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The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) approved two grant applications from the Necedah Area School District for the planning of two charter schools. The competitive grant process afforded 26 schools, out of 45 applications, awards totaling more than $17 million to plan, open, or expand charter schools in the state. Necedah was the only school district in Wisconsin awarded two grants. Grants were approved for the planning and implementation of two different charter schools, one elementary (grades K-5) and one secondary (grades 6-12).
Both approved charter school grants were written to focus on project-based and experiential learning experiences. A project-based approach is a student-centered approach to education based on the belief that students acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems. Experiential learning immerses students in activities that bring about new skills, attitudes, or new ways of thinking through the skill of self-reflection. As our grant application says, these two primary modes of instruction will be supplemented with the following strategies to more deeply engage students:
- personalized learning that empowers student participation through technology that widens their perspective,
- global citizenship activities that create conceptual and practical connections to the world beyond the school walls,
- STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) that leverages natural inquisitiveness to instill a love of learning, and
- critical thinking that blends creative inquiry, guiding questions, independent problem-solving, and collaborative thinking.
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