SOUTH
Kinston Charter Academy not only aims to improve the achievement
gap for minority students but also sets this bar high: they want their
students to be performing in the 95th
percentile. "We want to be an
honor school," stated Ozie.
With Kinston's student body being comprised of 90 percent Title
I students, their performance
consistently comes out on
top of other local schools on
standardized tests when the same
groups of students are compared.
One example of these numerous
performances is their fourth-grade
reading score of 75 percent with
64, 68.3, and 63 as the scores for
their competition.
Where the Credit Belongs
Attributing this performance in
part to their more efficient use of time, Kinston Charter's teachers,
instruction methods, and board of directors also deserve recognition.
"We have targeted instruction and remediation with individual
students to focus on things they didn't get," explained Ozie.
The school also employs various methods to keep students
engaged with their education. One of these is cultural responsive
teaching to inspire and motivate the students to learn. Culturally
responsive teachers respect all students' cultural, racial and linguistic
backgrounds and use these backgrounds to inspire learning. Kinston
also uses multiple intelligences theory which recognizes that each
student has different strengths. Teachers then cater to the varying
learning styles to reach each
individual.
Kinston's teachers and board of
directors also play an intrinsic
role in improving the school's
performance. "We have a
committed staff and several retired
teachers who brought a wealth of
wisdom and experience," said Ozie.
The board of directors includes
an attorney, business owner, a
plant manager, and a university
professor from East Carolina
University. "We have always had a board but it was not as diverse.
Each person brings a different set of skills to the table and gives us a
lot of guidance from many sources."
Integrated into Kinston's curriculum are initiatives to give students
exposure to the global landscape from the classroom. The school
uses currencies from around the world to talk about financial literacy
and foster math skills. International exchange rates allow teachers
"We try to do things regularly to encour-
age students and give them something
to look forward to. We want all of our
students to be greater than 95 percent; to
be at or above their grade level."
~Ozie Hall
66 | CHARTER SCHOOLS TODAY SPRING 2009

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