Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School named Georgia charter school of the year

Atlanta school named charter school of the year

Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School's academic excellence and innovative programs helped it win the title of Georgia Charter School of the Year.

ATLANTA - A metro Atlanta school has recently been honored as Georgia Charter School of the Year. The Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School, a kindergarten through eighth-grade school in Grant Park, was selected by the Georgia Charter School Association for its academic excellence and innovative programs.

Good Day's Lindsay Tuman got an inside look at what sets the school apart and the changes its educators are making to help students succeed.

What we know:

Walking inside the Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School, you'll find the usual pencils and paper, folders and blocks, but the teachers and staff here are focused on doing things a little differently.

"We believe in the power of innovation. We believe in providing students with first-hand, real-world learning experiences where the questions and the inquisitive nature of the discussion guide the topics that they're learning," executive director Alastair Pullen said.

Executive director Alastair Pullen (FOX 5)

He says one of the main things the school focuses on is not just teaching but applying the knowledge students learn.

"We don't believe the role of the teacher is just to stand and import or deliver information to students, but they really serve as a facilitator and help make meaning for the students around the questions and topics that they are curious about," he said.

Dig deeper:

A way students can apply what they learn in their books is by working on the school farm.

"We have our teachers who work with our science standards who connect that to what happens on the farm, and our students really get to see what this looks like in real life and materialize," Pullen said.

The same foods the students are learning to cultivate and grow are going into their lunches.

"We've been able to cultivate more than 2,000 pounds of food a year, which feeds into our school lunches, and students really have a holistic experience and are able to see the connections between what they learn in the classroom and where their food comes from," he said.

Local perspective:

There is also a focus on social-emotional learning for the students and a community-minded focus. A quarter of the students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The school partners with local organizations like Zoo Atlanta, Morehouse College, and more. They also spread their innovations to other local schools.

"We believe that students not only really learn best when they are a part of a larger network but that we all have an ethical obligation to make our community and neighborhoods as strong as they can be," Pullen said.

Altogether, those efforts have led to strong standardized test scores. The school was named a literacy and math leader by the Georgia Department of Education.

"Our success is the result of the hard work and efforts of our children, of our parents, of our teachers, and really shows that it takes a community to make a school successful. And we have that autonomy to innovate. We take that as a serious responsibility and believe that education can and should look different based on the students that you serve," Pullen said.

All part of helping students grow inside the classroom and outside of it too.

What you can do:

The Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School operates on a lottery system, and it is a long waitlist. If you want to learn more about the school, you can visit their website at atlncs.org.