About Imagine Schools Non-Profit
Imagine Schools was founded by Dennis and Eileen Bakke. Eileen Bakke has been involved in education for 30 years. Her passion is mentoring teachers and creating a school culture that engages students in meaningful and effective learning. Dennis Bakke, co-founder and CEO Emeritus of the AES Corp., a global power company, brings to Imagine Schools an impressive business background, including a pioneering approach to decentralized management. Both Dennis and Eileen are passionate about making a difference in education by implementing a unique organizational and operational structure that creates a dynamic learning environment by putting teachers and school leaders squarely in charge of the decisions affecting the schools they serve. In June 2004 Imagine Schools merged with Chancellor Beacon Academies. In August 2005, Imagine Schools created a new nonprofit entity - Imagine Schools Non-Profit, Inc. and initiated a process to replace the business entity Imagine Schools, Inc. with the new nonprofit as the operator of public charter schools nationwide. Imagine Schools will be operated as a nonprofit organization to expand our mission to provide as many students as possible with a challenging, effective program of study and strong moral development in the safe, nurturing learning environment of public charter schools," said co-founder and CEO, Dennis Bakke. Dennis and Eileen Bakke are providing the new nonprofit tax-exempt entity with the capital to ensure its ability to operate existing schools now under contract with Imagine Schools, Inc. and sufficient resources to develop and operate additional public charter schools in the future.
*The following link is a wonderful article about Dennis and Eileen Bakke: Washington Post Article
What Imagine Schools does
Imagine Schools serves nearly 20,000 K-12 students in public charter schools in nine states and the District of Columbia, with schools in development in seven other states. Public charter schools are state- and locally-funded schools that are granted a high degree of operating autonomy. Imagine Schools also operates a private day school in Florida. Imagine Schools' purpose is to assist parents and guardians in educating their children, through a challenging program of study and strong moral development within a nurturing and orderly learning environment. Imagine Schools has exceptional teachers, excellent thematic curricula, positive character development programs, vibrant leadership and solid financial strength. We believe that Imagine Schools' approach positions and facilitates youth to succeed in and beyond the classroom. Imagine Schools evaluates its effectiveness in six areas:
1) Shared Values of Integrity, Justice, and Fun
2) Parent/Guardian Choice
3) Academic Achievement
4) Positive Character Development
5) Economic Sustainability
6) New School Development
1) Shared Values of Integrity, Justice and Fun. Everything Imagine is guided by the values of integrity, justice and fun. Integrity or "wholeness" means that every Imagine Schools person is responsible for the organization's results both locally and nationally. Justice requires that Imagine Schools people treat each parent/guardian, each student, and each colleague as a special, unique individual. Fun means creating a joyful environment in which each staff member has significant decision-making responsibilities, and in which students, parents/guardians, and Imagine Schools staff work together for wonderful teaching and learning. These values are discussed further in Dennis Bakke's book, Joy at Work.
2) Parent/Guardian Choice Charter schools provide parents and guardians with greater public school options for their children. A crucial measure of overall school quality is whether parents/guardians choose to enroll and re-enroll their children. Imagine Schools uses individual school enrollment and the size of waiting lists as the primary measures of this criteria. Parent/guardian surveys and annual student retention are also used to evaluate parent/guardian satisfaction with their children's school.
3) Academic Achievement Students' academic achievement is deeply important. We maintain an educational balance among language arts, math, critical thinking, science, social studies, music, art and athletics. As a key evaluation of academic achievement, Imagine Schools measures "same student" annual individual learning gains in math and reading. Each student is given a nationally-recognized standardized pre-test at the beginning of the year and again at year's end. This measures the learning gains specific to each child; this measurement is a valuable indicator of the education occurring. The nationally-recognized pre-test and other assessments in a range of subjects also help teachers, parents/guardians and students to tailor each youth's education, by focusing on each student's particular strengths and challenges. During the year, the thematic curriculum allows for various other types of student projects and assessments, e.g. for student portfolios. The post-test (in addition to other state-and locally-required standardized tests) tracks the progress of each student.
4) Positive Character Development. All schools in the Imagine Schools family emphasize positive moral development. To achieve this, they utilize a number of character development programs, based on the input of the school leader, teachers, parents/guardians, and students. Imagine Schools is developing ways to measure progress in positive character development. It is likely that surveys of parents/guardians, teachers, and students regarding changes in student behavior will be part of the measurement approach. Participation in community-oriented projects that are part of the curriculum will also help measure positive character development. The absence of fighting and referrals to the school office for discipline may also be part of evaluating this important element of Imagine School's performance.
5) Economic Sustainability. A great school is handicapped if it cannot sustain itself economically. Imagine Schools will measure economic sustainability by the ability of each local school to limit its annual spending to less than its annual revenues without significant dependence on private donations or government grants. However, Imagine Schools pledges to each school that it will supply working capital if necessary to maintain school operations. Imagine Schools also provides professional development for school leaders and teachers regarding building and maintaining solid financial health in their schools, in order to ensure long-term educational effectiveness.
6) New School Development. New schools provide the opportunity for Imagine Schools to help more and more parents and guardians educate their children. New schools also reduce the indirect costs of existing schools by spreading Imagine Schools' central costs over more schools. Finally, new schools provide wonderful opportunities for Imagine Schools teachers and other staff to move into leadership or other teaching and staff roles in different locations. Imagine Schools tracks the criteria of new school development by the number of new schools established and the number of new students served each year.
Click here to visit the main Imagine Schools Site