A new way to learn

Working long hours and traveling many miles, Charley Clark, the new director of the Pea Ridge Business and Manufacturing Academy, is moving full steam ahead to get the academy up and running for next year. He spent his first week as director in Lewisville, Texas, learning from Dr. Alan D. Wimberley, chief learning officer of ResponsiveEd. He has spent much of the next week meeting with business leaders around northwest Arkanss.

A parent meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 4, to introduce parents and students to the academy. Open enrollment begins March 10. State guidelines limit the number of students for the charter school to 125 for the first year. Clark said if more students apply, then state guidelines require the school to hold a lottery.

Five pathways have been created for students of the academy. They are: Logistic Management, Health Care Management; Plastic and Metal Fabrication; Industrial Technology; and Sales and Communication. For each pathway, there is at least one business partner and a college that will offer college credit.

"Our focus is on specific career education," Clark said, explaining that business leaders identify what training is needed in employees. "Our business partners are really the light at the end of the tunnel. It's easy to sit back and produce things and think you have it right, but it makes it easier when they (business partners) clarify what skills are needed for people to get the jobs that are available.

"We truly are listening to the businesses," Clark said, adding that it not only helps the students because they receive the necessary training and certification, but helps the businesses by providing qualified employees.

"The business partners guide our instruction," he said. "They let us know the skills involved. Our job is to take what the businesses guide us to do and make it part of the curriculum."

There will be a two-week open enrollment with a standardized form for every student to fill out. Parent signatures are required. Each student applying will be interviewed and pathways will be selected, Clark said.

"This year's seniors will get one year. They will have the option of taking four college classes -- workforce readiness. It will also give them business contacts," Clark said. "One year is better than none."

Students in the academy will be held to a higher standard, a business standard, because it is a choice to be involved. There will be a dress code. Tardiness will not be tolerated, just as in business. There will be safety guidelines because of the equipment.

The academic side of the charter school is modeled after an iSchool, in which students will follow a self-paced core curriculum of math, science, English and history, under the direction of certified teachers.

"The most important thing the students need to understand, it's not education like it's always been. It's completely different; it's guided by business," Clark said.