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School Description

• SPUTNIK Math, Science & Language Academy (SMSLA) is proposing to open a K-8 tuition-free public charter school in Oakland Unified School District. SMSLA plans to open in August 2007 and serve approximately 120 K-3 students in its first year of operation. The school plans to add new kindergarten classes each year so that eventually SMSLA will become a high-quality K-8 school.

• The mission of SMSLA is to create an academically rigorous learning environment with a focus on math, science and language learning where every child has equal access to education and is encouraged to and supported in becoming a well-educated, open-minded and socially responsible member of the new global community.

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Target Population

• Students from urban community of OUSD• English Language Learners and students with Limited

English Proficiency • Ethnically, racially, socio-economically and

academically diverse student body

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Part I – Founding Group

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Who is behind Sputnik Initiative?

• Parents, accredited teachers, school administrators, social workers, non-profit and community activists, operational managers, financial and legal professionals

• Majority of the founders are first generation immigrants and refugees, who escaped ethnic and political persecution their home countries and have first-hand experience with poverty and language challenges and are committed to serving the needs of underprivileged children and ELLs

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Parent Supporters

• Program generated substantial interest from parents of

English Language Learners (ELL) students• Attracted families from a wide range of Bay Area socio-

economic and educational backgrounds regardless of their native language or cultural origin

• Demographic surveys demonstrated that sufficient language and cultural base exist for successful implementation of a foreign language program in Oakland

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Founding Group• Group possesses expertise in all areas crucial to the charter

school’s success in curriculum, instruction and assessment, finance, facilities, business management, governance and administration and has substantial experience in serving target population

• The founding group clearly demonstrated their passion and commitment to development of high quality charter school and received necessary professional training by completing comprehensive Charter Launch Program sponsored by California Charter School Association

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Founding Group

With zero funding on a completely voluntary basis: • conducted an extensive outreach campaign, • designed high-quality educational program, • developed viable, balanced budget • raised significant funds• brought the need for the proposed program to a

public spotlight

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Founding GroupEducational Leadership:

• Rostislav Smirnov, M.S., M.E., founder and principal of Advanced Math and Science School in Odessa, Ukraine, with fifteen years of experience in Math teaching and school management in the United States and abroad

• Mina Teper, M.E., an elementary school teacher, experienced in teaching English as a Second Language to newcomer students.

Business and Legal Expertise: • Valerie Yevtushenko, B.S. , UC Berkeley, management consultant, with over ten years of

experience in business operations; • Milena Levitin, J.D., UC Berkeley, Immigration Law attorney with over ten years of experience in

providing pro-bono services to indigenous clients, member of Parent Advisory Counsel to the San Francisco Board of Education.

In 1994, Valerie Yevtushenko and Milena Levitin co-founded educational project “Progress – Educational Advancement Program”, a unique grass-roots that helped hundreds of newly-arrived immigrants to pursue higher education in the United States

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Curriculum Advisory Group

• Kathryn Lindholm-Leary, Ph.D., Professor of Child Development; over twenty years of experience in design, implementation and evaluation of language programs in over 50 school districts; author of internationally acclaimed educational publications and expert for the US Department of Education.

• Alexander Givental, Ph. D., Professor of Mathematics at University

of California at Berkeley, author of numerous academic publications and textbooks

• Aaron Melman, Ph. D., Professor of Mathematics at Santa Clara

University with over fifteen years of teaching and program development experience

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Academic Endorsements The group is honored to receive endorsement and pledge of support in the

development of a high quality program from • Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) endorsed the program and

stated that “there are extremely few programs of this depth in the United States, and […] none in the Bay Area”

• Stanford Math Department “enthusiastically supports main principles of the project, and believes that the proposed K-8 charter school “Sputnik” will help improve mathematics skills of the school students”

• American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS, the Russian Flagship Program committed time and resources to the development of a unique high-quality Russian Language Program

• Pushkin Language Institute and Russian Ministry of Education endorsed the program and committed help with instructional materials and professional development

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Part II – Curriculum and Educational Model

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Goals

• To increase learning opportunities for all students • Special emphasis on the specific needs of:

– English Language Learners (ELLs) – Low-achieving students

This goal will be attained through: • Rigorous focus on academics • Innovative national and international teaching

methodologies• Appropriate support and timely academic intervention• Parent and community involvement

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Five Program Elements

• Innovative Educational Model correlates CA state standards, is highly organized and sequential; emphasizes “depth over breadth”, and is focused on building solid foundation for upper-grade learning

• Effective research-proven Instructional Strategies, tailored to target population

• Research-based, time-tested national and international materials

• Regular and Objective Assessment, allowing adequate support & timely intervention

• High-quality teachers & Focus on Professional Development

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Curriculum Highlights• Math and Science Program• Focus on Literacy Development• Early Age Foreign Language Acquisition • Multicultural Component

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Math Program

• Built upon research-based promising national and international educational models: Singapore Math, Gelfand Algebra, Kiselev Geometry

