Coming to an inner city near you, extreme education

Small US academies with tough rules and excellent results are model for British

Some people call it extreme education: 10-hour days, parental contracts and zero tolerance behaviour policies in small, 200-pupil academies. The result, seen in an evolving breed of US school, is 100% college acceptance, test scores to rival private schools, and south Bronx teenagers who play the viola like their Manhattan neighbours.

James Verrilli, principal of the North Star Academy in Newark, America’s second poorest city, said: “These kids know drugs. These kids know crime and violence. Their fathers are in jail. We have established a school culture which is very distinct from the attitude they walk in the door with. It’s a college-bound culture.”

At the North Star Academy children like Charism and Queen-Ama smile politely as they shake your hand and welcome you in. Some 85% of pupils are African-American and 90% get free school meals. Last year 80% were graded ‘proficient or advanced’ in maths, compared with 28% in the local neighbourhood school, and exceeding state averages. Pupils work in silence with a professionalism learned during a three-day process. From the beginning, pupils are taught to speak clearly, answer questions in full sentences and look the teacher in the eye.

Parents have to sign a three-way contract with their child and the principal, promising to pull their weight. When a child’s homework isn’t handed in by 8am there is a phone call home. When the parent doesn’t turn up for a meeting, their child is not allowed back into school until they turn up. Signs telling them ‘No excuses’ line the walls. “I was working until 11 last night. I’m tired, but I know I’ve got to work,” says one 11-year-old, as she finishes up a ‘brain food’ worksheet over breakfast. “Even my mother’s gone back to school since I’ve been here.” Pupils are tested every six weeks and their results scrutinized.

“As a principal of a small school I know what every child is up to in terms of their academic achievement and their behaviour,” says Mr Verrilli. It’s an accountability that is extended to teachers: Mr Verrilli will sit in on classes with a Blackberry, emailing the instructor his notes as they teach.

North Star and other small schools like it, have evolved out of the 3,500-strong charter school movement in the US. Charter schools are independent schools, funded by the state, and allowed more freedom to set policies, including their admissions procedures. It runs a lottery for admissions and has 1,800 children on the waiting list. Parents have to put their child’s name into the lottery and there are discrepancies in who does so; three times more girls apply than boys.

Mr Verrilli vehemently denies any suggestion that his students might not be the most needy. “It’s a prejudice to say that parents from disadvantaged backgrounds don’t care about their kids’ education. 95% of parents just want a better education for their children. “We’re not creaming. I’m defensive about that. It’s something we’re accused of a lot. How hard is it to put your child’s name down on a piece of paper?” he said.

Every child who attends the Kipp (Knowledge is Power Programme) academy in south Bronx, New York, plays in its orchestra, the best school ensemble in the city. Every child can read music. Shirley Lee, a director of the Kipp academy in the Bronx, says it works because there is a consistent approach across every part of the school. “The truth and reality is that kids like structure,” she said. “It’s about telling them what’s appropriate and them learning when to use it. I wouldn’t talk to you like I am now if I was out in some of these areas. But if we teach them to look in my eyes when I’m speaking to them, they will use that if they get stopped by the police and that will protect them.”

In the UK, the political debate about the achievement gap between rich and poor in schools is gathering pace. The official body for inspecting schools, Ofsted, last week highlighted the ‘stark divide’ in achievement linked to social class and the government has set itself tough new targets on reducing the gap. Three London academies are experimenting with small school principles and last week a group of British teachers in training to run inner city schools visited the US looking for methods to tackle the dire state of ‘complex urban education’.

Ark, a UK academy sponsor, is taking key components of the small school model into London academies. Lucy Heller, managing director of Ark, says: “There’s something in the air: it’s small schools, tough behaviour management and an adamant belief that inner city children can do just as well.” The UK schools minister says small schools can teach disadvantaged children the skills that their middle class peers take for granted: “High ambition, zero tolerance of failure, an expectation that children will go to university and that schools will give them the education to do so.”

Ark is also helping to fund the 30 ‘Future Leaders’ group on the school leadership training scheme visiting the US. The trainees are expected to take some of the ideas they experience home to the UK. Many of them see limits in how translatable the model is to the UK, however. They talk about the fact that most of the US schools are middle schools, for 10–14 year-olds. The model has been tested less in the secondary school age group (11–18). They also ask how smaller schools can be afforded, though others point out the fact that in the US facilities are basic. “They don’t even have interactive whiteboards,” says one of the group’s mentors. “They just teach. Small schools might not be practical in the UK, but what I really want these new school leaders to take back is the sense of culture in these schools.”

(Guardian News & Media 2007)

III. COMPREHENSION CHECK

Choose the best answer according to the text.

