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New Twist in Charter Schools: Preschool Programs

Washington

In a century-old brick building here in the capital city's northwest corner, 3- and 4-year-olds are taught in "studios" by an architect, an author, a choreographer, a filmmaker, and an array of professionals from other fields.

Elaborate exhibits—including watercolor interpretations of poetry and wind chimes constructed of materials such as old cookie cutters and tiny terra-cotta pots—are prominently displayed in this nontraditional program, appropriately named the Children's Studio School.

Across the country, in a sprawling, single-story building in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, 4-year-olds in green- and-white uniforms begin their school day by handing in their homework—a list of M words, completed with a parent's help. After singing songs about numbers and the days of the week, they sit at tables to work in their journals, while teacher Mary Focosi calls the pupils one by one to a small easel for more practice writing...