State panel advances Harbor School charter application to Virginia Board of Education

The Public Charter School Standing Committee of the Virginia Department of Education voted on May 8 to find that the Harbor School’s application met the Board of Education’s approval criteria on feasibility, curriculum, financial soundness and other objective measures and to advance the application to the Virginia Board of Education for its May 22 business session.

The vote follows a presentation from the applicant and an extensive question-and-answer session about the Harbor School’s competency-based middle school model, student assessment and remediation plans, staffing and facilities, and its plans to prioritize outreach to low-income and hard-to-reach families. Sarah Craig, lead community founder of the Harbor School, said the model grew from “over 4 years of investment, contributions from over a 175 people, and over 4,200 hours of design, implementation and reflection.”

Why it matters: If the state board recommends approval and the local school board votes in favor, the Harbor School would become a public charter middle school in Richmond that the applicants say is targeted to students who have historically struggled in traditional models. The local school division (Richmond Public Schools) is the final authorizer under Virginia law.

What the application proposes The Harbor School proposes a competency-based, learner-centered middle school model for grades 6–8 built around small cohorts and multi-adult teams. According to the application and presentation, students would start in…