2010 National Blue Ribbon Special Edition

Synergy Academies' Online Newsletter

Fall 2010

SYNERGY SPECTRUM
Educating Students in South Los Angeles

2010 National Blue Ribbon Special Edition

Left: Synergy leaders at Blue Ribbon Ceremony in D.C.

Greetings!

We are proud to announce that this fall, Synergy Charter Academy became the first elementary school in the history of South Los Angeles to receive a National Blue Ribbon Award since the award's inception in 1982. This is the highest honor that an American public school can earn, and it is based on five years worth of academic results.

Synergy is honored to receive this distinguished award that recognizes our students, staff, parents, and supporters like you as national leaders in creating educational equity.

Check out Synergy's website to learn more about what makes Synergy's schools so successful.

We're all in this together,

The Synergy Academies Family

Synergy and LAUSD Create a National Model

Kindergarteners on Patriotic Day on Their New Campus

For the past six years, Synergy Charter Academy's students and staff operated out of a church site where they packed up their classrooms every week. Despite these facilities challenges, the school was able to catapult its students' academic achievement from among the bottom 10% of all students statewide to among the top 10% of all students statewide.

This fall, Synergy Charter Academy moved onto a new Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) facility where Synergy is working together to "co-operate" the entire campus with a new LAUSD school, Quincy Jones Elementary School. Synergy and LAUSD are among the first in the nation to pioneer this collaborative effort between a charter public school and a traditional public school.

Synergy is in the process of working with LAUSD teachers to replicate this collaborative effort at the middle school and high school levels starting as early as next fall, if their proposals are accepted via LAUSD's Public School Choice process. Synergy's long-term goal is to eliminate the achievement gap in the American public education system by collaborating with district schools and sharing its best practices with schools nationwide.

Educators worldwide have already asked Synergy's founders to speak at special events and have visited Synergy's schools to learn how to replicate their success nationally in Colorado, Delaware, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., as well as internationally in places such as the Democratic Republic of Georgia.

Contact Meg Palisoc, Teacher, Co-Founder, and Chief Executive Officer, to schedule a tour of Synergy's new collaborative campus.

In This Issue

Synergy and LAUSD Create a National Model

Synergy Schools Are Top Schools in South LA

Giving Thanks Despite State Budget Cuts

Synergy at Two Capitals

Synergy Students on Their First Plane Ride

This spring, Synergy's students will have a chance to visit two capitals. Our 5th grade students will visit our state's capital in Sacramento, and our 8th grade students will visit our nation's capital in Washington, D.C.

While parents in other communities are able to afford to take their children on these educational trips, over 90% of our students' families qualify for free or reduced price lunch, so they are unable to afford to give their children these special opportunities.

Both trips will be many of our students' first time on an airplane. On a previous trip, one student asked, "Will I be able to roll down the window and touch the clouds?" Since she had never been on an airplane before, she didn't realize that passengers cannot roll down their windows in a jet plane.

This holiday season, instead of purchasing a traditional gift, sponsor a Synergy student's trip in the name of your favorite aunt, uncle, or grandparent. $300 will send a child on her first plane ride to Sacramento to learn about our state's history. $1,000 will send a teenager on his first cross-country trip away from home to learn about the roots of our country.

Your tax-deductible donation will provide our students with the hands-on learning they are not able to obtain within the four walls of a classroom. Who knows? Your gift might even inspire our nation's future President!

Shop for Synergy

Give back to Synergy during your holiday shopping:

* When you shop, dine, or watch a movie at The Grove and The Americana at Brand between November 19 and December 24, 5% of your purchases will go to Synergy Academies. Just show your receipts to the concierge and tell them to credit your purchases to Synergy Academies.

* Fresh & Easy will donate $1 for every $20 that you spend buying groceries at any Fresh & Easy. So, if you spend at least $20, then Synergy gets $1. If you spend at least $40, Synergy gets $2. Collect your receipts from September 15 through December 31 and mail them to: Synergy Charter Academy,
c/o Parent Council, 900 E. 33rd Street,
Los Angeles, CA 90011.

* Shop at stores such as Old Navy, Macy's, Toys"R"Us, Apple Store, and Best Buy via the Box Tops for Education website (enter the zip code, 90011, and select Synergy Charter Academy). A portion of your purchases will be credited to our schools.

Synergy Schools Are Top Schools in South LA

For the fifth year in a row, Synergy Charter Academy remains the highest-performing fully-implemented K-5 school in South Los Angeles based on the California Standards Test.

Ever since it opened in 2008, Synergy Kinetic Academy continues to be the highest-performing middle school in its South LA neighborhood with an Academic Performance Index (API) score of 802. In just its second year of operation, Synergy's middle school exceeded the statewide goal of 800 for all schools. This is a remarkable accomplishment since 75-80% of Synergy Kinetic Academy's 6th-8th grade students are new to a Synergy school and the majority of the students enter middle school performing at a 2nd through 4th grade reading and math level.

Synergy attributes part of its academic success to its ability to meet students' individual needs via The Reading Counts Program. Through this program, students read books at their independent reading level and they take quizzes on the books they read via the Scholastic Reading Counts computer program.

According to Synergy Co-Founder Randy Palisoc, "When we first implemented the program at our elementary school, we purchased hundreds of books that we thought would last for at least several years. The majority of our students said they never read an entire chapter book on their own prior to coming to our school. Within the first year of implementation, many of our students read through our entire library, so every year, we've had to purchase additional books for our students to read. This is a good problem to have, but it has been difficult to purchase additional books due to the state budget cuts each year."

Last year, City National Bank and Barnes & Noble donated over $5,000 worth of books to Synergy's schools. These books have been put to good use since both Synergy schools significantly expanded from 390 to 670 students in grades K-8. Yet, despite this generous donation, Synergy's middle school students are still running out of books to read. As a result, Synergy would appreciate your help in making an online donation today to help purchase more books such as The Harry Potter Series, The Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series, and classics such as Where The Red Fern Grows and Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl for Synergy's middle school.

Giving Thanks Despite State Budget Cuts

Since Synergy's schools are public schools that operate almost 100% from state and federal funds, our budget has been significantly cut by the State of California over the past several years.

Despite these cuts, Synergy is thankful that our educational programs continue to thrive, thanks to our partner organizations and individual donors.

Special thanks to the following organizations for providing special programs and projects for our students, staff, and families:

After School All Stars (After School Programs) · A Place Called Home (After School Programs) · Center for Student Missions (Volunteers) · City Hearts (Arts Instruction) · Iridescent (Science Programs) · Living Art Los Angeles (Arts Programs - above photo is a Living Art Los Angeles sponsored Haitian dance performance at Synergy's middle school) · Los Angeles Music Center (Arts Instruction) · Los Angeles Social Venture Partners (Volunteers) · National Council of La Raza (Parent Education Programs) · Target (Music Programs) · USC Joint Educational Project (Volunteers) · USC MESA (Science Programs)

While many of these programs and services are provided generously by our partner organizations, some programs require additional financial support from individual donors as a result of the recent state budget cuts. If you are passionate about arts education, after school programs, or science education, please mail your tax-deductible donation to support these programs at Synergy's schools.