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Thursday, April 11, 2013

Tony Monfiletto: A Charter School in No-Man's Land - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Tony Monfiletto: A Charter School in No-Man's Land - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:


Tony Monfiletto: A Charter School in No-Man's Land

In December of last year, I wrote about an unusual charter school I visited, ACE Leadership High, which actively recruits students who have dropped out or are doing poorly in the regular schools. I pointed out that this school faces challenges similar to those of other high poverty schools, given our current accountability paradigm. I have stayed in touch with the principal there, Tony Monfiletto, and today he offers a rare consideration of the challenges -- even obstacles -- high stakes testing places before any educators who focus their work on students living in poverty.
Guest post by Tony Monfiletto.
I was pleased when Anthony Cody asked me to write for this blog. I believe he asked because he respects our work and he is worried that we are vulnerable. I am a co-founder of Architecture Construction and Engineering (ACE) and Health Leadership High schools and we do not have a home on the current school reform landscape--Anthony thinks we are in "no-man's land."
I'm definitely an outsider, but off the grid? My partners and I have avoided aligning ourselves with many of the traditional players in the school reform debate. Our work is fundamental to good schooling but only tangential to