Great Expectations and Birch Grove recognized as “High-Quality Charter Schools”

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) has named Birch Grove Community School (BGCS) in Tofte and Great Expectations School (GES) in Grand Marais among 22 “High-Quality Charter Schools” that are eligible to participate in programs from Minnesota’s Federal Charter Schools Program Grant Project.

Out of 149 charter schools in the state, the 22 top-performing charter schools were identified as having a track record of increasing student achievement and student success based on proficiency and growth on standardized state tests, graduation rate (for high schools), and demographics. GES was ranked 12th and Birch Grove was ranked 13th.

“We sometimes get caught up in the ways we want to do better, so it’s great to have this recognition from MDE that we’re already doing a lot of things really well,” said GES Director Peter James.

“It shows that our focus on individual students and their overall development has benefits not just in social/emotional growth, but in academic success, as well. It’s definitely a credit to the efforts of our teachers and parents,” said James.

BGCS Director Diane Blanchette expressed similar views. “We’ve always believed in serving our community by putting the needs of students and their families first. Our small size has its challenges, but this news from MDE makes it clear that we’ve been successful in bringing high-quality education to the West End. It’s something for our entire community to celebrate.”

According to the Minnesota Department of Education, charter schools are public schools established to bring new approaches to public education and provide a different set of opportunities for students to achieve success. They are accountable for the same learning standards and assessments; however, they have more freedom in creating educational programs to support student learning. Minnesota’s Federal Charter Schools Program Grant Project is intended to support new charter schools, identify high-performing charter schools, and help spread successful programs and best practices to benefit more students throughout Minnesota.