Choice Opportunities / SPARK School

SPARK School at Kyrene de las Manitas

Kyrene School District is committed to providing engaging, challenging educational environments which promote and inspire passion for learning, leading, and achieving. In 2019, the District launched a new program that reimagines the standard classroom structure by combining innovative practices in learning environments, methods and staffing.

SPARK can serve up to 120 students across three grade levels, taught by a core team of six educators: one Teacher Executive Designer (TED), two certified teachers and three teacher candidates. The program is housed on the campus of Kyrene de las Manitas, in a learning studio that is open and dynamic, equipped with furniture designed for flexibility and collaboration.

This model is the culmination of two years of effort that involved more than 100 Kyrene stakeholders participating in a design process facilitated by ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. Community input and participation is an important part of the process and continues to influence the program’s design.

Spark school profile

Spark spotlight on the schedule

Enrollment

The SPARK School at Kyrene de las Manitas will expand to include three grade levels in the 2020-21 school year. The program has capacity for 120 students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. Kyrene is now accepting applications for incoming 3rd and 4th graders for 2020-21. (Currently enrolled 3rd and 4th grade students will not need to re-apply for next year.)

Interested families must fill out an application form. If you are interested in this program for more than one child, separate applications are required for each child. Applications will be reviewed beginning on February 3.

Meet the Teacher Executive Designer (TED)

Kyrene School District has named Mary Brown the Certified Teacher Executive Designer (TED) of this new prototype school. Mrs. Brown oversees a staff of two additional full-time certified teachers as well as a team of instructional assistants, teaching interns, and content-area experts. These experts include professionals in the Kyrene community, such as engineers, who volunteer their time to supplement the lessons designed by the teachers. The goal of this model is to surround students with more educators, to serve their needs on multiple levels.

Mrs. Brown graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Prescott College, followed by a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University. Mrs. Brown’s roots in education began in the classroom, where she taught 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders for ten years in Tucson, Arizona. Her family then moved north, to Phoenix, where they sought out a home that would ensure their own children would attend school in the Kyrene School District.

Mrs. Brown served as an English Language Arts (ELA) coach in two Kyrene schools, then supported the work in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) at the district office. Most recently, she has been working in schools across the country, supporting teachers and administrators in implementing best teaching practices across all grade levels. While Mrs. Brown has enjoyed her many roles in education, her fondest experiences are from her time in the classroom, and she is excitedly embracing this new journey.

Member of the SPARK teacher team engaging with students

The Learning Experience

Mrs. Brown has a powerful vision for this new educational model, and she shares this vision with parents:

“We know that our role as educators is to help prepare your children for college and careers that are changing rapidly, for a world where leadership and communication skills are critical. Research shows that by offering opportunities on a regular basis for students to work with real-world issues, we are bridging their current and future selves. Students in this program will have the chance to explore meaningful topics over the course of several weeks, build knowledge on each topic through literature, research, experts in the field and hands-on practice. Simultaneously, they will be mastering grade level standards and working toward a culminating project that allows them to apply their learning to a purposeful task.

Our classroom will look, sound and feel different from what you would typically see. In addition to state-of-the-art technology and creative uses of the classroom where students can build, perform and experiment with hands-on activities, we will also encourage and facilitate discussion, collaboration and healthy debate. We know that the skills of cooperation and building relationships through these tasks are critical for future leaders to have. Students will often not only question themselves and their current understandings, but question their peers, fostering a growth mindset and perseverance in navigating the inquiry process."

- Mary B. Brown, Certified Teacher Executive Designer

The benefits of teaming

Deep, personalized learning

SPARK Name Reveal

Background and Development Information

The purpose of this initiative was to design innovative solutions to challenges in education by using an open-ended design process that values local context, diverse perspectives, entrepreneurial thinking and testing of solutions. View the development process below:

Why the need for something new and different?
The purpose of this initiative is to design innovative solutions to challenges in education by using an open-ended design process that values local context, diverse perspectives, entrepreneurial thinking and testing of solutions.

The project has two primary goals:
- Engage students in a dynamic learning environment that promotes academic excellence and prepares them to be innovators and leaders of tomorrow.
- Deploy educators in non-traditional ways by creating new roles and staffing structures which will attract and retain high-quality staff and reinvigorate the teaching profession.
Curriculum Audit Findings:

The program model addresses multiple findings and recommendations of the curriculum audit. Specifically, long-range plans for the following:
- Facility Utilization - plan for under-utilized schools with low enrollment
- Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment - comprehensive plan that addresses rigor, curriculum development and implementation and assessment
- Professional Development - job embedded professional development to address continuous learning for teachers
- Talent Management - plan to address retention of teachers and pathways that attract new teachers
Kyrene Strategic Plan 2022:

Kyrene’s mission and vision guide the Kyrene Strategic Plan, and this project is included under Goal 1: High Performing Students: “Prepare all students to achieve their full potential in school and life by providing a dynamic learning environment that maximizes student growth and performance.”

Within this goal, strategies and tactics include:
- Enhancing the district portfolio of competitive options to offer innovative programs that meet the needs and interest of all students
- Partnering with Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College to develop a design for a new school model
- Creating a prototype and test model
Why Kyrene de las Manitas was chosen
The location for the prototype was not discussed during the design team meetings. This discussion occurred at an executive level with input from multiple directors. There were multiple sites considered for the prototype, but once the following criteria were considered, the site selected for the prototype was Kyrene de las Manitas.
1. Location
  a. Centrally located within District
  b. Access to freeways
2. Cost
  a. Existing pod with operable walls to minimize construction costs
  b. No new build required
  c. Projected cost for remodeling, furniture and equipment is $125,000 which is earmarked within Capital Master Plan, funded through bond dollars
3. Capacity
  a. 49% capacity utilization (426/876)
  b. Space to implement prototype with no change to the existing Manitas program
4. Enrollment
  a. Declining (down 134 since FY15) - 38% resident enrollment (162/426)
While the prototype would be housed at Manitas, it would be open to all students. There would be minimal impact on the Manitas community as there is no requirement for in-boundary students to participate in the program. One potential area of positive impact would be increased enrollment, which is good for the whole school. Operating schools at capacity is a better use of tax dollars, to ensure we are fully utilizing the costs associated with running a school.
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