FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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Ocean Grove Charter School Student Named National Geographic GeoBee
California State Competition Semifinalist by National Geographic Society

Ocean Grove Charter School 7th grader Judah Kim has been notified by the National Geographic Society that he is one of the semifinalists eligible to compete in the 2019 National Geographic GeoBee California State Competition. The contest will be held in Fresno on Friday, March 29, 2019.

This is the second level of the National Geographic GeoBee competition, which is now in its 31st year. School GeoBees were held in schools with fourth- through eighth-grade students throughout the state to determine each school champion. School champions then took an online qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. The National Geographic Society has invited up to 100 of the top-scoring students in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense Dependents Schools and U.S. territories to compete in the State GeoBees.

State champions will receive a medal, $1,000 in cash, and other prizes, as well as a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent their state in the National Championship to be held at National Geographic Society headquarters, May 19-22, 2019. Students that come in second and third place will receive cash awards of $300 and $100, respectively.

Each State Champion will advance to the National Championship and compete for cash awards and college scholarships. In 2019, the national champion will receive a $25,000 college scholarship, $1,000 in cash, a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society, and an all-expenses-paid Lindblad expedition to the Galápagos Islands aboard the National Geographic Endeavour ll; second place will receive at $10,000 college scholarship and $1,000 in cash; third place will receive a $5,000 college scholarship and $1,000 in cash; and seven runners-up will receive $1,000 in cash each. Visit www.natgeobee.org for more information on the National Geographic GeoBee.

Follow the National competition at National Geographic Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on May 19-22 at natgeoed.org/experiences.

How would you fare as a National Geographic GeoBee contestant? At the school GeoBees this year, students had to answer questions like these:

At more than 100 miles in length, Long Island is the longest barrier island in which state—Kentucky or New York?

New York

Which state is closer to the Gulf of Mexico—Virginia or Arkansas?

Arkansas

It takes about 90 days for a drop of water to travel the length of the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River starts in Minnesota and flows 2,340 miles south to its outlet in which state—Louisiana or South Carolina?

Louisiana

The Magdalena River, the principal river of Colombia, flows through the city of Barranquilla near the Caribbean Sea on which continent?

South America

Which animal famous for its tusk spends most of the winter months under the sea ice in Baffin Bay between Canada and Greenland—emperor penguin or narwhal?

narwhal

Which country does not include part of the Kalahari Desert—Namibia, Botswana, or

Eritrea?

Eritrea

Commercial flower bulb production is an important economic activity in what country just north of Belgium?

Netherlands

Located near the Green Mountains, Montpelier is the capital of which state?

Vermont

Constructed during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, St. Basil’s Cathedral is located in Moscow in which country?

Russia

The Alboran Sea and the Ionian Sea are both part of which larger sea?

Mediterranean Sea

Like many in California, we are heartbroken over the destruction caused by the ongoing wildfires throughout our state.
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There are many reasons to enroll in an IEM School. One of the top #7Reasons is personalized learning – meeting the standards in a way that works best for your student. Out of the box learning is a significant focus at Sky Mountain, Ocean Grove, and South Sutter Charter Schools. Here are 4 ways that we accomplish this:

1. Personalized Learning Plans

In IEM’s parent choice model, students have the opportunity to learn according to their learning style and educational philosophy. At the beginning of each school year, the Education Specialist (ES), parent, and student collaboratively work together to create their student’s personalized learning plan. This plan incorporates and addresses the learning style assessment, Kidzmet, and the student’s i-Ready pre-assessment to identify his/her academic performance in English-Language Arts and Math. Students in the 8th grade and high school will have the opportunity to meet with the school’s guidance counselor to create a 4-year high school personalized learning plan.  Throughout a student’s high school experience, their guidance counselor is available to ensure that students are on track to graduate and/or to update their high school plan. 

A student’s personalized learning plan can include any combination of:

• print and online curriculum
• in person or online vendor classes and/or ESI courses
• field trips and flexible field trips
• services provided by our local vendors

Can you imagine the limitless possibilities you as a parent can choose from to give your child the greatest opportunity to learn according to your child’s learning style? With over 2,000 vendors to choose from, our students have an endless amount of options from all core subjects, life skills, VAPA (visual and performing art), foreign language, and/or career pathways that are right for them.

2. Intervention Program

Are you finding that your student may be struggling in English-Language Arts and/or Math? Did you know that IEM Schools offer the opportunity for our students to participate in the school’s intervention program? Through the use of LCAP funds, our school is able to provide additional academic support for students who score two or more grade levels below on their i-Ready assessment in English-Language Arts and Math. A variety of supplemental curriculum and in person or online tutoring is available to support your child academic needs. These options are offered at no cost to a student’s instructional funds if LCAP funding is available. With our parent choice model, a student is not required to participate in the program but is highly encouraged. Please reach out to your ES to learn more about student qualifications or check out the school’s website regarding our intervention program.

3. Science and Art in the Park

Did you know that IEM Schools offer a Science and Art in the Park program? The mobile science lab travels to various locations within the geographical regions of all three schools.  Students can participate in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) classes and much more!. All science and art classes are taught by credentialed and trained ESs or qualified vendors.  All three schools also offer a-g science labs for high school students. All of these classes are a great learning opportunity for IEM students. For more information and course schedule contact your ES.

4. Field Trips

Another way to incorporate out of the box learning in our student’s personalized learning plan is to participate in our school’s field trips and flexible field trips. Through these activities, students get to experience hands-on learning opportunities in group settings with other students from our school. Students and parents can choose from a wide variety of field trips all over California, covering various topics and focusing on different age groups.  Some examples include Disney Youth Education Series Classes at Disneyland, sailing on Historic Tall Ships, exploring Yosemite on snowshoes in the winter with Naturebridge, playing the role of Pioneer at Sutter’s Fort (circa 1848), or measuring velocity and acceleration while riding a roller coaster at California’s Great America Physics, Science and Math Day.  We are firm believers in hands-on learning and our field trips bring this to life!

