LD Resources

Sanford Shapiro looks at Chartwell School
© 2006 Sanford Shapiro

I must admit I’m pretty familiar with The Chartwell School in Seaside, California. Back in the summer of 1983, I was hired as its first teacher (other than the founding director). Chartwell was specifically designed for dyslexic learners and when we opened the doors that fall in ’83, we had six and then later in the year, eight boys, most of whom rode the bus to get to the small elementary school building. Started by a few passionate local parents/board members and a master teacher/ teacher trainer from the Charles Armstrong School, Chartwell began with a strong Slingerland-based (Orton-Gillingham for groups) instructional approach. After many years renting space from the Salvation Army it now has its own site on the grounds of the former Fort Ord and continues to serve students aged 7-14, who have a dyslexic learning profile.

I’ve watched Chartwell grow and develop from an unknown and small school that changed lives, to a great and larger school that has become a community leader and a west coast resource for teachers, students and families. In its early days, when the original director would preach about quality of instruction and adherence to high standards, he would say something to the effect that “it didn’t matter what color the walls were painted or what the place looked like as long as the program is top quality.” That value sustained Chartwell for many years and led to great success for hundreds of central coast students. Just this September however, Chartwell came full circle in sense, as it opened the doors to a new state of the art facility. Growing out from its history of quality instruction no matter what the facility lacked in appearance, it is now a school where architecture and design are intimately tied to student performance goals. Douglas Atkins, the school’s director since 2002, has led the vision for the new campus. It is “green and environmentally sustainable” well beyond most attempts by schools in this regard. The design, construction and operation of the physical plant, full of natural daylight, healthful and clean air, and beautiful park-like grounds overlooking the Monterey Bay, is founded on scientific principles that encourage student learning and goes way beyond simply a feel-good, politically correct alignment with green design.

As Chartwell has expanded this year to approximately 120 students in grades two through eight, it continues to hold to its historical mission of serving students with dyslexia and related language processing weaknesses. In speaking to its director Douglas Atkins and the Head of School Nora Lee, I see that Chartwell is examining ways it can accommodate students with more executive function and organizational weaknesses that still would benefit from its multi-sensory phonetic/linguistically based teaching approach. In addition to two class periods per day of language training, Chartwell students enjoy a strong fine arts and science lab program, as well as adjunct support from Speech Language pathologists who are in and out of the classrooms. It has always sought to have very supportive computer technology resources and relies primarily on Apple computers.

I suppose its no coincidence that Chartwell can trace some roots to the Charles Armstrong School, because like C.A.S., it is fast becoming not only a wonderful remedial school but also an excellent and creative alternative for students. Walking around the school you see lots of kids who seem to be having the fun that comes from learning new skills, in academic areas that are difficult. As Chartwell has developed, it has increasingly become a school that assists its students with identifying and developing strengths and self-advocacy skills. In addition it has added an early intervention class, for kids as young as six years old. There they may get a healthy dose of preventative exposure to phonemic awareness and phonetic development critical to early reading and writing success.

Related at this site: Chartwell School