Sociological Analysis
by Leah Miller
What is Aveson?
Aveson Charter School is made up of two charters. The primary school (transitional
kindergarten through 5th grade) is called Aveson School of Leaders and the secondary
school (6th through 12th grade) is called Aveson Global Leadership Academy. Both are
located in Altadena, California. Aveson also has an Independant Learning Program and a
Home School Program. Currently they serve over 600 Pasadena area students.
Mission Statement: Aveson redefines teaching and learning so all children have the opportunity to
experience an exemplary public education. We provide the right instruction for every student every
day by supporting innovative teaching methods and a personalized, experience based learning
environment to ensure no child is left unknown.
3 Focuses: Personalized Mastery Learning, Social Leadership and Healthy Living
Guiding Principles
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Integrity is everything.
Personalized Learning: We all learn in different ways. Instead of expecting students to match their learning with the
style of the teacher, personalized learning tailors the learning experience to the individual. When you add mastery to the
model, students continue with the same material until theyve mastered it. There is no moving forward until the student is
ready. Personalized Learning is a progressively student driven model in which students deeply engage in meaningful,
authentic and rigorous challenges to demonstrate desired outcomes Allison Zmuda, Learning Personalized.
2.
Social Leadership:Aveson focuses a lot of time and attention on socialization. Empathy is a major theme, as is
investigating the world, recognizing perspectives, communicating ideas and taking action. Each classroom chooses one
global issue and works together on a Take Action project in order to make change on a personal or local level. Community
Day happens wice a year. All of the Aveson students TK-12 step away from their usual studies, gather on one campus to
create villages, and participate in special group activities.
3.
Healthy Living: Aveson understands that a healthy child is a better learner. Meditation and yoga are taught in
the classroom weekly. The Elementary school has a culinary arts program which emphasises the importance of
nutrition. Students at Aveson get ample time on the playgrounds to exercise and socialize.
Introducing Charter Schools into the Public School System fosters innovation. Without having to deal with red
tape, educators can create new curriculums and develop new techniques for educating tomorrows leaders.
These Charter School innovations will be shared with traditional Public School systems, leading to a stronger
Public School system all around.
All schools are held to the same standards and tests. In order to keep a charter, a school has to reach certain
goals thus Charters also foster a healthy amount of competition within a school district.
Charter Schools give parents and families a greater voice. Educators, administrators and families work together
towards achievement. Greater parent involvement can only help in social integration and transmitting of
culture.
Charter Schools are taking the gifted kids and the involved parents out of the traditional public schools leading
to a greater achievement gap. Trendy new white charter schools with upper-class, vaguely artsy innuendo in
their names -- I call them "the woodsy Walden schools" -- are obviously targeted at children of a social/racial
category that does not include the kids of immigrants from Mexico or Ethiopia. The "niche" effect of charter
schools guarantees a swift and vicious deepening of class and racial separation. President Obama -- who was
educated in very good and integrated schools and sends his children to an integrated and exclusive private school
-- is now acting on the belief that consciously and unashamedly segregated charter schools represent the answer
to the race-gap in America. Jonathan Kozol, advocate for Americas low-income children, 2012.
The attack on teachers unions is a major assault on the labor movement, in a place where there is tremendous potential
for social justice unionism to emerge through the organic connections between teachers and communities. The
weakening of their unions will mean thousands more teachers who become overworked and burned out, with lower pay and
fewer benefits. This attack will have a strong negative impact on the quality of education that most children receive. Gilliam Russom, International Socialist Review
My Perspective as a Parent
I am very happy to have the tuition-free option of Charter Schools. Ive really enjoyed being a part of a Charter School community. I do feel
empowered by the experience and I do think that I am playing a much more active role in my daughter's education.
I am really concerned with the whole idea of the Hidden Curriculum. I had a very traditional education and I dont feel like it served me at all
(note the picture on the left). I want something different for my daughter, especially in the day and age of No Child Left Behind when there is
such a strong focus on testing and having the right answer. I think the structure of personalized learning will help my daughter to be a very
innovative and creative thinker (picture on the right). I love that she gets to collaborate with her advisors every day. She has a true love of
learning right now and I hope that Aveson will foster that rather than squelch it.
I also feel very proud that Aveson has a focus on social issues. I think students will emerge from their program with a Sociological Imagination
unlike the kids who come out of mainstream education.
Socialization is also very important to me. I think the Guiding Principles on the school really set a wonderful value system and tone for the
administrators, educators, parents and students. This is so different than the values that underly a large bureaucratic education system.
Aveson can work to bring kids of lower socioeconomic status into their school. I
believe that ethnic diversity needs to be greater than and not just paralleled to the
community. Perhaps recruiting at risk students into charters could help bring
balance to the system as a whole. Bus service from low income neighborhoods would
also help so that families with two full time working parents or single parent families
can take advantage of the charter system.
Aveson could have a sister school in the Pasadena or Altadena area that they share
some of their fundraising with to bring better financial balance to the school district.
Aveson can share with the education community about the outcomes, achievements
and failures of personalized learning.
Works Cited
Aveson Difference. aveson.org. Aveson Charter Schools, 2012-2105, all rights reserved.
Cody, Anthony. Confronting the Inequality Juggernaut: A Q & A with Jonathan Kozol. Education Week. Editorial
Projects in Education., Inc. Web. July 18, 2011
Allison Zmuda, Learning Personalized: The Evolution of the Contemporary Classroom. John Wiley and Sons., Inc. San
Francisco, CA 2015
Kaufman, Peter. Cram.Memorize.Regurgitate.Forget. Everyday Sociology Blog. W.W. Norman & Company, Inc. Blog
post. April 26, 2012
Lagana-Riordan, Christine and Jemel P. Aguilar. Whats Missing from No Child Left Behind? A Policy Analysis from a
Social Work Perspective. Children and Schools, National Association of Social Workers. July 1, 2009
Russom, Gillian. The Case Against Charter Schools. International Socialist Review. The Center for Economic Research
and Social Change. Issue #71.