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Classical Charter Schools of America Archives - North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools

Apr 23
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Classical Charter Schools of America mark annual FASTAR testing competition

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Last week was FASTAR® time at Classical Charter Schools of America, a North Carolina network of free public charter schools.  FASTAR®, which stands for Fluent Academic Skills Tournament in Arithmetic and Reading, is a testing competition–or race–with clever and obvious references to NASCAR.

This was the 20th anniversary of  FASTAR® for the CCS-America schools.

Here’s the recap from CCS-America:

Our elementary students lined up in their racing lanes, cheered on by classmates and family members. Middle school “pit crew” members helped time the racers and made sure everything ran smoothly.

As soon as they heard “Go!” the students took off, first reading a passage out loud and then racing through sheets of math facts. They sped to the finish line, with some races decided by just seconds.

All of our campus winners will face off at the Race of Champions, which is scheduled for next Wednesday, April 30th. The school with the most speed and accuracy will take home the trophy as 2025’s FASTAR® Champion!

Congratulations to all of our racers, pit crew members, and winners! Thank you to all classmates, family members, and friends for cheering the racers on!

We share photos from CCS-Wilmington and CCS-Whiteville below:

Students from CCS-Wilmington. Photo courtesy of CCS-America.

Students from CCS-Whiteville. Photo courtesy of CCS-America.

Mar 13
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Two N.C. classical charter schools earn top testing honors

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Founder Baker Mitchell (center) with CCS school leaders. Photo: Facebook/CCS Leland.

Congratulations to two Classical Charter Schools of America (CCSA) schools for winning top honors on the Classic Learning Test (CLT8)! The N.C. charter schools, CCS-Leland and CCS-Whiteville, tied for first and third, respectively, in a ranking of test performance for more than 250 schools across the nation. The CLT8 assesses the performance of eighth graders in the areas of Verbal Reasoning, Grammar and Writing, and Quantitative Reasoning, according to CCSA.

Screenshot source: CLT 8 rankings.

We share more information below from a Classical Charter Schools news update:

CCS-Leland and CCS-Whiteville have tied for #1 and #3, respectively, among more than 250 schools nationwide in the Classic Learning Test’s (CLT8) 2025 CLT8 School Rankings.

Of the 20 highest-scoring schools, they are the only public, only charter, and only tuition-free schools. All the other top-ranking schools are private schools charging from $6,200 to $36,000 in yearly tuition.

The three-hour CLT8 is designed to measure eighth-grade students’ readiness for high school. Much of the content on the exam is drawn from classical literature, grammar, classical mathematics, and historical texts, all of which are central in CCS-America’s classical curriculum.

“We couldn’t be prouder of our students and staff for their hard work, which has led to this confirmation of our curriculum’s effectiveness,” CCS-America founder Baker Mitchell, Jr. said. He noted that a majority of the students who took and excelled on the CLT8 were students who had attended the schools since the beginning of their education, allowing them to enjoy a substantial academic edge from CCS-America’s innovative and carefully sequenced classical curriculum.

Jessica Lopez, Dean of Classical Humanities, added, “Last year, we were excited to see CCS-Leland rank in the top 20 nationally in the 2022-23 CLT8. That was our first time participating in the exam. This year, we are thrilled to see both Leland and Whiteville students achieve such outstanding results. It is clear that the dedication to our unique classical curriculum and innovative methodologies by CCS-America’s deans, academic coaches, teachers, and especially our students has paid off tremendously.”

“Out of the hundreds of schools that take the CLT8 every year, CCS-Leland and CCS-Whiteville’s recognition in Classic Learning Test’s 2025 School Rankings is a remarkable achievement,” said CLT officials.

Congratulations to Leland and Whiteville for such an outstanding accomplishment! Learn more about the CLT8 using the link below.

What is the CLT8 and how did we do?

Congratulations to CCS-Leland and CCS-Whiteville!

Both schools are Coalition member schools.

Apr 17
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It’s FASTAR® Championship Week at Classical Charter Schools of America

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For Classical Charter Schools of America, it’s FASTAR® Championship Week! FASTAR® is a fun academic competition assessing rapid recall of math and reading skills–with an obvious nod to NASCAR (can’t miss those checkered flags!). According to CCS-A, two of the four North Carolina schools have finished early FASTAR® competition already: CCS-Whiteville and CCS-Wilmington. CCS-Leland competes today, while CCS-Southport launches tomorrow. Competition culminates in next Wednesday’s “Race of Champions.”

Student winners receive trophies after qualifying races are over. Roger Bacon Academy, which partners with CCS-A, developed the clever competition, re-purposing the lingo of NASCAR into new roles for academic pit crews, crew chiefs, timing trials, and more. Watch a CCS-A video about FASTAR® here.

