Enrollment on the rise

at innovative charter school

Aug. 12, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Slots for the Mat-Su Borough's new Twindly Bridge Charter School are filling fast.

A roomful of prospective students listened last week as teacher/adviser Ron Rober explained the school's innovative approach to K-12 education.

Twindly Bridge combines home education with classroom instruction and, so far, the idea seems to be catching on with a segment of Valley families. Already, 170 students are registered for the coming school year and five to 10 additional applicants continue pouring in daily.

"We're enrolling and starting people as fast as teachers can meet with them and get their plans finalized," said Twindly Bridge founder Anna Roys. "Teachers are meeting with families and things are progressing."

The school's maximum enrollment is currently set at 211 but pending the Mat-Su School Board's approval, an additional instructor could enable the school to enroll as many as 255 students in their first full year.

This week, construction workers continued remodeling 4,000 square feet of a strip mall across from Leo Nunley Park in downtown Wasilla, soon to be the school's permanent site.

The heart of Twindly Bridge's educational approach is what they call "problem-based learning," meaning students solve real live problems while teachers act as advisors and facilitators.

"[Teachers] ask questions like, 'What do you know; what else do you need to know,' and then send the students into research so they have a meaning attached to what they are learning," Roys told school board members earlier this month, during an update on the school's progress.

Roy's explained that Twindly Bridge is not like other charter schools in the Mat-Su, where parents normally drop kids off at school and leave.

The idea behind Twindly Bridge is for parents to take an active role in their child's individual learning plan. Each child's plan is tailor-made and approved by certified teachers from the school district. Parents then work closely with their children, providing instruction, tutorials and daily direction.

"All the families that come into the schools are responsible for their kids' individual learning program," Roys said.

Those interested in learning more about Twindly Bridge may log on to www.twindly bridge.org.

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266, or joel.davidson@

frontiersman.com.