 

We know that you have many choices when deciding on a school for your child. We put #7Reasons at the top of our list as to why you might choose to enroll in an IEM School.

 

 

IEM Schools offer an expansive high school program providing maximum choice right up to your graduation day! We have a proven track record of our graduates getting into state schools like UCLA and Berkeley, as well as Ivy League Schools like Columbia and Stanford. If you are prepping for college, a-g is the way to go. Is your student planning on going to a community college after high school? Do you know you can get a head start on college while still in high school? Concurrent enrollment classes can catapult you into your college journey. With free tuition at most community colleges now for high school students and IEM instructional funding to pay for books and materials, your high school student can take college courses completely free. Are you career oriented? Every year we have students graduate with a career certification in hand and move right into the workforce, with the ability to support themselves on a mid-level career wage. We have partnerships to prepare you now to start a career as soon as you graduate. No matter what path you decide our Guidance department personnel are tuned in to the rules and laws you need to know about your path of choice to be successful.

Expansive high school program

IEM Schools are proud to offer our high school students many different options to meet the variety of different ways our students learn.  For our college bound students, we offer 500 a-g courses, including AP and Honors courses, 100 of them written by IEM and are designed for use by homeschooled students,  tailored for student choice as they offer a number of assignment choices for each unit. Students seeking other options after high school can complete classes in our non a-g program with customized or prepared syllabi. Some students prefer to learn in an online environment and some in-person. Thanks to our vendors, we offer both!

Career Technical Education (CTE) Partnerships

Is your student career oriented?  High school is a great time to explore careers and study deeply one or two of them, sometimes even completing a pathway and earning a certification to work in a mid-level career. For those who have no idea what career they might like, we can help you with interest surveys. For students just beginning to think about career interests, we have a variety of 1 semester courses designed to introduce you to the career. For students who know they want to graduate with a mid-level career certification in hand, our CTE partnerships can help them earn their high school diploma while preparing for a career at the same time. Guidance coordinators can help students design a CTE  pathway to be able to be certified at graduation. Our pathways can include both online classes, in-person classes, and even community college classes. Some of our CTE/career exploration partnerships are listed below:

• Brighton College-12 career pathways leading to certification in a mid-level career
• eDynamic Learning–career exploration courses
• COMPREHEND Learning (coming Fall 2018)
• Odysseyware
• Apex

Guidance Coordinators

When you are ready to plan your high school path meet with one of our Guidance Coordinators from each of our IEM Schools. Every student at IEM Schools has the opportunity to participate in a meeting with their parent, Education Specialist, and Guidance Coordinator beginning in eighth grade to create an individualized 4 year high school plan.  During each of their 9-12th years, these meetings occur again to ensure they are on track to achieve their goals or make changes as goals change. Want a little preview? Have more questions before you sign up?  Reach out to our Guidance hotline at (714) 865-7473 or jsanchez@ieminc.org. Then once you have completed enrollment paperwork for an IEM school, feel free to make an appointment to find out which path is the right path for you (South Sutter, Ocean Grove, Sky Mountain).

Reputation is the foundation of the power of IEM schools.  We take pride in being a pioneer in the charter movement. The first IEM School was established in 1998 and we have been trusted by thousands upon thousands of families since then to bring quality education to students in the form of a parent choice education with individualized learning plans.  We have a history of clean audits, financial stability, and being policy compliant. But most importantly we have caring and devoted staff who are as passionate about independent education as you are.

THE BEGINNING

In 1993, the California Charter Act went into effect and Randy Gaschler opened what was then known as Horizon Charter, the fifteenth charter school in California.  In 1998, Randy formed the nonprofit charter management company, Innovative Education Management, Inc. (IEM). Today IEM manages three charter schools that serve 18 California counties with current combined enrollment of over 6,000 students, and has graduated more than 13,000 students.  Randy and IEM take pride in the reputation they have built over the last 19 years so that students can benefit from the power of an IEM school today.

FISCAL MANAGEMENT

Clean audits, financial stability, and policy compliance ensures long term sustainability. IEM takes pride in the trust we have built with students, parents, employees, sponsoring districts, and the California Department of Education by taking seriously the importance of accountability, fiscal management, and policy compliance.

TRANSPARENCY

Many of our reports are available for public view.  Check out our school accountability report card  (SM, SS, OG).  Governing Board and Parent Council meetings agendas and minutes are available to the public via our website (SM, SS, OG). Our Local Community Action Plan (SM, SS, OG) is a way that we can include our parents in financial decisions that impact students the way you feel is most needed. “As founder and President of IEM, I have the experience, historical knowledge, wisdom, and passion to keep IEM legally, financially and the vision on the path it was intended to be on. It is hard to match my passion when it comes to IEM and the IEM vision for education. I am in the process of training up new leadership teams to ensure the sustainability of IEM, not just financially, but to continue the vision and purpose,” President and Founder of IEM Randy Gaschler. The power of an IEM school means you can trust us to be here for generations of students to come.

STAFF

Most importantly, IEM Schools have staff who are as passionate about independent education as you are. The real power of an IEM school is its people.  IEM Guiding Principles are all about people – the driving force of providing individual learning opportunities and maximum choice when it comes to curriculum. When teachers, administration, leaders and parents are all on the same page, with the same common vision, working towards the same goal, great things can happen.