Running head: DESIGNING A SCHOOL AND WHERE TO START 1

Research Questions Essay:

Designing a School and Where to Start
Kristina Ebner
The Masters College

I began researching how to start a school from the ground up and encountered several
questions regarding cost and budgets. My initial question was what is really required in order to
start a private school? I found a great deal of information and many stories about teachers and
administrators who did just that and started their own focus schools. My favorite stories I
originally found on the Scholastic Books website and then researched further. The majority of
the things I read focused on starting out with enough to teachers to have a balance. Most
suggested four or five at least in the beginning. The other two main necessities I came across
were a location, either buying or leasing and fundraising after creating a budget. Some people
put forth a great deal of their own money, but most had to raise at least part of their funding at
private schools. I also came across many websites designed for specific states regarding
requirements for private school start-ups, accreditation and many other pieces of useful
information if you were looking to open a school in that state.
The second area of research I chose to covers was in regards to answering the question of
pay for teachers at my school. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES),
the difference between average base salaries for public versus private schools is about $10,000
less a year. This number varies greatly however depending on education level, school location
and size of the school (NCES, 2013).
The next question I addressed was whether or not there is a requirement of school hours
in the state of California for private elementary schools. I reviewed many areas of the California
Department of Education website and found a great deal of useful information. I was quite
shocked by how little is required of public schools in the state. They are required to file a yearly
affidavit which proves students are attending their institution. Without that, some students could
be labeled as truant from the education system. There were many requirements of 175 days
proven regarding parents or tutors, but nothing directly related to private schools. It was
somewhat unsettling for me to realize the lack of structure that is required.
My private institution is private in the sense of no state funding and various texts and
books used rather than just what is required. However, in many ways my private school will still
be organized and run with many similarities to public schools in the state. I believe the standards
are important and laid out in a way that they build on each other as students proceed through the
grades. I feel this foundation and structure is important to their education. I will also administer
DESIGNING A SCHOOL AND WHERE TO START 2
my testing at the beginning and closing of the school year. Having a baseline from which to
gauge learning is very important and crucial in ensuring no student falls too far behind.
For my fourth research question I veered away from the school structure and looked at
parent needs. My initial question was, How do parents in my demographic and school style
want to be communicated with? I did some research both online as well as verbally among
many parents I know whose children attend public school. Mrs. March has three students in
private school in Arizona. She showed me her childrens school website and I used several of the
ideas in my school creation. She, along with most of the other parents I spoke to really appreciate
and use the school websites and communication pages their students teachers provide. Not only
does it make things easy for parents to access and illuminates lost homework or forgotten
special classroom dates. It also allows the teachers to communicate to all parents easily and share
much more than a quick conversation after school would allow. All the parents I spoke with said
e-mail is the easiest way for them to personally communicate about their student with the
teacher. The demographic I am aiming my school for was represented very well among the
parents I spoke to and I will be using these communication ideas for my school creation.
The final question I chose to research is about the type of school I created. I wanted to
know if there were any other schools with my philosophy already functioning? From what I
found in my research there were not any elementary schools with a focus of missions. There
were many that had service projects included in their school year, community outreach programs
and other forms of reaching out to the public. However, none of them had a specific focus or
goal of integrating missions work and ideas into their curriculum. I found that very interesting. It
could be simply that I couldnt find them, or they do not have a web page, but there was nothing
even close in the research I completed.
I learned a great deal about starting a school, what is required of the administration and
people involved in the plan and many aspects of a good private school.

DESIGNING A SCHOOL AND WHERE TO START 3
References
Kennedy, R. (2013) Starting a private school. Retrieved September 9
th
, 2013, from
http://privateschool.about.com/cs/startingaschool/ht/startaschool.htm
California Department of Education. (2013). Private Schools: Alternatives; Regulations;
Selecting a School. Retrieved September 10
th
, 2013, from
http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ps/rq/psfaq.asp#a11
National Center for Education Statistics. (2013). Public versus private school comparison.
Retrieved September 9
th
, 2013, from http://nces.ed.gov/