At Brighter Choice for Boys, we pride ourselves on creating a safe, structured and academically rigorous learning community.  Our scholars’ education will be the key to their success in life; therefore we make no apology for holding our teachers, families and scholars accountable for meeting the demands of our program.  Elements of our school culture are described below:

SCHOLAR values: We call them our “SCHOLAR” values, and they are: Self-Confidence, Citizenship, Hard Work, Opportunity, Leadership, Achievement and Respect. Our SCHOLAR values are posted in every classroom and are taught, rehearsed and reinforced in the same way we would approach teaching an academic skill, strategy or concept.  If our scholars consistently demonstrate our scholar values, they will experience success in our program and be prepared for the demands of middle school, high school, college and life.

Teach the Behaviors for Success: At Brighter Choice, we spend a significant amount of time teaching scholars the behaviors we expect in our program.  Disrespectful or disruptive behavior is never tolerated.  For the first 3 weeks of school, we teach, rehearse and reinforce the routines and procedures our scholars are expected to follow at Brighter Choice.  We are very demanding of our scholars, yet we know that we must teach them the behaviors we want to see.

College Focus: The message at Brighter Choice is that ALL scholars are preparing themselves for the demands of college. The goal is for our scholars to view college as the natural course of their educational journey.  All of our classrooms are named after colleges and universities.  In addition, our scholars take field trips to college campuses, hear speakers talk about college, conduct projects about colleges and, most critically, engage in and master the habits necessary for success in college. From the first day of school, our scholars know they are expected to graduate from college.

Small School = Personal Experience:The Brighter Choice Charter School for Boys provides its scholars and families a personal experience.  With a population of about 275 scholars, we are able to establish meaningful and lasting relationships with our scholars and their families. As a small school, we expect all administrators and teachers to know the names of all scholars.  This keeps us accountable for ALL of our scholars.

Frequent Assessment of Scholar Progress: At Brighter Choice, teachers are constantly assessing scholars’ progress.  We understand that our scholars will be afforded opportunities based on their performance on assessments; therefore, we have made formal and standardized assessments part of our academic culture.  Our responsibility is to prepare our scholars to achieve results that will provide them a real opportunity to enter in and graduate from college.

Focus on Attendance: At Brighter Choice, we place great emphasis on attendance.  Increased time on task contributes to positive scholar performance. We set absolute goals for attendance each year and make it a priority to contact families whenever a scholar is absent from school.  As a school, we have a responsibility to educate our scholars.  We cannot accomplish our mission if scholars are missing crucial learning time.

Uniforms: All Brighter Choice scholars wear our signature blue and grey uniforms.  Our scholars are unified in their quest for educational success.  We do not let clothing and material belongings interfere with learning.

Celebrate Achievement: Brighter Choice promotes a rigorous learning environment that acknowledges and celebrates scholars and teachers for their accomplishments.  We use our scholar assemblies, honor roll display and scholar celebrations to promote a culture of academic achievement.  At our school, we aim to keep our scholars motivated by their effort and accomplishments.