(Vol. 1, No. 1 - Fall 1996 / Web Edition)

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Long Beach's Only Charter Middle School
Features Small Classes, Traditional Approaches



They stand in the school's foyer early in the morning, backpacks still on their shoulders or slung to the floor at their feet. Attentive for the saying of the Pledge of Allegiance, they really chant with enthusiasm the next part of the before-classes ritual at the Constellation School -- the five principles that guide this tiny effort in the midst of downtown Long Beach:
The principles substitute for rules at the Constellation Community Charter Middle School, Long Beach's first school to open under the state charter law. They are so much a part of the thinking at the school "that I hear students reciting them down the hallway," says Mary Ruffner, co-founder of the Constellation School, and she attributes better discipline and easier conflict resolution to student buy-in of the principles.

The Constellation School is one of 100 charter schools in California and 250 across the country. Most, like Constellation, are brand new and committed to a central vision. At Constellation, the vision is one of a traditional curriculum delivered family-style.

Moving to a former clothing store at Fifth and Pine last January from its temporary home in trailers at Franklin Middle School, the Constellation School is open, literally and philosophically. One can peer through the wide windows into a bare foyer where the classrooms begin, then extend down a narrow hallway. Other than the foyer, there is no meeting space for the entire student body of 150, although additional space in the building may become available.

Constellation is open in another way -- to parents. They sit on the school's advisory board and the student board, agree to perform 20 hours of service for the school, "and are available to us anytime," says Ruffner. More than half of the parents usually show up for group group meetings.

The opposite experience -- a lack of close ties to families -- is one of the reasons that Ruffner and a colleague at Franklin Middle School, Jim Norris, decided to try to create a better environment for middle-school students. When some of their ideas were rejected by the Franklin faculty, they started work on becoming a separate charter school.

Constellation offers smaller classes and intensive experience with computers -- an average of 40 minutes a day for each student. The school's faculty includes Spanish and Kymer speakers, "so we can respond immediately to families' concerns," explains Ruffner.

In other ways, however, Constellation is a very traditional school. Last year, the three-teacher staff (supplemented by two aides) assessed the students and found them lacking basic skills in core subjects, so "we used games, music, and lots of other strategies, but we made sure they learned them," says Ruffner. The curriculum stresses such techniques as phonics in reading and memorizing poetry. The school day includes two core subjects (90 minutes each) and an hour of reading. Electives are limited but keyed to student interests like sign language, ethnic dancing and a drill team.

The school district's uniform policy presents a few discipline problems, but students can look forward to a free-dress day every two weeks. Whether you credit parent involvement, a family atmosphere at school, or high expectations delivered with a lot of support, student attendance at Constellation averages 97 percent, even though students have to arrange their own transportation.

The Constellation School started small--with 35 sixth graders. Before it moved from Franklin, 30 seventh graders and additional sixth graders had joined the school; it opened this year (1996-97) with an incoming sixth grade, allowing it to span all of the middle grades.

While traditional in some ways, Constellation has pioneered in others, especially in its struggles to gain flexibility from the central office. For teachers, the amount of paperwork needed to run a school was unnerving. Added to that burden was the district's common reply to a request from the school: "But we've never done that before." Ruffner credits the district with trying to be helpful, "but they don't have a way of dealing with something different. We were not prepared for that."

The Constellation's staff, already working late into the evenings and on weekends, has added 20 days to its schedule for this year. The opening year was hard work, the "most challenging in my 25 years of teaching," says Ruffner, but she and the other teachers did it willingly because "we own what we are doing. We invest in it."

This year might not be as stressful, she believes, because "we no longer are under pressure to stay open. We are sure we will be here now."

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