MIDWEST & WEST
leaders and professionals into the world, the
school teaches to make a difference in the
students' academic lives.
In addition to this vision, New Designs has
an important overarching goal: to prepare
its students to meet and exceed UC A-G
requirements. Set forth by the University
of California, these guidelines ensure that
all in-coming college freshmen, regardless of
major, are prepared to participate fully in the
University's first-year program.
To achieve this, the school designed
before- and after-school programs, a
Saturday Academy, and collaborates with
the Fulfillment Fund, a group dedicated to
preparing inner-city youth for college and
economic stability.
"We are de-emphasizing direct instruction
and trying to do a little more hands-on stuff
with the kids - activities and project-based
learning," he explains. New Designs recently
received a grant from the Gates Foundation
to do project-based training, enabling the
school to bring this to both school campuses.
Their ethos is simple: "differentiation is ...at
the centre of what we're attempting to do."
Warren admits that Adequate Yearly Progress
(AYP), mandated by No Child Left Behind,
can be a burden. "Let me give you an
example: two years ago we met our criteria
in 21 out of 22 categories but according to
to meet those requirements because of the
way it is structured." Warren acknowledges,
however, that the foundation of the program
is strong; but there are times when it needs to
have the ability to differentiate for the needs
of a particular school.
Their curriculum is necessarily reviewed by
the state and by local universities; however
test requirements often dictate curriculum
for most schools. "The way we like to say it
is, we're not necessarily teaching to the test
but we do have to do a certain amount of test
prep. There's a fine line between teaching the
test and doing test prep."
Their Teachers
Warren does have some flexibility in picking
teachers, despite No Child Left Behind's
criteria. The school is able to hire people
who are on university internships or who
are on track to be licensed by a certain date.
This allows New Designs the flexibility it
needs as an inner-city school that serves
mainly minority students and underserved
populations.
AYP we did not meet the standard because
we missed the one. We are going through a
review and probably will be up to speed for
that year. But sometimes it can be a bit tough
88 | CHARTER SCHOOLS TODAY SPRING 2009

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