Here’s the update from CCS-A’s newsletter today:

CCS-America students competing in the annual FASTAR® (Fluent Academic Skills Tournament in Arithmetic and Reading) competition will race to the finish line this week, with the Race of Champions scheduled for next Wednesday, April 24th. CCS-Whiteville and CCS-Wilmington checkered-flag champions have completed their preliminaries after two exciting race days filled with close competition!

Congratulations to these Coalition member schools! We share pictures below from Classical Charter Schools-Whiteville and Classical Charter Schools-Wilmington.

Above and immediately below: Students from CCS-Whiteville at FASTAR 2024. Photo credit: Facebook, CCS-Whiteville.

Above and below: Students from CCS-Wilmington at FASTAR 2024. Photo credit: Facebook, CCS-Wilmington.

Nov 14
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For schools, safety is the ‘number one job’

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A new Parent Engagement Committee, with a charter parent and law enforcement expert on board, is at the ready

On October 27, the Center for Safer Schools (CFSS) launched its timely new Parent Engagement Committee, featuring district and charter parents from each of the state’s eight education regions. Committee members will advise Karen Fairley, the executive director at CFSS, and will help develop school safety recommendations for state policymakers. The new committee moves forward with a highly qualified charter parent for whom the Coalition advocated: law enforcement expert Ed Carter, whose 6th grade daughter has attended Classical Charter Schools of Southport (CCSS) since kindergarten.

Advising policymakers on school safety is work Carter is fully prepared to do. A former deputy sheriff, police officer, and U.S. Air Force law enforcement specialist, he has considerable experience working in schools.

“I’ve been in law enforcement since 1995, so almost 30 years,” Carter says. “Early in my career as a law enforcement officer, I served as a school resource officer at a high school. So, I’ve had some experience in dealing with the safe schools issues.” He has also served on the board of the North Carolina Association of School Resource Officers. As his career advanced, he began training SROs.

Since his retirement in 2020, Carter has stayed on as a trainer. “I’m one of the guys that helps new officers to be school resource officers and I also continue to educate the guys that are in place,” he says.

Students and staff from Classical Charter Schools of America, a network of public charter schools. Photo credit: CCSS.

Addressing campus disparities—and understanding community context

He’ll leverage his considerable experience as he looks for ways to improve school safety statewide. What’s top of mind for him right now? Carter is concerned about campus disparities—in SRO utilization, incident reporting, and emergency response protocols.

“SRO engagement and involvement is a big ticket right now because that’s a fairly inconsistent thing across the state,” he says. “One school system may use officers this way while another may use them another way.” Disparities in reporting complicate matters further. “I would like to clean that up so if an officer goes from this classical charter school to another charter school, they’ll be on the same playing field. There has got to be some bridge-building and information-sharing going on,” he adds.

Basic, shared safety protocols are also essential. “We’re going to be following the same protocol regardless of the property,” Carter says of the response from law enforcement. “If there’s any difference in how the charter is doing it versus what we expect to see happen, that’s going to be a huge hindrance.”

Understanding community context is critical too. “One thing that is really important from the officer perspective—and this is true for any school, whether it’s a charter or Christian or [traditional] public school—is that school is always going to be a reflection of the demographic that feeds into [it],” he says.

Providing ‘really important representation for the charter system’

CCSS Headmaster Bill Stidham has seen firsthand how valuable Carter’s expertise can be in securing school safety resources and strengthening protocols. Last year, when an incident occurred on CCSS’ campus, the school did not have a funded SRO, which fueled a drop in enrollment. Carter helped Stidham apply successfully for a grant to fund one. Carter’s informed perspective on the new committee will be invaluable, Stidham believes, especially given funding disparities between district and charter schools.

“His involvement on our campus and his eye through a law enforcement lens has really helped with putting structures in place,” Stidham says. “To have that voice at a state level representing charter schools—[given] the disparity between what a public school for each county gets, versus what is appropriated for charter schools—will provide really important representation for the charter school system.”

Baker Mitchell, the founder of Classical Charter Schools of America—the charter network of which CCSS is a part—is hopeful that the new committee will be comprehensive in its scope and mindful of charter autonomy in its recommendations. “Safety in the law enforcement aspect has its vital role; but in a school’s day to day operations, other areas also need attention and demand awareness with reporting protocols,” he says. Facility repairs, dangerous weather events, health hazards: These, and others, all fall within the scope of administrators’ safety concerns. “Safety must have the broadest definition possible,” he affirms, “with flexibility for charters to customize their response to fit their local communities.”

In the end, the mandate for schools is clear. “We have to portray to the community that we have safety measures in place to keep their children safe from the moment they get here to the moment they go home,” Stidham notes.

“Safety is our number one job,” he adds.

Classical Charter Schools of Southport is a 600-student, K-8 school located between Southport and Supply in Brunswick County, North Carolina, and has been part of the Classical Charter Schools of America network since 2015.  The school recently celebrated construction of a new auditorium and gymnasium and launched its inaugural 8th grade class this fall.