Opening or growing a charter school comes with its own challenges. School leaders face tight timelines, accountability to a school board, and pressure to get classrooms ready from day one. At times, they’re doing it all with leaner teams than traditional public schools.
While challenges vary from school to school, we understand them firsthand. For more than 50 years, Kaplan has supported a variety of schools with the essentials needed for high-quality early learning.
Charter schools are no exception. In this article, we walk through 7 ways Kaplan can partner with you from planning to implementation and beyond.
How does Kaplan support charter school programs?
You might be furnishing a single classroom or planning an entire new campus. In either case, Kaplan supports charter schools in setting children and staff up for success from day one. Here are the main ways we do that.
1. High-quality classroom furniture
Charter schools often use innovative approaches to teaching. This can include collaborative spaces, flexible layouts, and classrooms built for active learning. That’s why strong, durable furniture matters. It helps classrooms adapt as teaching needs change.
At Kaplan, we design furniture for early childhood and early elementary classrooms. Our tables, shelves, easels, and lofts are built for daily use and support a wide range of learning. Many of our furniture pieces adjust to fit different ages, making it easy to support children as they grow without needing new furniture.
- Our Sense of Place for Early Elementary collection supports creativity, focus, and group work. It includes flexible seating and simple layouts that help children collaborate and stay engaged.
- Our Carolina Birch collection helps create welcoming environments for young learners. It includes storage, organization, and other solutions that help children move through their day with confidence.
Investing in quality classroom furniture that’s built to adapt means you can continue to support children and educators—and their changing needs—for years to come.
2. Evidence-based curricula and assessments
One of the advantages charter schools have is the ability to shape their own curricula and instructional approaches. At the same time, they must ensure children meet state academic standards and complete required assessments.
With that in mind, choosing the right curriculum is one of the most important decisions charter school leaders make. That's where Kaplan comes in.
Our research-based curricula support foundational skills while promoting whole-child learning. Below are available programs that support early childhood and early elementary environments:
- Connect4Learning: The Pre-K Curriculum uses an interdisciplinary approach, weaving together literacy, math, science, and social-emotional learning to support children’s growth across all developmental domains. It also provides a rigorous scope and sequence that propels young children’s learning and development.
- Learn Every DayTM uses a multisensory, play-based approach to support learning in literacy, math, science, social studies, and the creative arts. It blends large-group instruction, independent play, and small-group activities to reinforce key skills and concepts.
- Nemours Children’s Reading BrightStart! (NCRBS!) is a research-based early literacy program that combines multisensory instruction with findings from early education, child development, and pediatric health. It’s designed to help emerging readers build foundational literacy skills and achieve reading success.
Beyond curricula, we offer standardized assessments that provide meaningful insights into children's progress. Educators can use this information to tailor instruction and support each child's learning needs. The options below help track children's developmental goals and social-emotional strengths:
- Learning Accomplishment Profile (LAP)™: An assessment tool that evaluates various stages of development in gross motor, fine motor, pre-writing, cognitive, language, social, and emotional skills.
- Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA): Nationally standardized behavior rating scale that evaluates children's social and emotional development and capacity for resilience.
See our Curriculum and Assessment Overview to compare our various offerings at a glance.
3. Learning materials for every stage
If you're opening or growing your school, you're likely furnishing classrooms across several age groups. With so many products to choose from, it can be difficult to know which materials best support children's development level.
Kaplan simplifies the process with high-quality materials designed for every age and stage. On our website, you can browse products by age range and category to find what you need for your charter school classrooms, including:
- Art supplies: Materials from paint and paper to aprons and safety scissors that match children’s skill and developmental level.
- Blocks: A collection of unit, hollow, foam, and cardboard blocks, along with loose parts, that support open-ended play.
- Language and literacy: Books, phonics tools, and writing materials that meet children where they are, building their vocabulary, comprehension, and confidence.
- Science: Hands-on tools that support critical thinking, problem-solving, and scientific exploration for preschool and elementary learners.
