Choosing a Location for Charter School - Report Example

Topic 3: Choosing a Location for Your Charter School

I have been in the teaching profession for decades. It is my passion and what I’d always choose to do again and again when offered the opportunity. During my time as a teacher in the education sector, I was able to work hard and rise through the ranks to be the school principal. I consider this a major achievement on my side because it was always my desire to give my best and leave marks behind that will be there to be noticed. It is no dou8bt that I will go down historical books of the schools that I served in as well as in the regions that I served in. I was able to introduce a lot of reforms while I was the school principal. I always used my position to make positive changes that would make the school a better place than I found it. As a principal, I gave an opportunity to every student. I respected and ensured that all subjects are treated equally and that they all have the chance to be practiced. However, my heart was in the field of science and mathematics. I have always loved these areas. They are what I studied in college. I have always wanted to motivate others and help people to boost their knowledge on these areas and become the better version of themselves. As a principal, I was able to learn that there are a lot of students that have potential in these fields through lack the needed resources and right resources to showcase and apply their skills. I did my best to make them realize their dreams. However, I was not able to do my best in assisting them because of the limited resources. The schools were to cater for all the subjects. Therefore, I could not favor mathematics and science because of the love I had for the two subjects. I had to give all the subjects equal attention to ensure that the needs of every student are taken care of. It was, therefore, my greatest pleasure when I received the approval of the proposal to start a new charter school that will be focusing on Science and Math. This opportunity will not only offer me the platform to do what I enjoy most but will also give me the opportunity to assist others that have the same passion as me to come up with innovations that will change the world.

Criteria

To come up with the best criteria of how the charter school will be regarding the location, size and the type of building, I have put in place strategies that will help to make the school strategically located and fit the entire targeted group.

Location: To strategically locate the school at the outskirt of town this will make it accessible to all the Math and Science students that will be targeted. The location will be away from the superhighways and industries or playgrounds or any other entries that may be a cause of noise to the students (McNeely, 2002). This is because Math and Sciences are very engaging and requires a lot of attention during studying

Size: The size of the charter school will be relatively large. Science is huge and requires a lot of research. In science, there are a lot of outside activities. This means that the big size of the school will offer each group enough space to carry out their outside class activities (Dunlap, 1978)

Type of students: The school will be offering opportunities to those students that have graduated out of high school with very good marks in both Math and sciences. Besides hem, the school will also be moving to different schools and identifying those students that are so passionate in the subjects offered at our charter school. The school will ten pick them and offer scholarship position to encourage them even to work more. Another type of students will be the offered opportunity to study will be graduates and scholars that are willing to advance their skills and knowledge in the field of science and Math.

Alternatives

In order to come up with the list of alternatives that I will use in setting up the new charter school for math and science, I did put in place a very competitive research in line with the criteria that I had listed for finding the best place to locate the school and to come up with the best plan that will make the school to effectively carry out its main objective and goals for which it is being set up for (National Research Council. 2004). I will choose a location that will offer me, my teachers and the targeted students an ample environment to study and research more on any topic of their choice.

From the research that I have carried out, I settle on the following top two in deciding the location.

1. A location that is near educational resources such as well-equipped library

2. A location that is free from any noise.

The two cities that I have settled for our location ate New York and Los Angeles.

Evaluation of the Alternative Criteria against criteria

I have selected the above two cities and seeks to chose the best fit for the location of the school. I will analyze how each option goes against the chosen criteria

New Yolk city meets the requirements for an excellent learning environment. The city is densely populated and the population is constantly increasing therefore, the probability of getting enough students is high since it is an urban area with a high population of children. Moreover, the majority of the residents is middle class income earners and has the ability and willingness to pay more for their kids to get quality education. The climatic condition of this location is ideal for learning and no special requirements will be needed. For me to establish the school at this location, I will have to relocate to this city and buy an apartment, since it is far from my place of residence.

Los Angeles city is also a preferable location for the situation of the school. Many families live in this city and therefore, the market for the school will be available. Moreover, these families have the ability and the willingness to pay fees in order for their children to acquire good education. In order to start a school and for it grow and become successful there must be market and the ability of the market to consumer the product, which in this case is education. The destination is not far from my place, I can chose to commute or rent an apartment and be able to conveniently manage the school.

In table 1, the matrix table identifies the two cities and evaluates them based on climatic condition, market availability, purchasing power and destination. The best city that has met the most criterion was Los Angeles.

Table 1 Matrix to determine the city with the most favorable market availability (many students), climatic conditions, purchasing power (ability to pay standard student fee) and favorable destination (housing and accommodation)

Criteria

Criteria

Options

1. Availability of students

2. Ability of parents to pay fees

3. Accommodation requirements

4. Climatic conditions

Total points

New York

8

8

5

6

27

Los Angeles

7

8

8

6

29

Points are awarded to the city that has the highest number of students (market availability) on a 10-point scale

Points are awarded to the city that has the highest number of able parents to pay fees for their kids (high purchasing power) on a 10-point scale

Points are awarded to the city that has the best accommodation services in terms of affordability and location to my home residence on a 10-point scale

Points are awarded to the city that has the best climatic conditions to foster student learning on a 10-point scale

Summary

Based on the above evaluation the least and the greatest points obtained include;

New York scored the highest in terms of the availability of students this is because it is densely populated than Los Angeles probably because it is the capital city of the United States of America.

