“This school is good for us. It is an opportunity to meet the need for our community,” he said. “We enjoy it, and there have been some really successful projects,” Cushman said.”

Ingenuity, creativity, problem-solving, the Scientific Method, applying knowledge and learning from mistakes – all based on the solid foundation of direct instruction of core academic disciplines. These are the skills Prairie View Community School students have been honing and applying in their first year of operation as a charter school in Chugwater. After the local school district made some changes to how they were running Chugwater schools, parents and community members started working on applying to the state to run a charter school. At the end of the 2023 school year, the district-run school closed, and the charter had been granted by the State Land and Investment Board (SLIB).

With a mission of “cultivating critical thinking, communication, and collaboration through unique learning opportunities in and out of the classroom,” PVCS is preparing students to become “lifelong thinkers” who are ready not only to succeed, but to excel in their endeavors after high school. To accomplish this, the school in Chugwater has adopted project-based learning (PBL) as its teaching model.

Director Bryce Cushman, a former Platte County School District No. 1 science teacher and Chugwater resident, said the school uses PBL Works from the Buck Institute for Education (pblworks.org), which is nationally renowned for project-based learning. PVCS is also in the process of getting accredited through Cognia, a nationally and worldwide recognized leader for educational quality, in addition to edreports.org for additional reviews of PVCS’s chosen educational materials based on comprehensive information about alignment to federal standards. The K-12 core math and language (combined learning with science and history texts) curriculum is obtained through Open Up Resources, with additional content added as needed by PVCS teachers and administration.

“In Project Based Learning, the project is the vehicle for teaching the important knowledge and skills students need to learn. The project contains and frames curriculum and instruction,” as explained by pblworks.org website.

“PBL looks at a project or question and tries to find the answer for it. It is community based, and there is usually a driving question that leads to discussion, research, problem solving, and application of knowledge,” Cushman explained. “It is student-centered, rather than a teacher-created project. The students also learn about the importance of deadlines, practice public speaking, presenting, working as a team, and all those soft skills as well… In the PBL portion of learning, the teacher is more of a guide at that point.”

Though to clarify, Cushman said direct instruction, as most people are familiar with in a school setting, is the other half of the equation.

“We have to have both. We provide direct instruction and projects, but unlike traditional schools, they are not separated out, it is simultaneous,” Cushman said, adding, “We follow the Chapter 6 rules, submit all curriculum to the state and participate in the WY-TOPP state testing to assess students’ learning progress.”

PVCS is a public school and is operating under a charter authorized and regulated by the State of Wyoming. According to the Wyoming Department of Education website, the “Wyoming Charter School Authorizing Board (WCSAB) was initiated by the legislature during the 2023 session with a mission to approve high-quality public charter schools in the state. The board is made up of individuals from across the state with a variety of backgrounds to ensure a wide breadth of input is taken into account as they work to enhance the availability of high-quality charter schools in Wyoming.”

Cushman explained, as both charter schools and district schools are public schools in which any student can attend free of charge, the only difference between the charter school and a district is the school operates under a charter authorized by the state government, and there is more latitude in the ability to choose curriculum that fits the student body and needs in the local community.

“The application we sent to the state for them to approve the charter was 136 pages long. They reviewed it to make sure the curriculum, policies and such were acceptable. Our policies are very much like the district public schools have, and we have to meet the same exact requirements as other schools in the state,” Cushman said.

All the educational safety-checks are in place by the State of Wyoming, but at this point the school cannot be accredited by the state for the simple fact, legislation takes time. Cushman explained the current law states the State of Wyoming can only accredit school “districts” and our charter school is not a “district.”

Having taught in both district and charter school settings, Cushman said, “I’m a science teacher by training and I’ve always wanted more hands-on, project-based learning. It’s my passion, and that of the board too.”

The board is not publicly elected, but there are term limits, and anyone can apply to be on the board by submitting an application. The board, made up of parents, community members and accredited teachers, votes on the appointments, and there are policies in place to remove a board member if necessary. There is only one employee of the board, Chief Executive Officer, Christian Winger, who oversees the director (Cushman, who is similar to a principal), who oversees the educators. Winger is a former Career and Technical Instructor at Laramie County Community College’s Wind Energy Program and has developed project-based curriculum at the college level.

Cushman said, as a charter school, the PVCS board is able to respond quicker to issues than a district, and there is a lot less red tape.

“This school is good for us. It is an opportunity to meet the need for our community,” he said. “We enjoy it, and there have been some really successful projects,” Cushman said.

The freshman student council wrote their own “government manifesto,” which, after input and review by STUCO advisors, they are currently operating under. The students are seeing firsthand how their choices have influence.

The eighth-grade math class made a scratch game other kids could play. “They learned how to code and teach other kids how to do transformations and calculations,” Cushman said, adding it’s not as fancy as they dreamed it could be, but it works, and they could take their ideas to the next level of development if they choose to.

The K-2 elementary students are working on a project with chicks. Their end goal is, as a class, is to create a book on how to raise chickens and include information on what they need to survive, how to care for them, etc.

There is also a “Genius Hour” in which students get a learning period to work on projects they have come up with themselves. The caveat is the students have to “pitch” their project to the Board of Directors before they can work on it.

“One student is making a jet turbine generator, another is making halters to sell as a business, another is restoring a tractor. He brings parts into class, works on them, then takes them home to put it on his tractor,” Cushman said.

There are also community projects designed to make a difference. The students have started an aluminum recycling program, with collection areas throughout town. Each student will have completed at least one project throughout the year, and others have completed up to four projects.

PVCS works with volunteers from the community to provide foreign language, music, mechanics, cooking, and leatherwork classes for the students. They currently offer middle school basketball and track, high school track, FFA and FBLA, and would like to add more sports and electives in the future, as enrollment increases at the school.

“We’d also like to have bus transportation services. We have been working with the Wyoming Department of Education for a year-and-a-half as they look at the statewide bus fleet, which has not had a new fleet for about 40 years,” Cushman said.

He added, the school wants to help students learn from things they are curious about, teaching them to identify problems and find solutions. Cushman concluded, “Eventually I’d like to see some students come in with an idea for a business, follow the steps necessary to create it, and walk away at graduation with that business ready to function and prosper in the ‘real’ world.”

Anyone who wants to see the results of the students’ hard work can come to the PVCS Spring Showcase at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 16. The event will be followed by a concert by the music students and will include musical ensembles.

“There will be a lot of fun stuff presented,” Cushman concluded.

PVCS will host graduation ceremonies for its first graduating class at 6 p.m., Friday, May 17. The public is invited to attend.

For more information on performance standards of Cognia accreditation, see their website www.cognia.org/services/accreditation-certification/. For information about the main math and language (combined with science and history) curriculums used by PVCS, go to Open Up Resources, https://access.openupresources.org/curricula.