These two highly valued elements are essential for great schools.

Communities and parents want schools to educate, but also to cultivate, create, and respond to local needs.

The Florida Legislature created charter schools to be public schools of choice that enhance local school districts. Popular and among the fastest growing school choice options in Florida, charter schools are free to innovate, and often provide more effective programs. The legislature wanted charter schools to meet high standards of student achievement while increasing parental choice, aligning responsibility with accountability, and provide parents and communities with more options.

Our community shares the desire for great schools.

In the mid-1990s a grass roots group of parents and civic leaders came together, each concerned that our children might not be acquiring the skills needed for success in school and the workplace. They envisioned a school focused on high standards, a place where students mastered classic academic subjects. They wanted a curriculum based on back-to-basics reading, writing, and mathematics skills. What has grown out of their vision is a middle school unlike any other.

The Terrace Community Middle School (TCMS) has emerged as a success story. Part of, yet apart from, the local school district, TCMS has become an incubator for a new formula in education.

TCMS is operated by the Back to Basics Charter School Foundation (BTBCSF), a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit foundation. Just as the Florida Legislature intended, its status as a charter school has enabled TCMS to flourish and demonstrate how charter schools should work. The school is expanding its programs and capacity to provide students with further opportunities for engaging, challenging work that leads to academic success.

exceptional achievement

In just a decade, Terrace Community Middle School has gone from a community vision to a vibrant, award winning school housed in its own facility.

The school has a long record of achievement and was recently awarded the nation’s highest honor when it was named a National Blue Ribbon School by the Department of Education. It has been recognized by the state as one of the Florida’s top performing schools. Scores on the FCAT have been some of the highest in the state and last year’s 8th grade test scores were in the top ten statewide.

Terrace Community Middle School students consistently excel in math, science, and music competitions. The school has done all of this despite receiving fewer dollars per student than traditional public schools. Word of the school’s success has spread and there are long waiting lists for admission.

As it enters its second decade, Terrace Community Middle School looks towards its future. Planning is underway for the expansion of current academic and extracurricular activities. There are many opportunities for enhanced community involvement and the development of innovative new programs.

Future plans include a high tech library media center, archaeology and natural sciences labs and improved athletic facilities.

Creating an excellent public school is an expensive endeavor, especially one that is dedicated to the integration of technology in a back to basics curriculum.
Invest in our children’s future through a tax-deductible contribution of money, goods, or services. Many naming and other commemorative opportunities exist. To learn more about how you can be a part of the TCMS success story, please call us at (813) 987-6555 or visit us at http://www.tcmstornadoes.com.