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Trombetta: Charter Schools Pushing Public Education to 'Tipping Point'
TRENTON, N.J., Nov 20, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ --
Charter schools are pushing the public education system to a "tipping point" at which real reform and innovation can occur, Dr. Nick Trombetta said Wednesday (Nov. 18) in a keynote address at the New Jersey Charter Schools Business and Technology Conference.
"The pace of change in the next 10 years will make the last 10 years look slow in comparison," predicted Dr. Trombetta, founder and CEO of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. PA Cyber - with nearly 9,000 students the largest cyber charter school in the commonwealth - celebrates its 10(th) anniversary in 2010.
"What charter schools and cyber charter schools are creating is a model of public education that is flexible, scaleable, portable and responsive," he said.
Starting a statewide K-12 online public school from the ground up, Dr. Trombetta said the school's founders "stepped on every landmine possible" but built a successful model "by remaining nimble as an organization and responsive to the needs of each and every child."
He was invited to speak at the two-day conference at Rutgers University, sponsored by the Center for Effective School Practices at the Charter School Resource Center in the Rutgers Graduate School of Education.
A pioneer in charter schools and online education, Dr. Trombetta also founded the 550-student Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School and the National Network of Digital Schools, a provider of Lincoln Interactive online curriculum.
"PA Cyber began accepting students in the fall of 2000, operating in a borrowed room at Midland's elementary school with a staff of seven and two telephones. We weren't sure what we were doing and we didn't know who, if anybody, would come," he said.
PA Cyber pioneered real-time "virtual classroom" courses in 2003, and divided into 10 self-contained academy units three years ago when enrollment surpassed 6,000. In 2009 statewide testing, PA Cyber reached 29 performance targets to make AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress).
"When I look back over the last 10 years and consider the remarkable things accomplished by our students and staff," Dr. Trombetta said, "it's clear our success is fundamentally based on one thing: choice."
CONTACT: Fred Miller, +1-724-643-1180 x1377, fred.miller@nndsonline.org
SOURCE National Network of Digital Schools
http://www.pacyber.org/
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