Innovative Educational Programs offers an easily customizable range of services in support of charter schools’ founders’ efforts to significantly increase the likelihood of attaining readiness to open the school’s doors on time. IEP has considerable experience in all aspects of the planning process, including instruction and curriculum (including for Special Education, English Language Learners, advanced placement, accelerated credit recovery, etc.), acquisition of technology, staffing, financing, establishing partnerships and community-based support, and marketing. During the operation of the school, IEP can offer services such as comprehensive school management, partial management services (special education; after-school programs; behavior modification and school climate, etc.), financial management (budgeting, audit compliance, and billing), and human resources (new hires, staff replacement, temporary staffing, benefits management).

PROPOSED SERVICES: PLANNING OR EXPANSION PHASE

During the challenging phases of planning or expansion, IEP can support you in the following areas:

DELIVERY OF INSTRUCTION: PROJECT CHILD™

Recognized by the US Department of Education as an effective teaching and learning model for the 21st century classroom, Project CHILD helps teachers accelerate student achievement. CHILD & TEAMS transform the traditional single-teacher, single-grade, single-year classroom. Teachers achieve truly differentiated and rigorous instruction while also becoming subject-matter experts by being able to focus more in-depth with the curriculum than ever before. Students grow as leaders and independent learners through self-pacing work, self-assessments and leadership opportunities. Looping allows for more time on-task and less time lost at beginning and end of the year. Even the youngest students are more mature since CHILD gives them more opportunities to be independent and task focused.

CURRICULUM ORGANIZATION AND DESIGN

IEP can assist you with the selection of the standards-aligned curriculum for the general student population, your special education students, as well as your English Language Learners. We can also help with selecting Advanced Placement Courses, accelerated credit recovery courses, and other web-delivered content.

TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION

We support teachers in achieving an effective integration of technology into the curriculum by creating technology-enriched learning centers and effectively plan for technology integration based on students’ needs.

TEACHER AND ADMINISTRATIVE TRAINING AND SUPPORT

Our job-embedded professional development opportunities are based on the researched models of teacher effectiveness (Danielson’s and Marzano’s Effective Teaching Frameworks ).

STAFFING

Our HR department has extensive experience in staffing entire schools, from experienced principals to janitorial positions, as well as for specific programs within a school. Other areas of expertise are benefits management and compliance.

SCHOOL CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT

In order for learning to occur, the school environment plays a role of utmost importance. The school must be a safe, comfortable and nonthreatening place for your students. Behavior, dress and expectations must be spelled out in your student manual. Each student must receive an individual orientation which will include a thorough explanation of the student code. The code must be clear, fair and contain consequences all within the rules of the School District.

The goal of IEP is to instill pride in each student, pride in them, pride in their school, and pride in their community. Working in a nonthreatening small group atmosphere, with a real shot at daily triumphs, will go a long way in keeping the school safe and effective. All of the staff will go through extensive anti-bullying and passive – restraint training.

Youth development principles are an integral component of our program. Many educators seem to agree that utilizing social-emotional approaches to learning represents the greatest promise to reaching disconnected youth. To this end, IEP’s program integrates the learning of social-emotional skills in the overall program. Understanding of one’s own emotions, self-regulating emotions, effectively managing and utilizing feedback, considering the feelings of others with empathy and perspective taking, and constructive problem solving are all aspects of our support structure.

SPECIAL EDUCATION

IEP has worked in the field of Special Education since its inception and actually had over twenty years of experience in that arena with our two former companies. For the last seven years we have run a Special Education School in Hillside, New Jersey. Our current school serves students from Hillside, Newark, Irvington, Elizabeth, and East Orange (New Jersey). This experience gives us an edge that many other companies do not possess.

PARTNERSHIPS

Our organization feels that it is critical that students extend their learning beyond the classroom. At high-school level, for instance, it is at a job placement or doing community service that a student can best learn the lessons of responsibility and work ethic.

IEP has a long-established partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where our high school students conduct externships. We can help you build similar partnerships and attract community-based commitment.

An important aspect of the school management process is establishing partnerships with the school district(s) that feed your school enrollment. IEP can help you ensure this relationship is a beneficial one, based on mutual communication.

MARKETING AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Establishing a marketable image of your school is very important especially before the initial enrollment period. IEP is experienced in creating marketing communication plans within the budgetary restraints of today’s economy. Community outreach and personalized mailings are some of the tools we use.

PROPOSED SERVICES: SCHOOL OPERATION PHASE

Once you open the doors of your school, IEP can support you in the following areas:

COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT SERVICES

As part of the comprehensive school management services, the following are the main areas of focus:

ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT AND INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

Highly skilled leadership embedded throughout the organization is key to sustainable growth. Successful schools have leaders who can unite individuals around common goals, while supporting them with sufficient resources and training to achieve them. Likewise, successful organizations are able to provide appropriate resources for the ongoing individual development of its leaders along with supports that focus on student achievement.

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

All parties involved are held accountable for achieving consistent student learning across all grades. IEP has a thorough understanding of standards-based education, including the selection and periodic review of culturally relevant and rigorous curriculum, research-based instructional strategies, and assessments intended to inform teachers on student learning. We believe that, in an effective school, achievement results are constantly and systematically monitored

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Creating a positive learning environment is best approached by the unified efforts of the entire school community and includes responsive and collaborative partnerships. Successful schools employ fair and meaningful evaluation processes while instituting professional development and deploying resources that foster a high-performing professional community.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Appropriate management of financial resources will result in academic gains. Sound fiscal management focuses greatest resources on greatest need, not on equal distribution of resources. IEP can help you ensure that your school is a successful educational organization that is fiscally responsible in its distribution of both public and private (foundation) funds and seeks additional resources, when necessary, to enhance the goals of the school. We can support you with your budgeting, audit compliance, as well as billing efforts.

COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING

Creating a cohesive strategic plan that aligns resources with research-based strategies and characteristics of high-performing schools is one of the greatest challenges in positively impacting schools. Successful schools engage stakeholders in a process of continual improvement in which decisions are based on data, and challenging, but achievable goals are monitored, evaluated, revised, and celebrated when achieved. Effective plans monitor evidence of fidelity of implementation efforts as well as evidence of impact on student learning.