• Sequential, gradually building on prior knowledge• Early introduction of Algebraic concepts and

Geometry• Providing a solid foundation for challenging

coursework in the upper grades

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Science Program

• Combining conceptual learning with the use of state-of-the-art science lab to increase students’ motivation

• Incorporating technology and investigative activities, • Focus on space exploration • GLOBE, LEGO Mindstorm, Robotics, NASA TV

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Literacy

• Built upon research-based proven educational program Open Court Reading– interconnected, comprehensive and balanced– closely aligned with state standards

• Focus on Early Reading for both English language speakers and ELL students

• Focus on phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding skills• Powerful early intervention program will help students at risk• Incorporates use of WestEd Map for ELD development

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Early Foreign Language Program• Language-learning enhances both foreign and English language

development. • Provides unique opportunity to learn language identified as

critical for the 21st Century by the US Department of Education • Built on “five Cs” as per CA Foreign Langue Frameworks:

Connections, Communities, Communication, Cultures, Comparisons

• Immersion-like language environment, where classes are conducted entirely in Foreign Language

• Thematic Approach to teaching foreign languages – one of the most effective

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Need for the ProgramMath and Science

• Global competition requires solid foundation in Math & Science• CA students lag behind in Math and Science education (Cal. Dept. of Ed.)• US students performed below the international average in mathematics literacy

and problem solving (Program for International Student Assessment)• Among 21 countries participating, American high-school students were 19th in

Math and 16th in Science• With 38 countries participating, American 8th graders were ranked 27th in

Geometry and 20th in Physics• Only 7% of American 4th and 8th graders achieved an advanced level, compared

to 38% of Singaporean 4th graders and 44% of Singaporean 8th graders. • Almost half of 17-year-olds do not meet the most basic achievement level on the

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Math test

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Need for the Program Multicultural Education

Success In The 21st Century Requires:• Knowledge and understanding of the world

beyond our borders• The ability to communicate cross-culturally • Opportunity to absorb cultural diversity at an

early age • Cultural pluralism and tolerance

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Need for the ProgramForeign Language

• Increasingly interconnected global economy – crucial need for foreign

languages (US Dept. of Ed.) • Only 31% of American elementary schools (and 24% of public elementary

schools) report teaching foreign languages. (Center for Applied Linguistics)

• Only 44% of American high school students are enrolled in foreign language classes

• Less than 1% of American high school students combined study Chinese, Farsi, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Russian or Urdu.

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Program Will Benefit Target Population:Foreign Language Learning

• Enriches and enhances a child's mental development and problem-solving abilities

• Develops confidence and self-esteem• Has a positive effect on academic performance, including Math and

Science • Improves a child's understanding of a native language • Embraces global perspective and cultural heritage• Language-learning environment facilitates incorporation of

targeted interventions into everyday classroom • Supportive instruction can be given in more than one language

without disrupting the overall educational process

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Program Will Benefit Target Population:Math and Science

Highly organized, sequential Math and Science program: • Builds solid foundation for success in school• Encourages interest in learning precise disciplines, develops ability

to think and reason logically• Enables students to achieve the mathematical literacy needed in a

technology-oriented society • Raises overall academic achievement, including Reading • Increase motivation to learn science among low-achieving students• Enhances self-confidence in ELL students, raising their overall

academic achievement

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Why Russian Language?

• Russian is also one of the major language groups in the diverse Bay Area community, which numbers over 140,000 according to recent census

• In Bay Area Russian language is the 5th largest language minority group• Russian is not only the language of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, Nabokov

and Brodsky it is also the but is also one of the key languages in the new global economy

• The number of Russian-speakers world-wide exceeds 270 millions • Russian – ranks as a major world language, one of the five official

languages of United Nation• Over 10 percent of the world's population communicates in Slavic

languages; and, of these, 60 percent speak Russian

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Part III – Budget

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Budget • 3-year Budget clearly demonstrates that the

proposed program is fiscally sound• From the very first year of operations, the

proposed Budget shows adequate cash reserves, and positive cash flow

• Our business team has ran a California public benefit corporation for over 10 years complying with all fiscal and regulatory laws as they apply to non-profit entities, and is prepared to handle public funds responsibly and effectively

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Budget

• The proposed educational program has been selected to receive a top-dollar highly-competitive award by the Walton Family Foundation in recognition of the quality of the proposed curriculum

• The Walton Family Foundation has entrusted significant funds to Sputnik founding group in recognition of the experience in operating a non-profit entity and its business, legal and financial expertise

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Budget

• $230,000 of the grant money will be applied – to raise salaries of the faculty and instructional staff above District

averages – to improve school facility to suit school's mission, vision and

educational program:– to build and equip a state-of-the-art computer lab– to develop a comprehensive professional development program – to strengthen curriculum and develop detailed scope and

sequence for every subject and grade

• The founding group has secured commitment of the government of

Russian Federation to supply textbooks and instructional materials and provide professional development to our foreign language instructors at no charge to the school

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