Vision: The vision of the Worthington Area Language Academy (WALÁ!) is to prepage students in southwest Minnesota to be confident and peaceable lifetime learners by providing an excellent education taught in Spanish and English.

Mission: The WALÁ! mission is to create a school whose education is characterized by:

Accountability:

MDE requires all charter school applicants to identify two academic and two nonacademic goals for students and identify the measures or tests that will be used to assess goal attainment. Goals must be growth-oriented. Academic outcomes must be measured annually with nationally norm-referenced tests (NRT). Please see Charter School Accountability Framework for further guidance.

Student Academic Outcome/NRT: English proficiency. WALÁ! students will learn to speak, read, and write English competently at an age grade-appropriate level.

Native English-speaking students' outcomes will be:

1. Eighty percent of English-speaking students will perform at or above grade level in reading, writing, understanding and speaking English after three years of enrollment.
2. The average performance will be at grade level after three years.
3. Students will make an average of one (1.0) year of gain per academic year.

English language learners' (ELLs) outcomes will be:

1. Eighty percent of ELLs will perform at grade level in reading, writing, understanding and speaking English, after five years of enrollment in WALÁ!.
2. Average performance will be at grade level after five years.
3. Students will make an averag of one (1.0) year of gain per academic year.
   

These goals will be measured by annual testing using the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) for reading and writing English. Oral English ability will be evaluated with the LAS (Language Assessment Scales) and through students' presentations and portfolios.

Student Academic Outcome/NRT. Spanish Proficiency. WALÁ! students will learn to speak, read, and write Spanish competently at an age and grade-appropriate level.

Native Spanish-speaking students' outcomes will be:

1. Eighty percent of Spanish-speaking students will perform at grade level in reading and writing, and Spanish after three years of enrollment.
2. The average perfomance will be at grade level after three years.
3. Students will make an average of one (1.0) year of gain per academic year.

Spanish language learners' outcomes will be:

1. Eighty percent of SLLs will perform at grade level in reading, writing, understanding, and speaking Spanish after five years of enrollment in WALÁ!.
2. Average performance will be at grade level after five years.
3. Students will make an average of one (1.0) year of gain per academic year.

Spanish language competence will be assessed by a variety of performance based assessments, including the Aprenda 2 test for reading adn writing; evaluation of oral performance will be through the Student Oral Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM) and through student's presentations and portfolios.

Student Nonacademic Outcome/Measure or Test:

 Nonviolence: Students will develop an understanding of active peacemaking and an ability to implement conflict resolution strategies in situations of conflict. This will be measured by:

1. Resolution of conflict, both simulated and real, measured by a school-developed or commercial assessment.
2. An attitude of respect for other students, staff, or community members will be measured by a student-teacher dialogue, journal, and portfolio.
3. An understanding of the history of violence, peacemaking and social change will be measured by:
   a. school developed test and by
   b. student-prepared projects.
   

Student Nonacademic Outcome/Measure or Test:

Multicultural competence: Students will demonstrate cultural competence in at least two other cultures than their own.

These developing understandings will be demonstrated through:

1. a school-devoloped test
2. portfolios
3. public presentations by students

Pupose: Charter schools must be designed to meet at least one of the purposes for which the law was created.

• Improve pupil learning. Students in dual-immersion learning environments have been shown to find greater success learning and retaining all subjects when compared with students in other English-only or bilingual classrooms. Here, Spanish and English-speaking students will learn subject matter in both their native language and in the second language. Both groups will also learn to speak, read, and write proficiently in a second language. In addition, WALÁ! will be a small and culturally-responsive school in which at-risk middle school students from non-English-speaking homes are likely to stay engaged, in this environment the teachers, students, and parents know each other well and student retention is high. Teachers will make home visits and parents will be present in the school.
  
  

• Increase learning opportunities for pupils: All students will learn in a multicultural environment. All students will learn from teachers who come from a variety of cultures. English-speaking students will have a more thorough exposure to the Spanish language than is available at any other area school. Spanish-speaking students will have the opportunity to learn subject matter in their native language. Both groups will develop the ability to speak, read, and write in both languages. Students who speak a third language, such as Lao, Amharic, or German, will also have the opportunity to study their native language with their classmates. As students learn to communicate, they learn to navigate multiple cultural forms.
  
  

• Encourage the use of different and innovative teaching methods: in a two-way, dual-immersion environment, students' home language is used for instruction for part of the day. This is a relatively new strategy, which is not in use in any schools within a wide radius of Nobles County, where our school will be located. Our teachers will be well-trained in best-practice language acquisition techniques. There will be extensive use of cooperative learning, project-based learning, and individualized instruction. The school environment and staff also provide for resolution of conflict. Parental involvement through family-night programs newsletters, social events, and adult learning opportunities are envisioned.
  
  

• Require the measurement of learning outcomes and create different and innovative forms of measuring outcomes: We will regularly measure learner outcomes, both by standardized tests, and by performance, portfolios, and real-world application of learning. Learning outcomes will be measured by pre- and post-test and other objective measures as well as peer- and self-evaluation. We will involve community members, parents, and students themselves in teh creative evaluation of student performance. This evaluation will be for the purpose of helping students reach the goals they, together with their learning community, have set for themselves.
  
  

• Establish new forms of accountability for schools: The school will be directly accountable to parents, above all, but also to teachers, students, and the community. The success of the school will be measured not only by the individual success of each student, but also by the successful creation of a caring, respectful, productive learning community, and by the contributions the school makes to enriching southwest Minnesota and learning partners around the world.
  
  

• Create new professional opportunities for teachers including the opportunity to be responsible for the learning program at the school site. Both the methods and the goals of the WALÁ! program will be addressed in the teachers' workshops before and during the school year. Such workshops will be designed and led by educators experienced in dual-immersion, peacemaking, and multicultural appreciation. Teachers will be leaders in choosing and/or creating curriculum, texts, and classroom materials. Subject matter will closely follow core curricula in the regular public school, the learning environment providing opportunity for student and community development in multicultural, peace-oriented, and linguistic proficiencies. Teachers will be well represented on the governing board and thus will participate in managing the affairs of the school. Teachers will help plan and will participate in professional development opportunities each year, enhancing their capacity in their subject area as well as in the common emphases of the school language acquisition, multiculturalism, and peacemakin. All teachers will be trained in dual-immersion. Students and parents, as well as teachers and staff, will have opportunities to participate in on-site and off-site development and enrichment activities. Teachers will be leaders in making WALÁ! a peace school in which the students learn how to make peace within themselves, with others, between groups and nations, and with the earth. Conflict resolution and mediation skills will be one aspect of this. Understanding how to effect social change is another aspect.