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Mission Statement
Tapestry Charter School provides a challenging and rigorous education in an environment that emphasizes diversity, compassion, collaboration, community, creativity, and leadership, so that students are academically and socially prepared to meet the demands of further education while maturing into productive and caring adults with a lifelong passion for learning.
Philosophy
1. Buffalo needs a high school that has High Expectations for all students and believes all students can excel. Tapestry Charter High School will emphasize:
• Rigorous Academics
• Teamwork and Social Justice
• Physical and Emotional Fitness
• Appreciation for the Arts
• Family and Community Engagement
2. Buffalo needs a high school where students experience Real-World Learning. At Tapestry Charter High School, academic expeditions will grab their interest, motivate them to work hard, and help them to use the information they learn. Real-world expeditions will spur students to achieve more than they ever imagined they could.
3. Buffalo needs a high school where each student has an Individual Learning Plan that documents his or her strengths, needs, and goals. At Tapestry Charter High School, each student will have guidance from trusted adults throughout the school year to ensure he or she has the enrichment and the remedial support needed to excel. Each student will be known and valued. Each student will learn resilience, perseverance, and self-discipline, as well as facts.
4. Buffalo needs a high school with a School Culture of Caring, where students, staff, and families practice cooperation, compassion, tolerance, and patience with each other. At Tapestry Charter High School, productive, respectful relationships will be at the heart of the team effort. Students and staff will learn to be mindful of their feelings and their actions toward themselves and others.
5. Buffalo needs a high school with an emphasis on High Quality Professional Development. At Tapestry Charter High School, each staff member will benefit from a professional development plan, so that his or her own learning never stops. Teachers will have the tools they need to meet the challenges of every school day.
6. Buffalo needs a high school with Opportunities for Family and Community Involvement. At Tapestry Charter High School, adults from all areas of students' lives and communities will support each other, so that students can build their best futures. Students will design and provide authentic service projects for the community. Active collaboration with Canisius College will widen community connections and support the foundations of the school.
Goals
• All students will graduate with a Regents diploma.
• All students will be ready for college when they graduate.
• All students will develop maturity, self-knowledge, and confidence.
• All students will be known well and valued as individuals.
• All staff will be driven by the goal of student learning, with no
• excuses for student failure.
History
From its opening in 2001, Tapestry Charter Elementary School has had strong student scores on New York State Assessments and high ratings on family satisfaction surveys. On the 2005 New York State English Language Arts assessment, 4th grade students at Tapestry Charter School achieved the second highest mean scaled score (697) of ALL schools in Erie County. Twelve of 24 Tapestry 4th graders scored a score of 4 on the assessment, the highest score possible. Most of these students have been at Tapestry Charter School since 1st grade, and their test scores are an indicator of the power of the academic program at the school. The school's success rests on the use of the best educational techniques presented by well trained staff within a personal and supportive community.
Tapestry Charter School is a successful school in many other ways. The school has a solid financial status, excellent administrators, a talented teaching staff, satisfied parents. and students who are thriving in a program that weaves together the humanities, sciences, arts, and social responsibility.
In 2003, a group of parents, teachers, and administrators asked: “What high school in Buffalo can continue the quality educational experience that our children have at Tapestry?” Finding few options, they decided to create a high school that would continue giving their children the educational experience that they thrive on at Tapestry. Tapestry Charter High School will use the Expeditionary Learning model, a New American Schools design that emphasizes high achievement through active learning, character growth and teamwork. The Expeditionary Learning program is already being used at Tapestry in the middle school program.
The Tapestry Charter High School Development Team includes parents of Tapestry students, Tapestry administrators, and skilled community members. The team is led by Lynn Seagren Bass, currently a psychologist with the Buffalo Public Schools with many years of past experience as an administrator in special education and pupil services, and Tricia Davis, a high school social studies teacher in the Maryvale Schools. Team members have been inspired by the work of such nationally respected educators as Deborah Meier, Theodore Sizer, and Howard Gardner. They have collaborated with the talented school development staff of the non-profit Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound organization and education department faculty at Canisius College in Buffalo. Formal partnership agreements have been developed with both organizations.
The proposal for Tapestry Charter High School was submitted in June 2005 as part of the 5-year charter renewal application for Tapestry Charter School. The charter renewal, including the new high school, was recommended for approval by the Charter Schools Institute in August 2005, and the State University of New York Board of Trustees approved it on September 20, 2005. The high school opens in September 2006 with 48 students in the 9th grade. The high school will grow one grade per year, with 72 students starting 9th grade in 2007. Full enrollment of 288 students will be reached in the year 5 of the high school.