectarian,  offer  open  enrollment  and  cannot  discriminate  based  on  race,  religion  or  disability.    Why  does  Brookhaven  need  a  public  charter  school?    There  are  a  number  of  reasons.    First,  some  of  the  DeKalb  County  public  schools  that  serve  Brookhaven  are  overcrowded  and  will  become  more  so  as  new  development  occurs.    Second,  Brookhaven’s  leaders  recognize  that  additional  educational  options  are  needed  because  a  one-­‐size-­‐fits-­‐all  model  of  education  does  not  work  for  every  family.    Third,  based  on  current  academic  results,  many  traditional  public  schools  are  not  adequately  preparing  our  students  for  college,  career  and  civic  life.  Finally,  our  City  and  State  residents  need  to  be  STEM  educated  citizens  in  order  to  compete  in  the  21st  Century  global  economy.        

   How  will  BIA  help  Brookhaven?    BIA’s  ultimate  goal  is  to  meet  the  challenge  of  adequately  preparing  Brookhaven’s  students  with  the  skills  necessary  to  succeed  in  the  increasingly  globally  competitive,  technology-­‐focused  job  market.    For  instance,  Gov.  Deal’s  Complete  College  Plan  calls  for  all  of  Georgia’s  colleges  and  universities  to  graduate  at  least  60%  of  entering  9th  graders  with  either  a  two  or  four  year  college  degree  by  2018.    Unfortunately,  today,  only  9  of  100  9th  graders  in  Georgia  achieve  that  goal.    By  comparison,  the  High  Tech  High  network’s  record  since  opening  in  2000,  is  88  of  100  of  its  9th  graders  ultimately  receive  either  a  two  or  four  year  degree.      What  will  BIA  cost  Brookhaven’s  taxpayers?    If  approved  by  the  Georgia  Charter  Schools  Commission,  BIA  will  be  completely  funded  by  existing  state  tax  revenue.    Unless  the  Mayor  and  City  Council  decide  to  voluntarily  offer  financial  assistance,  the  City  of  Brookhaven  will  not  be  financially  obligated  for  BIA’s  operations,  with  all  taxpayer  funding  coming  from  the  State’s  education  budget.    What  will  be  unique  about  BIA?    The  school  is  focused  upon  providing  students  will  the  skills  needed  to  succeed  in  the  21st  Century  information  based  economy  including  computer  programming  as  a  part  of  the  core  curriculum  from  Kindergarten  onwards.  With  the  assistance  of  Blended  Learning  resources  and  a  dedicated  Student  Success  Team,  BIA  will  provide  each  student  with  a  personalized  learning  plan  including  additional  resources  to  be  deployed  to  support  and  /  or  enrich  the  base  curriculum  for  that  student.  Regardless  of  the  cognitive  ability  and  learning  challenges  /  style  of  an  individual  student,  BIA  will  chart  a  path  for  the  student  to  be  successful  in  the  maximization  of  their  gifts  and  the  pursuit  of  their  interests.    Finally,  BIA’s  faculty  will  be  highly  qualified  and  receive  state-­‐of  the-­‐art  professional  training  from  High  Tech  High,  Google  and  others.      How  will  parents  and  taxpayers  be  able  to  judge  the  success  or  failure  of  BIA?      In  addition  to  State  mandated  assessments  and  student  portfolios,  BIA  will  track  each  child’s  cognitive  ability  and  performance  utilizing  a  Value  Added  Assessment  Scorecard.  The  Scorecard  will  provide  a  comparison  of  the  student’s  performance  versus  ability  over  time  and  provide  parents  and  administrators  with  full  transparency  as  to  the  value  being  added  by  the  school.  BIA  will  target  achievement  levels  that  are  in  the  top  1%  nationally  when  comparing  each  student’s  performance  to  their  cognitive  ability.    Our  goal  will  be  for  our  students  to  score  in  the  top  10%  of  all  Georgia  students  on  the  standardized  tests,  to  graduate  from  high  school  on  time  ready  for  college  or  a  career,  and  ultimately,  to  receive  a  two  or  four  year  college  degree  if  they  so  desire.    In  summary,  BIA’s  goal  is  for  our  students  to  meet  or  exceed  state,  federal  and  international  standards.        

What  will  the  daily  program  at  BIA  be?    Classes  will  be  made  up  of  a  combination  of  Blended  and  Project  Learning  activities  and  both  Faculty  and  Media-­‐Coaches  will  serve  each  class  (with  occasional  cameos  by  Googlers,  college  professors  and  industry  members).      

• 40  minutes:  English  &  Rhetoric  • 40  minutes:  Mathematics  &  Logic  • 40  minutes:  History,  Geography  and  Anthropology  enhanced  with  Geo-­‐Technologies  • 40  minutes:  Physics,  Biology  and  Chemistry      • 40  minutes:  Arts  &  Creativity  incorporating  SketchUp  and  Doodle  4  Google    • 40  minutes:  Applied  Science  &  Technology  /  CSL  (Coding  as  a  Second  Language)  • 40  minutes:  Choice  of  Spanish  or  Mandarin  with  Google+  native  speaker  interface      

 • 10  minute  Bathroom  &  Stretch  Breaks  (2).  Healthy  snacks  will  be  provided  during  the  

breaks  and  before  Extended-­‐Day  activities.  • 10  minutes  -­‐  Home  Room  • 30  minutes  -­‐  Lunch  /  Recess  • 30  minutes  -­‐  Personal  Reading  Choice  from  15,000,00  Google  Books  with  “Lit  Trips”  • 20  minutes  -­‐  My  Time  or  One-­‐on-­‐One  Coaching    • 30  minutes  -­‐  Physical  Activity  Center    

 Paid  Pre  &  Post  Extended-­‐Day  and  Extended-­‐Year  options  will  be  available  for  working  parents.      What  type  of  extra-­‐curricular  programs  will  be  offered?    Students  will  be  able  to  choose  from  options  such  as:        

 Android  Camp  Robotics  Camp  Web  Camp  STEAM  Creativity  Camp  Language  Immersion  Camp  conducted  entirely  in  Spanish  or  Mandarin    Environment  Camp  exploring  the  natural  sciences  through  Brookhaven’s  Parks  Startup  Stand  entrepreneurship  camp  Civic  Camp  where  students  learn  about  the  City’s  government  and  operations  

  Fast-­‐Track  Camp  preparing  targeted  students  for  their  forthcoming  grade  level    Who  will  teach  at  BIA?    

