| | CSP announces new Fellows to launch gap-closing schools
Minneapolis, MN. 5.25.11. After a highly selective process that attracted a dozen national and regional candidates, Charter School Partners, a Minnesota-based non-profit charter support group, today announced it has selected three Fellows to go through a rigorous two-year school leader fellowship culminating in the opening of high-performing, achievement-gap closing urban charter schools in the Twin Cities.
“We are pleased to announce that three CSP Fellows have been chosen from an impressive list of regional and national candidates,” said Katie Barrett Kramer, Director of the CSP Fellowship. “Angela Mansfield, Matthew Bannon and Daniela Vasan will lead a core of exemplar schools that will change the character of the state’s expectations about what schools are capable of doing for our neediest students. It is our hope and belief that the Fellows’ schools will help put the charter school movement and public education in the state on a new path toward excellence for all students.”
 Angela Mansfield
Ms. Mansfield, a Minneapolis native and a Milken Educator Award Recipient, has been working with the Minneapolis Public Schools since 1997 as an exemplary teacher, a Reading First Literacy Coordinator, and, most recently, as a TAP mentor, providing instructional coaching to teachers to improve their performance as part of the well-regarded national System for Teacher and Student Advancement. Angela received a B.A. from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA., a M.Ed in Literacy at the University of Minnesota and is currently a PhD candidate focusing on Literacy at the U of M.
Angela is currently in residency at Harvest Preparatory/BEST Academy in Minneapolis and Higher Ground Academy in St. Paul. Her ARCH Academy will open in South Minneapolis in 2013. Matthew is currently in residency at Concordia Creative Learning Academy in St. Paul and Higher Ground Academy also in St. Paul. His West Side Summit will open in West St. Paul in 2013
 Matthew Bannon
Matthew Bannon, a Teach for America alum who taught in Houston, TX, has served as a leader for the Twin Cities Teaching Fellows, a project of The New Teacher Project (TNTP), where he oversaw the work of Fellows who were placed in numerous Saint Paul Public Schools. In addition, he has recently worked with TNTP on nation-wide initiatives. He presently serves at the Minnesota Literacy Council where he recruits, selects and trains AmeriCorps VISTAs. Mr. Bannon received a B.A. from Texas A&M University.
Both Ms. Mansfield and Mr. Bannon will begin their CSP Fellowship in July, 2011 and open new charter schools in 2013 in the urban core of the Twin Cities.
According to Barrett Kramer, the Fellows will receive national caliber education and training from Charter School Partners, community partners and school leader mentors from some of Minnesota’s most effective charter schools, including Hiawatha Leadership Academy, Harvest Prep/Best Academy, Higher Ground Academy and Concordia Creative Learning Academy. The program will include a residency position with these four schools, travel to best-practice charters across the country as well as selective academic coursework.
The CSP Fellowship was developed after extensive research of similar fellowship models including KIPP’s Fisher Fellowship and like programs at New Leaders for New Schools, Building Excellent Schools (BES) and New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO), among others. In addition, training programs tied to several prominent national and regional universities were studied.
Eric Mahmoud, Director of Harvest Prep/Best Academy in North Minneapolis, stated “the CSP Fellowship selection process was incredibly rigorous. The planned training for the CSP Fellows will be imbedded in effective schools and will be intense. As a result, I believe that this educational leadership development initiative will prove itself to be a major player in contributing to closing the achievement gap in Minnesota.”
Shannon Blankenship, Director of Hiawatha Leadership Academy, who was a Fisher Fellow with the KIPP organization, also commented on the program: “I am very impressed with the quality and depth of the CSP Fellowship. It is top-flight, national caliber. The Fellowship will be key in helping close the achievement gap in the Twin Cities.”
“After being both an observer and a participant in the charter school movement, the CSP Fellowship program is the answer to the future of quality charter schools who meet the needs of our children,” said Mary Donaldson, school leader at Concordia Creative Learning Academy. “Developing a leader, who creates the vision, learns the skills, puts the strategies and actions in place BEFORE the school opens is the key. Right now it is backwards – learning on the job, speaking for myself, many failures and mistakes could have been avoided if I would have had this opportunity. Preventative rather than reactive – that is what is needed in our movement – in the attempt to create quality schools – this program is the way to do it!”
According to Barrett Kramer, between the CSP Fellowship and CSP Charter Start, a separate CSP initiative, Charter School Partners is projecting that it will help launch 10 to 15 new high-performing, close-the-gap schools in the next five years.
 |
