MYSTIC VALLEY 

REGIONAL CHARTER SCHOOL 

306 Highland Ave. 

Malden, MA 02148 

School CEEB Code: 221381 

Alexander J. Dan, Director/ Superintendent 

Matthew Stone, Assistant Director 

Prepared September 2018 

THE SCHOOL 

Founded in 1998, Mystic Valley Regional Charter School operates under the terms of a charter designed by local citizens engaged in improving educational opportunity in their community. Charter schools are tuition-free public schools of choice financed through public, local, state, and federal funds, and are independent of the local school boards. Each charter school has its own unique mission that reflects the vision of the school's founders. Charter schools are fully accountable, must meet the educational needs of their students, and must achieve the goals laid out in their charter. The school serves over 1,700 students in Kindergarten through Grade 12, and has a waiting list of over 3,000 students. The primary components of Mystic Valley’s academic design are high standards for teaching and learning and an integrated and consistently-delivered curriculum. The governing Board of Trustees is comprised of local parents and community leaders who are committed to implementing the tenets of Mystic Valley’s mission with fidelity and integrity. 

EXTENDED TIME 

Mystic Valley has adopted an extended school day, affording students more academic learning time over the course of the Kindergarten through Grade 12 program. Its school days are 60 minutes longer than most other public school days, and there are 20 more school days within each academic year, 200 instead of the 180 required by most public schools. By the end of a Mystic Valley student’s educational program, this extended time results in the equivalent of nearly three additional years of academic learning time when compared to Mystic Valley’s sending districts. 

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT 

The concept of serving the community is one that is embedded within Mystic Valley’s environment. One of the school’s ultimate goals is to graduate well-educated, civic-minded adults. As such, all students are required to perform 150 hours of community service during their time in high school. 

CHARACTER EDUCATION 

Character Education is an integral part of the educational program at Mystic Valley. It is the first class taught each school day in all grades. Core virtues, important civic-oriented values, and positive character traits are the focal points of the program. 

A DISCIPLINED AND STRUCTURED CLIMATE 

Mystic Valley is committed to providing its students with the skills necessary to reason, communicate, and live with dignity in a civil society. To accomplish this goal, the school has cultivated a school community characterized by perseverance, discipline, order, and respect. The school has adopted a Code of Values, designed to guide the efforts of teachers and staff in creating a safe, orderly environment and to reinforce the primary mission of the school, which is based on rigorous academic learning. It identifies ten character values that are at the center of the school’s character education curriculum: Responsibility and respect, honesty, gratitude, kindness and compassion, perseverance, courage, self-discipline, good citizenship and generosity, forgiveness, and wonder and hope. 

THE ACADEMIC PROGRAM 

Mystic Valley Regional Charter School has intentionally adopted a rigorous and research-proven educational program. Its elementary language arts and reading programs are based on the Direct Instruction (DI) model. The school has adopted the Saxon Math program and implements it to its terminus. The science and history/geography curricula follow the Core Knowledge Sequence, developed by the eminent educator and author Dr. E.D. Hirsch. 

In Grades 9 through 12, the course of study focuses on preparing students for the rigors of the college-level International Baccalaureate (IB) program. The school’s standard college preparatory course of study is designed to develop the competencies necessary for students to thrive in a competitive post-secondary environment. Mystic Valley offers a rigorous honors college preparatory program, and an advanced high-honors college preparatory program. 

In Grades 11 and 12, Mystic Valley students may pursue enrollment in IB-level courses. The school is one of the only public or private schools in Massachusetts to be granted authorization by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) to offer challenging IB coursework, including the distinguished IB Diploma Programme. Students who successfully complete the IB Diploma Programme earn an IB Diploma in addition to their Mystic Valley Regional Charter School diploma.