Kudos to The Tribune for its reports on well-performing charter schools. However, please don’t forget to mention James Madison Preparatory School, a charter school in Tempe (7th through 12th grade located on McClintock north of Guadalupe).
The test scores and grades for James Madison students are way at the top, with more days of instruction than a typical public school. A minimum of 2 years of Latin is mandatory. Madison Prep is quite small, only about 200 students. However, none other than U.S. News and World Report gave it a bronze medal award for “America’s Best High Schools”. JMPS faculty and staff care about their students a great deal, and there is a code of conduct that is highly emphasized and lived out by students and faculty alike. Unlike other schools, parents don’t have to sign anything promising to donate money to the school. Indeed, one of the missions of JMPS is to never exclude a student because he or she can’t pay a particular fee.
Furthermore, James Madison has a wide variety of extracurricular activities, with particular excellence in the fine arts. For example, the JMPS Liberty Choir was chosen to sing the National Anthem at a D-backs game at Chase Field this past June, and they have the upcoming honor of performing at Disneyland over Thanksgiving break. The musicals that are performed at James Madison are consistently breathtaking. This year, the school plans to tackle “Les Miserables”.
My eldest son graduated from James Madison and is on a full scholarship at ASU. He says that some of his college classes were repeats of what he learned at James Madison. My other son will graduate this year, and we are confident that he too is extremely well-prepared for college.
Janine Miller
Gilbert
Diogenes Lantern posted at 9:52 am on Sun, Oct 16, 2011.
Thank goodness for School Choice and charter schools. Now America will excel again as a nation. I do not understand why any caring parent would send their prcious children to public schools to be indocrinated with 1960 propaganda.
Irons1 posted at 11:10 am on Sun, Oct 16, 2011.
I'm sure it is much better to be indoctrinated with 1950 propaganda that most that live here seem to accept
Dale Whiting posted at 7:11 am on Mon, Oct 17, 2011.
Irons1,
"1950's propaganda?" Could you be more specific? Sounds like you might be on to something here. But what does 1950's propaganda have to do with today's Charter Schools. In the 1950's we all were sold on the public school system that the greatest generation sent their children to, well at least the caucasion segment did! Are you hinting that Charter Schools are today's equivalents? Be more specific!
Diogenes Lantern,
Interesting name. But you need to be more specific, too!
Leon Ceniceros posted at 7:34 am on Mon, Oct 17, 2011.
Wonderful to read about a school, any school, that is teaching "American Values", "American Patriotism", "American-style education" to 100% American students.
Remember, Folks, that's the way it used to be back in the1950's before the 1960's "Socialist and Leftist Agenda" became the the educational model for all of the Teacher's Unions members.
Now only a few of the West Coast and East Coast States still espouse this "Anti-Capitalist, Anti-American" teaching agenda. President Barack "Occupy Wall Street" Obama and First Lady Michelle "I was ashamed to be an American for the first 40 years of my Life" Obama are prime examples of 1960's "Hate Everything American" educational model.
A_Rose_By_Any_Other_Name posted at 8:56 am on Mon, Oct 17, 2011.
Diogenes Lantern, they send their precious children to the cheapest baby sitter they can find, and the socialistic public school system is the cheapest they can find. For the most part, they don't care if their kids even get an education. Most probably don't even care if their kids even go to school except that the law demands they do until age 18. And then they rail against politicians that cut even one percent from a bloated education system to balance the budget.
A_Rose_By_Any_Other_Name posted at 8:59 am on Mon, Oct 17, 2011.
Gee wiz Dale, I remember when you actually had something to say. Now you just critique other comments? lol Could you try to be more specific Dale? lol Tell us how you progressive socialists perceive it. And try to use your spell checker more often.
Dale Whiting posted at 7:47 pm on Mon, Oct 17, 2011.
Rose, I am asking the commenters to be more specific with their comments to the letter. It's easy to follow what Janine is saying.
warriormonk18 posted at 3:20 pm on Wed, Oct 19, 2011.
The "1950's indoctrination" comment might be interesting if it were true. Perhaps what you mean by 1950's indoctrination are the school's high standards of conduct and academics, the challenges to character and learning that the school sets for it's students, and the love for American freedom that the school promotes. This is not an indoctrination program, instead it is a program that teaches students about their rights and responsibilities and encourages them to think and express for themselves. The student body is about 50/50 liberal/conservative. There is more indoctrination at schools where teachers aren't free to teach, or students free to learn, as is sadly the case in so many schools where teachers are so busy trying to manage the behavior of students whose parents and prior teachers have let them run wild that they can't get busy with learning. Or, at schools where teachers are forced to teach from a script provided by a textbook company, because they don't know their subject well enough or aren't trusted by their administrators. This school also has a working student government, including all three branches of the American system, which is unique. This school is a true liberal arts school, from way back, and if you do a little research you will find that many of the most successful charter schools across America incorporate similar tried and true methods rather than signing on to the latest educational fad or technology.