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

Atlanta Public Schools

Atlanta Public Schools is a school district based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. APS is run by the Atlanta Board of Education with interim superintendent Erroll Davis...

. The school is a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools.

Before August 2005

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

Neighborhood Charter School

Neighborhood Charter School is an elementary charter school in southeast Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is located in the Grant Park neighborhood near Zoo Atlanta....

 (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.

After Opening

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.

Curriculum

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.

Extracurricular activities

• Band
• Soccer (spring sport)
• Basketball (winter sport)
• Flag Football (fall sport)
• Drama Club
• Tutorial
• Cheerleading
• Step Team
• Yearbook

Accolades

ACMS has made many accomplishments in its five years of operation:

• a strong PTCA
• a student to go to the State level of the National Geographic Bee
  National Geographic Bee
  The National Geographic Bee is an annual geography contest sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The bee, held every year since 1989, is open to students in the fourth through eighth grade in participating American schools.The entities represented at the national level are all fifty U.S....
  
  for two consecutive years
• earning the award for the football team with the best character (2006), and making it to second place in the league in only the second year.
• On January 16, 2010 the ACMSdrama Club presented pieces of "Into the Woods, Jr." at the Junior Theater Festival. They were awarded an Outstanding Production award, an Outstanding Achievement award for dance, and a Best Actor award.
• On February 16, a team of four students competed in the MathCounts competition at Georgia Tech. The team placed very high, and 3 students qualified for the state competition

External links

• ACMS Official Home Page