- Dramatic play: Materials like role-playing costumes, play kitchens, and faux food sets that spark language, creativity, collaboration, and social-emotional growth through imaginative play.
We also offer products that support children with a wide range of developmental and learning needs. This includes resources designed for children with special needs, sensory processing differences, and social-emotional challenges.
No matter where your charter school is in its growth, Kaplan has the materials to help every classroom—and every child—thrive.
4. State-of-the-art educational technology
Personalized instruction is a hallmark of many charter schools. Technology equips educators to create learning experiences tailored to children's needs and interests.
At Kaplan, we help charter schools bring technology into the classroom in meaningful ways. From interactive panels and augmented reality tools to coding products, these solutions get children moving, thinking, and creating through hands-on learning.
A few examples include:
- Illumination Station: Uses augmented reality to transform sand, floors, and walls into immersive, hands-on learning experiences.
- Beam Mobile: Turns almost any surface into an interactive learning space with hundreds of ready-to-use activities.
- Bee-BotⓇ: Builds problem-solving, collaboration, and computational skills through screen-free coding challenges.
Ready to bring classroom technology into your charter school? Kaplan’s Educational Technology Team can support you every step of the way. We’ll help you choose the right tools, handle delivery, and provide the training and support your team needs.
5. Safe, durable playground equipment
Outdoor play is an essential part of every school model, including charter schools. While outdoor learning spaces can take many forms, the playground is often the focal point. And for charter school leaders, building a safe, engaging playground before a new school opens often means working on a tight timeline.
That’s where we step in. We manage planning, design, installation, and project management, so you don’t have to coordinate with multiple vendors. This keeps your timeline on track and ensures outdoor spaces are ready for children on day one.
Order, design, and install your playground in a few simple steps:
- Browse our playground catalog or website to explore options for your space and goals.
- Buy online or connect with a playground specialist for guidance.
- Confirm whether it requires professional installation. If so, Kaplan provides full-service support. We provide site evaluation, custom design, and installation by National Playground Safety Institute–certified installers.
6. Professional learning delivered by early childhood experts
With more flexibility in staffing than traditional public schools, it’s possible for staff and teachers to be new to early childhood and early elementary best practices. They may also be new to the dynamic teaching environments many charter schools offer. That makes accessible, targeted professional development a top priority.
Kaplan’s professional learning solutions are designed to align with your school’s budget, goals, and staff needs. Here are just a few options to help new educators get up to speed before the school year begins:
- Customized training sessions tailored to your program’s goals and challenges
- Implementation training for any Kaplan curriculum or assessment tool
- Pre-scheduled sessions on a range of instructional and classroom topics
- Virtual 1:1 or group coaching for educators, administrators, or instructional coaches
- Free expert-led webinars for early childhood educators
Explore our on-site and virtual professional learning options to find the right fit for your staff.
7. Classroom design services
Well-designed classrooms are essential for high-quality learning. But building a new space or updating an existing one takes time and internal expertise—two things charter school teams often don’t have.
We’ll handle it for you. With Kaplan’s Full-Service Classroom Design, you can plan and outfit classrooms from start to finish without lifting a finger.
Start by sharing your vision, budget, and timeline with our design team. Within two weeks, they’ll provide a visual rendering of your classroom design—along with product recommendations. (Larger projects may take longer) Once you’ve made your selections, our K-Truck Delivery and Setup teams will set up your classroom as planned.
From planning to setup, we support every step of the process so that classrooms are ready to go on the first day.
Build your charter school with Kaplan as your partner
Charter schools share many of the same classroom needs as any early childhood or early elementary program. But they often operate with tighter timelines and leaner teams.
Do you need expert guidance and support along your charter school journey? If so, Kaplan is a one-stop resource for charter schools. We provide everything from furniture and materials to staff training and professional installation to help you get your school up and running.
To get started, connect with a Kaplan representative. Our team is eager to discuss your school’s specific needs and support you from day-one setup to ongoing classroom needs.
