WINGS ACADEMY: A NEW CHARTER SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS WHO LEARN DIFFERENTLY

Abstract

Wings Academy is a charter school¹ in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that opened in August of 2002. It is located in the basement of an enormous, beautifully decorated and well maintained convent which houses several social service agencies, retired School Sisters who live there and another charter school. This school was envisioned and created by the authors (Co-Directors), two special education teachers (one is also a parent of a child with Asperger’s Syndrome) who believed the local districts were not providing an appropriate education for students with special education needs, and those with a label of “learning disabled” in particular. Prior to meeting, the Co-Directors had thoughts of creating their own Utopian school in which all students were taught with appropriate methodologies. By the time they had met, they both knew what their school would look like. Eventually, they combined their ideas and opened a school three years later. In this chapter, they describe the rationale for this school and programmatic realities that they have adapted to achieve their vision.

Citation

La Porte, D. and Leather, N. (2005), "WINGS ACADEMY: A NEW CHARTER SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS WHO LEARN DIFFERENTLY", Burkhardt, S., Obiakor, F. and Rotatori, A.F. (Ed.) Current Perspectives on Learning Disabilities (Advances in Special Education, Vol. 16), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 247-264. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0270-4013(04)16013-3