iSchool High: The Media Arts Academy

My son attends this school and these teachers in his cohort are top notch. They are willing to work with parents and are very attentive to accommodating certain needs. The curriculum is predominately internet based (90%) however, teachers are available for instruction. They offer tutoring and if online curriculum is not your preferred method of learning, they do offer paper. Your child has to be motivated to communicate with the teachers to make the experience successful, as with any other school. The curriculum is college-​prep so it is NOT easy. I love their goal management and study island modules. This is self paced so if your child cannot self pace, this may not be the best option unless the parents are highly involved to communicate with teachers and their child. Make sure you are on all the email lists (bulletins, etc.) or you will miss vital information. I love this school since it is a great alternative to main stream school, especially if you have a child that is self-​motivated to learn and is wanting to accelerate their learning. If you child wants to achieve the minimum standards and nothing more, this will NOT be a good fit.

My daughter has gone here for the past 2 years. What she liked about it is the *concept* of the school (what she heard about in the first open house) — the self-​paced lessons — you could move as fast as you wanted and if you chose to study only math one day — you had that option, the open classroom atmosphere (different grades sat together as they wanted in two large rooms), teachers and students and admin were «united», lunch was whenever you wanted, and small school.
However, since she has been there, they have moved campuses and are planning on moving again. With the move to the second campus, they went into traditional classroom setups. There has been 3 different principals. Administration seems to have lost their way from the original ideals and everything is completely off track. The teacher turn over is high. Many things promised have not been delivered, such as new computers, field trips, a more decorated «school like» feel. Yearbooks were nixed for digital. Communication between the school and students is sporadic — kids often showing up that morning and finding out that there is a STAAR test/​benchmarks, etc.
Last year my daughter fell behind due to being in the hospital for a serious medical condition and it took months of her trying to to get extra help (to get caught up) from teachers and principals, months of phone calls and meetings on my part with whomever would listen and we literally got nowhere. It wasn’t until after many months (11 months after the surgery) when I threatened to hire a lawyer that I got anyone to sit up and listen. But by then she had fallen very far behind.
In addition, the textbooks are all workbooks created by RES (Responsive Education). All are printed in black and white, which is completely unhelpful when studying art. The Science books are laughable because so many times an explanation would be summed up with basically, «Because God wanted it that way.» Spanish is all done online, with minimal to no feedback from the «instructor», and there is no on-​site Spanish teacher. The turn around time to getting assignments graded is ridiculously long.
All this being said, there are a few teachers who really, really are helpful. Worley, Woodall, Runyon and Eubanks. Interestingly, they are all males who have worked in other fields before coming to teach, and I’m afraid they have to continually butt heads with the mainly female «admins» who don’t want to listen.
The move to the new campus promises a lot more subjects and options — it’s supposed to be how it was originally envisioned — however, at this point, we don’t trust that they will follow through and it’s my daughters education on the line while they try to get their shit figured out. She will be transferring out.

Ok people… if you have a teen that’s not your typical ‘student’ then check out this school. It falls into the loophole that Charter schools are able to use.
New Concept high School…
Its focus are the Media arts.
Media Arts is there elective. State of the art green screen, recording studio, latest Mac hardware, cameras etc.
My son started going here over a year ago when they first opened. They are now over 100 students. If interested contact the school and get on the wait list.