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The 31st state to pass a charter law (1998), Idaho has nine schools enrolling close to 1,000 students. Enrollments range from 20 to over 200. Programs span the spectrum from fine arts to basic skills. Student populations include delinquent kids on probation to high-achievers heading for top colleges. Here's a quick look:

• Anser Charter School An ungraded school that shares space in a business park with a Boise gymnastics academy, Anser's program centers on Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound (ELOB) for all of its 112 students. Students work on a point system, and most teachers use portfolio and rubric assessment. Parents run the school's weekly enrichment program, which draws heavily on resources in the larger community.

• Blackfoot Charter Community Learning Center This K-5 school near the Fort Hall Indian Reservation builds its educational program around three concepts: brain-based research, interdisciplinary teaching, and flexible student groupings. With a strong commitment to bringing every one of its 50 students to academic mastery, the school uses the "Physio-Neuro" therapy program to address the learning disorders that block as many as 30 percent of children from success in school.

• Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy This school, housed in a converted pet and garden center, serves 200 students in grades seven through high school. Emphasis is on college preparation, with a rigorous program focusing on English, math, and social studies, as well as process and thinking skills. Latin, Spanish, and French round out the tough curriculum.

• Lost Rivers Charter School Idaho's smallest charter school with fewer than 20 students, this converted alternative school serves at-risk kids in the rural community of Arco. Operating from a doublewide mobile home, it offers extended hours to meet the needs of kids who typically are on probation or under house arrest.

• Meridian Charter High School Operating from a brand-new building designed with student input, this Boise-area school features a cutting-edge technology focus through an integrated curriculum. The highly hands-on curriculum promotes involvement and critical thinking for its 114 students.

• Moscow Charter School Serving 63 K-6 students in a church on the western edge of the state, the school offers an enrichment program that includes age-appropriate experiences in theatre, music, dance, art, Spanish, martial arts, and environmental education. The thematic curriculum includes character education, core knowledge, and foreign languages delivered in flexible, multiage groupings for project-based learning.

• Nampa Charter School Portable classrooms on church property house this back-to-basics, year-round, multigrade school — Idaho's largest charter. With a heavy emphasis on character education, the highly structured curriculum includes drilling in math and grammar for the 233 students.

• Pocatello Community Charter School Tucked into the back of a shopping mall, this charter's 120 K-7 students receive instruction in the ELOB curriculum. Parental involvement is high, with parent committees making hiring decisions, policy recommendations, and assisting in curriculum selections.

• Renaissance Charter School With portable classrooms on a residential lot, this Moscow charter enrolls 72 K-12 students for an enriched curriculum delivered in small classrooms. Offering lots of individual attention and project-based learning, Renaissance has attracted kids who were "falling through the cracks" at big, impersonal schools. The arts-based curriculum includes multiple intelligences theory, ELOB, and the Suzuki music approach.

SOURCE: Idaho Charter Schools: Program Evaluation Report, Year One. Elke Geiger, Jed Schwendiman, Brenda Britsch, Debbie Hornibrook-Hehr, and Jessica Melvin. NWREL: July 1, 2000.

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