Both cities scored the same on the purchasing power of the parents to afford the learning services.

Los Angeles scored highest in accommodation requirements, simply because it has affordable housing and is also near my home of residence unlike New York where housing is a challenge and the few are very expensive.

With regards to climatic conditions, both cities have favorable learning environment that can appropriately sustain effective learning. The level of pollution especially noise pollution is not dire.

In Table 2 the Matrix shows which cities of the two have appropriate safety, is diverse and has space for construction of a school

Table 2 Lifestyle Management Matrix

Criteria

Criteria

Cities

1.

Safety

2.

Diversity

3.

Space availability

Total Points

New York

10

9

6

25

Los Angeles

9

9

9

27

• Points awarded are equal to the rating of safety according to U.S. research 10-point scale.
• Points awarded are based on the diversity according to the U.S. Census on a 10-point scale
• Points awarded based on space availability for the construction of the school

Summary

Based on the evaluation Los Angeles had the highest score overall

Both cities had similar scoring on the severity of diversity.

New York is more secure than Los Angeles while Los Angele has more space where the school can be constructed as compared to New York.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Having been granted the mandate of selecting a suitable location for the construction of the charter school, the two cities that met our criteria were New York and Los Angeles. This is because these cities had favorable learning environment, had a high number of students with able and willing parents and also had good housing. Furthermore, the cities also had the best rankings about safety, diversity, and space availability.

I, however, recommend that the school be situated in Los Angeles because it scored on the overall scores and thus most suitable location for the school.

Reference

Dunlap, R. E., & Van Liere, K. D. (1978). The “new environmental paradigm”. The journal of environmental education, 9(4), 10-19.

Greenfield, B. (2011). America’s safest cities [web article]. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/bethgreenfield/2011/12/15/americas-safest-cities/

McNeely, C. A., Nonnemaker, J. M., & Blum, R. W. (2002). Promoting school connectedness: Evidence from the national longitudinal study of adolescent health. Journal of school health, 72(4), 138-146.

National Research Council. (2004). How students learn: History, mathematics, and science in the classroom. National Academies Press.

U.S. Census database. (http://www.census.gov/main/www/access.html)

Alternatives

In order to come up with the list of alternatives that I will use in setting up the new charter school for math and science, I did put in place a very competitive research in line with the criteria that I had listed for finding the best place to locate the school and to come up with the best plan that will make the school to effectively carry out its main objective and goals for which it is being set up for (National Research Council. 2004). I will choose a location that will offer me, my teachers and the targeted students an ample environment to study and research more on any topic of their choice.

From the research that I have carried out, I settle on the following top two in deciding the location.

1. A location that is near educational resources such as well-equipped library

2. A location that is free from any noise.

The two cities that I have settled for our location ate New York and Los Angeles.

Evaluation of the Alternative Criteria against criteria

I have selected the above two cities and seeks to chose the best fit for the location of the school. I will analyze how each option goes against the chosen criteria

New Yolk city meets the requirements for an excellent learning environment. The city is densely populated and the population is constantly increasing therefore, the probability of getting enough students is high since it is an urban area with a high population of children. Moreover, the majority of the residents is middle class income earners and has the ability and willingness to pay more for their kids to get quality education. The climatic condition of this location is ideal for learning and no special requirements will be needed. For me to establish the school at this location, I will have to relocate to this city and buy an apartment, since it is far from my place of residence.

Los Angeles city is also a preferable location for the situation of the school. Many families live in this city and therefore, the market for the school will be available. Moreover, these families have the ability and the willingness to pay fees in order for their children to acquire good education. In order to start a school and for it grow and become successful there must be market and the ability of the market to consumer the product, which in this case is education. The destination is not far from my place, I can chose to commute or rent an apartment and be able to conveniently manage the school.

In table 1, the matrix table identifies the two cities and evaluates them based on climatic condition, market availability, purchasing power and destination. The best city that has met the most criterion was Los Angeles.

Table 1 Matrix to determine the city with the most favorable market availability (many students), climatic conditions, purchasing power (ability to pay standard student fee) and favorable destination (housing and accommodation)

Criteria

Criteria

Options

1. Availability of students

2. Ability of parents to pay fees

3. Accommodation requirements

4. Climatic conditions

Total points

New York

8

8

5

6

27

Los Angeles

7

8

8

6

29

Points are awarded to the city that has the highest number of students (market availability) on a 10-point scale

Points are awarded to the city that has the highest number of able parents to pay fees for their kids (high purchasing power) on a 10-point scale

Points are awarded to the city that has the best accommodation services in terms of affordability and location to my home residence on a 10-point scale

Points are awarded to the city that has the best climatic conditions to foster student learning on a 10-point scale

Summary

Based on the above evaluation the least and the greatest points obtained include;

New York scored the highest in terms of the availability of students this is because it is densely populated than Los Angeles probably because it is the capital city of the United States of America. Read More