Over the last year, the landscape on the Clyde Fant Parkway between Stoner Avenue and Shreveport-Barksdale Highway changed with the construction of the Magnolia School of Excellence.

The charter school’s founding principal is veteran educator Pamela Barker.

“It is part of the Caddo public school system,” she said, open to any parish student. “There is also no tuition. Anyone residing within Caddo Parish, grades K-6, has the opportunity to attend.”

It is different from other Caddo schools in that Magnolia has its own charter, a formal contract with the Caddo School Board. Barker said the agreement lays out what the parent company, Charter Schools USA of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., will offer. The corporation is one of the largest providers of charter school management services in the nation.

Barker said Magnolia is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a distinction she characterized as the “pinnacle of accreditation.”

Barker comes from a 33-year education background that includes teaching in the Caddo school system. She heard about Charter Schools USA and was intrigued by its philosophy.

“It allows parents an opportunity for something different,” she said. “It’s a choice. In the school district, if you live in a specific Zip code or geographical area, you’re required to attend a specific school. Your only other option is to try to get into one of the magnet schools.”

Barker said the relationship between child, parent and school is also little different. “Every parent is required to volunteer 20 hours within the classroom. When you’re fostering a close relationship between the teacher and that parent and the school, then we’re all committed together. It’s this uniform team of committed individuals that are all sitting down consistently to ensure the success of the child,” Barker said.

The students also sign a contract, she explained. “To be here comes with great pride and great responsibility. The kids know that if I don’t abide by this contract and my parent doesn’t abide by her contract, I possibly could be removed. All of that sets a higher bar and a higher standard.”

Part of that higher standard includes enrichment programs that every student experiences every week in the areas of music, art, physical education, technology and foreign language. “My technology teacher has already got kindergartners typing on the keyboard and doing research on computers,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of technology; all our books are e-books.”

Magnolia also offers character education and a leadership program, she said. Even teachers get frequent upgrades, she said, to find ways to use technology to support and enhance learning.

“For me, it’s all about instruction, instruction, instruction,” Barker said. “Effective schools are the schools that use results and data to drive instruction. Despite the background of any child, despite where they came from, let’s benchmark test them. Let start them from where we are here, and let’s move them forward. That’s why [we have] the individual learning plans and data driven instruction. Doing whatever we need to do as far as students are concerned, looking at the data, and determining what students need.”

The school currently has close to 600 students and 42 teachers. There are five kindergarten teachers, six sixth-grade teachers and four teachers each in the other grades. There are three special education teachers, a reading specialist, two curriculum resource teachers, a student services coordinator and an assistant principal.

“We have a very high standard. We adhere to the Louisiana accountability system as well as the Common Core standards. There’s a misconception that we don’t have to play by the same rules. We do. And we will receive an accountability score,” Barker said.

She emphasized that Magnolia is not a dumping ground for problem students.

“It doesn’t mean that you have to be a perfect student, but you have to work with us. We’ll provide the tools and resources, you just have to put forth the effort and comply.”

Barker said the school lost some potential students just before school started when parents found out that there was no bus transportation available for Magnolia and could not arrange to get their children there. Despite that small setback, she reported that at one point this summer the school’s waiting list stretched to 300 students. She added there’s already a contingency plan in place for next academic year to be ready to add a seventh grade to the charter school.

“It’s like changing the landscape of education,” Barker said. “It’s changing the philosophy of where we want to be. Not being in the status quo. Not following a broken model.”