Atlanta Charter Middle School is the city's youngest operating charter school. Located in the Ormewood Park community in southeast Atlanta, It provides an alternative to the surrounding middle schools, and it boasts the highest composite CRCT scores for any middle school in APS. The school is a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools.
| Atlanta Charter Middle School | |
|---|---|
| Established | 2005 |
| Type | Public Middle School |
| Principal | Matt Underwood |
| Students | 160 |
| Grades | 6–8 |
| Location | Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| District | Atlanta Public Schools |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colors | White, Gray, Black, and Blue |
| Mascot | Wolves |
| Website | http://www.atlantachartermiddle.com |
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The vision for Atlanta Charter Middle School (ACMS) started four years ago when neighborhood parents wanted another option for their children within the neighborhood. Originally called Southeast Atlanta Charter Middle School (SACMS), the first word was dropped to encourage students from all over the city to come. The original location was the 3rd floor of the Park Avenue Baptist Church, but the Neighborhood Charter School (NCS) offered some classrooms on their top floor for ACMS's beginning year. The Transition Board, later replaced by the Governing Board, was responsible for all necessary actions prior to the opening of the school.
In August 2005, ACMS officially opened with 40 students and 10 staff members. Students from all over Atlanta that previously attended NCS, Cenntenial Place Elementary, Parkside Elementary, Benteen Elementary, D.H Stanton Elementary, and many other schools attended. The staff number was very small, and the population was low, but there was a very strong sense of community and a rigorous curriculum. During that first year, the students democratically chose a mascot and their school colors. However, one major problem still existed; a permanent facility had yet to be found. The school's governing board chose the vacant Anne E. West building to be the permanent home of the school. After considerable deliberation and strong community support, Anne E. West was finally granted to ACMS. After months of planning and cleaning up, the Anne E. West building was finally ready for student use. In August 2006, ACMS had 80 students and 12 staff members.Now in 2010 they have 160 students. Soon after opening in their permanent facility, they joined the LUKE SPORTS program, which is a league that already has many charter school participants. On February 16, a team of four students competed in the MathCounts competition at Georgia Tech. The team placed very high, and 3 students went to the state competition on March 24.
ACMS's curriculum is based on the Constructivist theory of education, which emphasizes more teacher-student involvement and less dependency on textbooks as the primary source of education. It also uses the Conneted Mathematics program, which is a different approach to the standard way of teaching math. As a matter of fact, there are no textbooks; media resources, resource books, and hands-on involvement are the primary teaching modes at this school.
ACMS has made many accomplishments in its five years of operation:
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