Rockwell Charter

May 22, 2009

Rockwell Charter High School is nearing completion of our first year in operation. As such, assessment data is still a ways out, but I would like to have us included as I believe this school is an up-and-coming name in the public charter school realm as well as a future school of excellence.

A History of the school: Parents Stephanie Colson, Jennifer Maroney, Angie Rasmussen, Christie Buxton, and Adrienne Burdette all joined forces in the winter of 2007 to put together and submit the charter application to the state. It was approved by the State Charter School Board and the State Board of Education in April 2007. The board was formed with Redge Hudson as president/board chair in June 2007. Rockwell has a 7-member board, primarily of parents. Numerous founders signed on in the early days of the development of the charter. Some have given a great deal of sacrifice and others have been supportive of various activities to build interest in the school. What actually makes Rockwell a school to watch are the students!

Sage Schools was given the development contract and with Hogan Construction, broke ground in October 2007 in northeast Eagle Mountain (close to where State Route 73 and Ranches Parkway intersect). By August 2008 the school opened on time in and with 589 students (according to the official October 1, 2008 enrollment audit). Current Director, Darren Beck, was hired in January 2008 while still the Director of the successful K-6 school, the Ranches Academy Public Charter School. Warren Shenk, a 34-year veteran educator at both public charter and traditional public schools is the Assistant Director. Virginia Bowser works as the Business Manager with Shellene Young as Secretary, Charis Mouritsen as Registrar, and Candice Nielson as Community Resource Liaison rounding out the administrative and office staff. Rockwell is a 7th-12th grade program. Federal and state lottery laws apply with regards to admission. As a part of the state's public school system it does not charge tuition, but does charge similar fees to what students find at most middle or junior high schools and high schools in the state.

The school has a focus of college and life preparation and has spent this first year refining coursework and developing programs to benefit a wide variety of students. Provided by law and out of a sense that it makes good practice are special services for 11% of its enrollment as well as 504 services for another 3%. These students are very much part of the student life at Rockwell. The girls' volleyball team made it to the USSA championship tournament in Price in October 2008. The boys' basketball team won the USSA championship in February 2009. The Drill team won numerous 1st place trophies during some open competitions throughout the state. And all the trophy winning started back in October 2008 with the Shakespearean team winning 2nd in a dance ensemble piece at the Shakespearean festival competition in Cedar City.

Rockwell Charter High School has licensed and committed teachers. The school abides by licensure requirements of the state. Teachers work within traditional departments as well as in teaching standard clusters where groups of teachers focus on a single standard during the course of a year as peer mentors. Teachers likewise work with a class-size mentoring group that allows students to have a campus advocate, study hall time when needed, and a down-to-earth advisory approach which will be augmented by the use of various books next year. As written in the charter, RCHS is committed to utilizing technology in the most efficient manner possible with two labs of 25 stations each. I-Macs also grace each teacher's desk. The school uses Renweb as a way to track grades, student records, and to communicate with parents.

Assessments/Technology: The school's 10th - 12th grade students have had the UBSCT administered twice (October 2008 and February 2009) and did much better than expected. The 9th graders completed the Direct Writing Assessment (DWA) in February 2009 and results are pending. All students in 7th - 11th grades recently completed the Utah Criterion-referenced tests or CRTs. 7th - 9th grades completed the paper-version while 10th and 11th grades were administered the computer-based or CBT version. Plans are to obtain mobile labs to increase the efficiency of the school to conduct any testing needed by the state. Rockwell is committed to utilizing the results of any and all testing to inform the instructional and academic programs of the school. This will influence how the school serves the students who sign up.

- Darren Beck, Director