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Education Model
Tue, 05/26/2009 - 23:03
A New York Times Op-Ed piece addresses an assessment of the the charter schools operated by the Harlem Children’s Zone:
Fryer and his colleague Will Dobbie have just finished a rigorous assessment of the charter schools operated by the Harlem Children’s Zone. They compared students in these schools to students in New York City as a whole and to comparable students who entered the lottery to get into the Harlem Children’s Zone schools, but weren’t selected.They found that the Harlem Children’s Zone schools produced “enormous” gains. The typical student entered the charter middle school, Promise Academy, in sixth grade and scored in the 39th percentile among New York City students in math. By the eighth grade, the typical student in the school was in the 74th percentile. The typical student entered the school scoring in the 39th percentile in English Language Arts (verbal ability). By eighth grade, the typical student was in the 53rd percentile.
Why can't/don't other communities replicate the Harlem Children's Zone charter schools?
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Re: Education Model
This is very interesting article to me because my younger sister attends a school similar to the one described. It is an all-girl charter school, Ivy Prep Academy, in Atlanta (Norcross) aimed to provide college preparatory instruction to those selected through a lottery system. The school curriculum is remarkable; the school divides the students into "tracks" (not necessarily separated by competency level) named after prominent American and English universities (i.e. Spelman, Oxford, Princeton, etc.). It's goal is to provide a tuition-free structured academic and disciplinary culture.
In regards to the question, if I am understanding the charter system correctly, these schools are publicly funded (by the state), are responsible for producing results (as specified by their charter) and require a commitment not only by the state, but by the city it is in as well. Not just financial commitment, but a dedication to finding the appropriate teachers, to educational oversight and to providing necessary academic resources.
It is also a product of the community it is in, and many residents have been against the establishment of these schools because of the criticism that they promote racial segregation.
Furthermore, these schools can't be "replicated" because one has to consider the educational disparity between different states and regions. In a state like Georgia, that has had a shortage of teachers for several years now, is consistently in the bottom five in the nation in graduation rates and SAT/ACT exam scores, with the major city (Atlanta) being in an economic slump and funding being cut for foreign language and music programs in elementary/middle schools, it is highly improbable that one can expect the results to be as drastic as those in Harlem.
This is most definitely not to say that it can't be done, because I (as well as my family) obviously support these institutions, but that these kind of variances have to be taken into consideration when one examines overall impact. I would like to see a dedication to this types of schools, particularly within inner-city systems.
As a product of a school that is in the first public school system to lose its accreditation since 1963 (though I had already graduated when it happened), I am acutely aware of the differences in my secondary experience and the opportunities my sister has been allotted at Ivy Prep. Whitney J. for wikirocks.wordpress.com