New Orleans-area middle school students will have another schooling option when the Abramson Science and Technology Charter School opens its doors this September.
The school will use cutting-edge technology to teach students in grades kindergarten through eight, with an emphasis on math and science.
The school was developed in 2006 as the brainchild of University math, science and technology professors who felt the need to contribute more to elementary education.
“Public schools, especially in New Orleans, are not performing very well,” said Tevfik Kosar, assistant professor of computer science and president of the Abramson Charter school board. “We’ve observed that when you give students a math and science background it helps them perform better in other areas as well.”
Kosar collected innovative ideas from other professors and professionals in the field to form a framework for the new school. The institution is modeled after several award-winning schools using the same methods, most notably the Harmony school in Atoka, Okla., and the Dove school in Grapevine, Texas.
The initial board became the Pelican Foundation and grew to include members from Southern University, Southeastern Louisiana University and Southeastern University of New Orleans.
“These schools are continuing to become the best schools in their state and the nation,” Kosar said.
Plans are in the works to expand the Louisiana charter school system to include additional schools – one more in New Orleans and another in Baton Rouge with a CEO at the helm.
“We’ve hired the principal of the Harmony school in Oklahoma to lead our group of schools in Louisiana,” Kosar said.
Charter schools have the benefit of being a public school but not needing to conform to the standard practices of public schools, allowing for more freedom of study and development.
The school is planned to start small and expand with time.
“Each year, we will add a grade to the school,” Kosar said.
The grades will remain small with 40 students to give better opportunities for in-depth learning and research. “We’re working for close involvement and collaboration with University faculty,” he said.
Students will take advantage of Web-based testing, real-time distance learning via the Internet and studies in digital art and music, among other opportunities. They will also participate in national and international science competitions, working closely with University professors to develop a project.
“We want to focus on multidisciplinary learning to develop skills in all areas all together,” Kosar said. “We don’t want there to be a period where learning in a subject, such as math, ends and another begins.”
Parents will also benefit from the unique setup which allows them to monitor students’ progress with Internet reports and Web-cams – pending legal approval.
With such a unique draw, the school has already received 500 applications and expects to see more before enrollment closes this month.
“There is no selection of students,” Kosar said. “All students have the same chance to get in the school and enrollment will be done by a lottery system.”
The school began development when the application was accepted by the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in January. Physical renovations of the school, previously called Marion Abramson Senior High School, began this month.
With such technology development, many are looking toward the future for what it may hold for the state.
“Technology is now considered a style of communication,” said Coretta Douglas, undergraduate coordinator of the department of computer science. “In the past we’ve had written, verbal and visual communication and technology is a way for us to pull it all together. It’s really important in everything.”
Douglas said technology can be both helpful and harmful to some students.
“Sometimes technology is a distraction for students,” she said. “It can offer so much freedom that students may lose the train of thought of a lesson.”
But Kosar does not see any drawbacks to new technology. To him, it’s all good news.
“We’re changing the way in which students are learning for the better, and we’ve seen the studies saying its succeeding,” he said.
—Contact Wallace Levy at [email protected]