FAQ's

Ararat Charter School (ACS), is a small, independent public school, and is able to bring a choice in public education to families in the Van Nuys area and surrounding communities. State education authorities have stated that choice in public schools creates healthy competition, which stimulates continual improvements in all public schools. ACS is a school of choice and not a school of residence.

At Ararat Charter School, every child is embraced as a multi-talented individual with unique learning styles and needs. ACS guides students in the process of learning, developing creative thinkers and problem solvers with a life-long love of learning. Because ACS is a charter school, there is freedom to innovate beyond the rules required of public school districts, yet there is strict accountability to meet or exceed state standards. For instance, the school’s small size gives it the flexibility to develop and use the most effective teaching practices available, including a longer school day to allow time for enhanced programs.

Ararat Charter School has hired outstanding, multi-credentialed teachers who share the school’s passion for individualized learning and hands-on instruction for all students. Every classroom teacher is certificated, and thus highly qualified under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Classes in kindergarten and 1st grade have 24 students. Grades 2 through 4 have 26 students. ACS is committed to maintaining a small school because research shows that “smaller learning environments create happier, safer, and higher achieving students.

• ACS is the first public school that teaches both Armenian and Spanish to all its students.
• ACS is smaller than most public schools, fostering a strong sense of community.
• ACS has smaller class sizes and thus a lower student-teacher ratio.
• ACS employs certificated grade-level teachers.
• ACS has a longer school day allowing time for additional subjects:
  1. Spanish Language
  2. Armenian Language
  3. Art
  4. Music
  5. Dance
  6. Drama
• As a charter school, ACS has more freedom to focus on the “whole child”.
• Ararat Charter School’s character development program is integrated throughout the school in order to strengthen students’ self-esteem, personal responsibility, and decision-making skills, and to develop the moral convictions to withstand undesirable peer pressure.