Challenge Charter School

Posted March 2, 2009

Dear Parents: Thank you for taking a few minutes of your time to learn more about &/or share some of your experiences at Challenge Charter School. CCS was founded in 1996 by Superintendent, Greg Miller & Executive Director, Pam Miller, my parents. The Millers are still active in the leadership of CCS; and I am honored that they have chosen and support me in my new role as Principal. I am proud to have been working with CCS s outstanding team of educators since 1999. The team at CCS is passionate about putting kids first, offering an optimal educational environment, grounded in the fundamental skills of a hands-on, science-oriented, academic core curriculum. As Arizona s First Official Core Knowledge School our curriculum is integrated and sequential providing a challenging and differentiated learning environment also rich in history, character education, and technology. Recently, a few parents have commented on our testing culture. In response, I confirm that our students, of all backgrounds, consistently score 25 to 40% higher than the state average of both: all schools (~1700); and all charter schools (~485). This accomplishment is something our teachers, school community, parents, and especially students are proud of! So, yes, we do talk about it on campus; we empower and encourage our students to celebrate their achievements. Challenge is proud to offer many unique programs and services. Some of the opportunities at Challenge include: Extended-day Kindergarten, before & after school care, extracurricular classes during the school day (such as art, foreign language, PE, technology), Breakfast/lunch program, caring and highly qualified staff, parent/family nights, and a uniform policy. I encourage all interested parents to join us for one of our several Founders Tour & Informational Sessions this spring. At these tours, we discuss school policies & programs in detail and no question goes unanswered. Lots of information including tour dates is available on our webpage at www.challengecharterschool.net. Call our office today at 602-938-5411to sign up! Principal Wendy Miller
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Posted July 1, 2007

Dear Parents: Each and every time I come to Great Schools, I am humbled by the gracious statements and understanding our Parents have of their child s educational opportunities provided here at Challenge Charter School. I noticed that I had not updated the Comments from the Principal for this web page since October 2004, and a lot of things have happened here at Challenge Charter School since then: Challenge Charter School has been an Excelling School as defined by ADE s AZ LEARNS accountability system for three years. Our students have continued to improve their academic performance every year. Our students score 25 to 40% higher than the state average of both: all schools (1700); and all charter schools (485). Challenge Charter School was recently selected by the Center for Education Reform, a Washington D.C. advocacy foundation for parental choice in the education, as National Charter School of the Year . Over 4000 schools were eligible, 1200 were considered, and 53 were selected. This achievement was recognized and highlighted at a reception by Federal Secretary of Education Margret Spellings in Washington D.C and at a recent State Board of Education meeting in Phoenix. The school s achievements were recognized in June of 2006, by my selection to the very first group of the Circle of Honor Principals in Arizona, This honor was given to 17 principals in AZ, representing the top 1% performing schools in the State (both public district & charter schools). These principals were selected by the AZ Business & Education Coalition; the Wallace Foundation, and the AZ State Department of Education. (ADE) 40 of our teachers have been selected by and made teaching presentations at the annual conferences since 2000 of the Core Knowledge Foundation. Ten at the most recent 2007 Conference in Washington D.C. One of our Kindergarten teachers received a Silver Apple Award. Several of our teachers have been asked by ADE and have served on the State Standards Committee s for both Social Studies and Science. Although all of the above is wonderful and a great profile of the school accomplishments, Challenge, our teachers, the entire school, has not lost its focus of academic achievement; outstanding citizenship; and creating a learning environment that keeps kids looking for more questions to be answered by their outstanding commitment to their own intellectual fulfillment. Please visit our web page at www.challengecharterschool.net for lots of information and a virtual tour of the school.
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Posted November 19, 2009

This school really takes education seriously, they teach the kids by logical, critical thinking. They do not just pass your kid along to the next grade if does poorly, like other schools in AZ. Challenge reminds me of the east coast school, creating intelligent future leaders.
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Posted October 29, 2009

This is the best school in the Valley. My daughter would go there 7 days a week , if she could. For those students that are lucky enough to have Ms. Propp for second grade, you will excell! Ms.Propp is the best teacher my daughter has ever had. Now if Ms. Miller would have Ms. Propp teach 3rd grade this year and move her up every year until my daughter is done with 6th grade , I would be thrilled.She is the best and nicest teacher, the school should be very proud of the job she is doing. As far as the rest of the teachers go, they are tops. Keep up the good work, great school, great staff!
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