Charter System Information
Overview
Marietta City Schools (MCS) became one of Georgia’s first Charter Systems in June 2008. The MCS charter system includes ten schools: six K-5 elementary schools, one sixth grade academy, one middle school, one high school, and one grades 3-5 elementary magnet school (Marietta Center for Advanced Academics). The MCS charter system does not include the system's one existing conversion charter school, Sawyer Road Elementary.
MCS also has an alternative program for grades 9-12 at the Marietta Performance Learning Center at Woods-Wilkins. This program is not listed as a “school” to be converted under the charter system. The school district also includes two SB 618 residential treatment centers: George W. Hartmann Center and Nelson Price Treatment Center. These residential treatment centers operate under Memorandums of Understanding with MCS and the Georgia Department of Education.
School Choice
Through a strategic planning process begun in 2006, MCS has already implemented certain system-wide innovations. One of these is elementary school choice (“Choice Academies”). Curriculum at our elementary schools is based on the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS), and enhanced by school-selected focuses:
- Language and Communications
- Literacy
- Arts Integration
- Leadership
- Community Collaborative
- International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program (PYP)
- Talented and Gifted (TAG) Learning
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)
The Choice Academies concept extends to the middle schools; students can continue in the IB Middle Years Program (MYP), or in the STEM magnet program. In high school, MCS students can select from career pathways, IB diploma/certificate, dual enrollment, Advanced Placement (AP), or early college programs.
Innovations - Charter System
- Small learning communities,
- 8th to 9th grade transition academy,
- Teacher leadership academy,
- Addition of new career pathways at the high school level,
- Exploration of horticulture, ecology, teacher preparation, and other emerging career pathways,
- Internships and early college pathways,
- Enhanced classroom experiences and authentic assessments,
- Web-based learning and assessment,
- Looping cohorts,
- Digital student portfolios,
- Teacher innovation grants and performance incentives,
- Increased individualization through differentiation,
- Use of career inventories in upper elementary and middle grades,
- Financial incentives for teaching in areas of critical need,
- Expansion of the role of School Governance Teams—converting advisory local school councils into “highly trained and high performing” governing bodies.
Achievement Goals – Charter System
The overarching achievement goal of the MCS charter system is to increase its high school graduation rate from 75% in 2008-2009 to 95% in 2012-2013—an aggressive increase over 5 years. In addition, there are specific, rigorous goals for all students, at each grade level 1 through 8 and for the subgroup of economically disadvantaged students, with regards to academic achievement and performance on the state-mandated Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT).