• Teachers  will  be  highly  qualified  and  additionally  trained  in  blended  learning  and  project  based  learning  techniques.  Teachers  will  benefit  from  being  able  to  have  their  own  children  enrolled  at  BIA  as  well  as  competitive  compensation,  a  vibrant  and  innovative  environment  and  unprecedented  professional  development  opportunities.    

• Faculty  will  be  assisted  by  non-­‐teacher  Media-­‐Facilitators  who  will  be  trained  to  support  students  engaged  in  Blended  and  Project  Learning      

     

How  will  BIA  connect  with  home  &  family?    

• Online-­‐participation  for  snow  and  sick  days    • Teach  Parents  Tech  program  to  teach  family  members  fundamental  technology  skills  • Follow-­‐Along  program  for  parents  to  acquire  coding  skills  in  parallel  to  their  child  • ESL  program  for  parents  (with  childcare)    • TED  of  the  Week  age  appropriate  video  for  families  to  watch  together  and  discuss  • Online  grade  book  • Daily  email  with  the  next  school  days  activities  and  homework  assignments  • Weekly  emailed  progress  report  for  each  student    • Parent    Google+  groups  by  class  and  grade  level  • Hangout  with  the  Head  monthly  grade  level  online  Hangout  available  live  and  archived  • Google+  Rolling  parent-­‐teacher  conference  scheduling  • Crowdfunding  application  allowing  parents  and  supporters  to  help  fund  non-­‐budgeted  

school  resources  and  activities    • Virtual-­‐Tutor  program  for  3rd  through  8th  grades  available  evenings  and  weekends  • Parent-­‐volunteers  will  be  welcomed  at  the  school  upon  completing  required  

background  checks,  interviews  and  training  • Students  will  follow  a  uniform  dress  code  based  upon  comfortable,  economical,  and  

easy-­‐care  clothing  items  and  parents  /  guardians  are  responsible  for  ensuring  that  the  student  arrives  at  school  appropriately  dressed  

 Where  will  the  school  be  located  and  what  will  it  look  like?    The  school  will  eventually  have  more  than  one  campus  and  a  number  of  sites  are  being  considered.  The  campus  will  be  made  up  of  flexible  /  reconfigurable  spaces  with  maximized  penetration  of  natural  light.  While  striving  towards  carbon  neutrality,  the  facility  will  incorporate  pragmatic  design  features  that  are  both  energy  and  cost-­‐efficient.    During  each  day  faculty  and  students  will  experience  not  only  intellectual  and  corporal  exercise,  but  opportunities  for  relaxation  and  reflection.  The  facility  will  be  designed  to  provide  multiple  parallel  environments  and  reflect  a  modern  and  stimulating  work  environment.    For  a  flavor  of  the  Campus  design  take  a  look  at  online  photos  of  the  High  Tech  High  facilities  at  www.hightechhigh.org.                What  technology  will  BIA  use?    BIA  will  use  cutting-­‐edge  technology  to  maximize  student  engagement  and  learning  and  increase  operational  efficiency.  The  school  is  being  designed  from  the  outset  to  benefit  from  state  of  the  art  technology  that  has  been  and  will  be  released  by  Google  Education.    BIA  will  be  a  proponent  and  user  of  Open  Education  Resources  (OER).        BIA  will  implement  Chromebooks  for  all  faculty  and  administrators  together  with:  1-­‐2-­‐1  Android  Tablets  for  K,  1st  and  2nd  Grades  with  1-­‐2-­‐1  Chromebooks  3rd  Grade  onwards  (supplemented  with  tablets  as  digital  readers).      Each  campus  will  be  served  by  high  speed  fiber  and  provide  filtered  take-­‐home  Internet  access  as  a  compliment  to  available  Wi-­‐Fi  capabilities.      

All  devices  will  be  managed  by  BIA  via  Google  Apps  for  Education  and  Google  Management  Suite  allowing  it  to  determine  the  age  and  circumstance  appropriate  curriculum  resources  and  materials  appropriate  for  each  child.    How  can  I  apply  for  admission?    You  can  register  your  interest  immediately  at  http://brookhaven.education  this  will  ensure  that  you  will  be  emailed  when  additional  information  is  available.  Later  in  the  year  the  web  site  will  provide  you  with  detailed  information  on  applying.      Can  I  be  guaranteed  admission?    No.  Priority  will  be  given  to  students  resident  within  the  Brookhaven  City  Limits  and  thereafter  students  within  DeKalb  County  and  finally  statewide  but  there  will  be  a  lottery  process  if  the  school  has  more  applicants  than  places  and  the  school  will  most  likely  have  a  significant  wait  list.  The  good  news  is  that  BIA  will  also  offer  a  parallel  Virtual  Charter  School  where  students  can  be  enrolled  for  their  whole  school  program  or  in  the  case  of  Brookhaven  residents;  they  could  just  enroll  for  BIA’s  free  STEM  classes  to  supplement  their  existing  schooling.