1. What is the purpose of the three-way contract?

a. To enforce a zero tolerance policy.

b. To ensure that parents, children and the principal all work for each child’s success.

c. To make sure that all homework is handed in by 8 am.

2. What are the three basic components that UK schools will take from the US model?

a. Zero tolerance, homework handed in by 8am, and children excluded if their parents do not turn up for meetings.

b. Small schools, strict management of behaviour and a strong belief that children from disadvantaged backgrounds can do well.

c. High ambition, zero tolerance of failure and an expectation that children will go to university.

3. How is accountability at the North Star Academy extended to teachers?

a. They have to work a 10-hour day, just like the pupils.

b. They have to scrutinize test results.

c. The principal observes their lessons and sends them notes about their lessons.

4. Which statement best reflects the plans of UK educationalists?

a. They intend to use some of the US ideas.

b. They intend to copy the US model exactly and introduce small school academies to the UK.

c. They intend to copy the US model but have better facilities like interactive whiteboards.

IV. VOCABULARY

1. Look in the text and find these words or expressions.

1. A participle meaning gradually changing and developing (para 1)

2. A three-word expression meaning to do your share of the work (para 3)

3. A verb used informally here meaning to take the very best of something (para6)

4. A noun meaning a musical group (para 7)

5. A two-word expression meaning becoming stronger and more successful (para 8)

6. A two-word expression meaning obvious difference (para 8)

7. An adjective meaning extremely bad (para 8)

8. An adjective meaning very determined (para 9)

2. Match these phrasal verbs from the text with their meanings

1. hand in a. highlight

2. turn up b. go to a class you are not directly involved in

3. go back c. write something on a piece of paper

4. sit in (on) d. arrive

5. put down e. give to a person in authority

6. point out f. return

3. Verb and noun collocations. Use these verbs from the text to fill the gaps.

attend take set look establish sign gather pull

1. ____________ a target

2. ____________ a culture

3. ____________ someone in the eye

4. ____________ a school, college or academy

5. ____________ pace

6. ____________ your weight

7. ____________ something for granted

8. ____________ a contract

V. DISCUSSION

Do you think there should be more or less discipline in schools? List the points for and against schools like the North Star Academy.

 

READING 4

Don't blame the teacher

Ellis Rosenberg

Why must teachers meekly accept the blame for educational failure when the real problem lies else­where? The fault is not in the educa­tional-system but in the students themselves; they are underachievers.

At the heart of the educational process is what each student brings to the classroom. The greatest teacher in the world, like the greatest foot­ball coach, cannot function without "material."

The classroom holds a mirror to society, reflecting life-styles. These life-styles are the primary molders of student motivation. As early as the primary grades the youngster's environment shapes thеir atti­tude and performance potential.

Teachers can function best in a positive learning situation when the classroom is the extension of a fami­ly life-style that places a high priori­ty on academic achievement. How­ever, this is more the exception than the rule in a society increasingly in­different to intellectual disciplines.

Too often, the teacher faces stu­dents who bring to class a staggering indifference to enrichment that comes from expanded horizons through study. He is alone amid a sea of faces untouched by the aes­thetic, unmoved by the sensitive, and seemingly stripped of any awareness of man's immense poten­tial.

The teacher in most situations tries to create an atmosphere in the classroom that is the antithesis of society's values. How does he open young minds to an awareness of man's inspirational dimension in the face of their devotion to "Laverne and Shirley" and "Mork and Mindy"? How does he stress the eth­ical, the moral in the face of stu­dents' constant exposure to vulgari­ty, violence and venality?

While other professionals have the luxury of a respectful clientele seek­ing their help, the public school teacher does not. What other profes­sional constantly faces "customers" who arenot even remotely interest­ed in his "product"? In the class­room the sender and receiver are too often on different frequencies.

Many teachers, therefore, must re­sort to a methodology aimed at keep­ing control while working within a framework of hopelessly reduced in­tellectual expectations. They are forced to focus on problems of class cutting, poor attendance, high noise levels and open hostility.

As a result, the "art" of teaching today is often reduced to creating a classroom atmosphere in which the influence of disrupters is neutralized so that the lesson can proceed in an orderly manner. This "artistry" al­lows for the possibility that the stretching of some young minds might take place.

The creation of this delicate bal­ance takes its toll on the teacher. There is a tension in maintaining the "artistry" of control, and only those involved can understand the strain under which the teacher operates. That there is such a strong need for this type of "artistry" is the tragedy of modern education.

(Ellis Rosenberg teaches English at Abraham Lincoln High School in Philadelphia.)

 

1) Read through the article and find words or phrases that mean the same as:

1. a person who does worse than they could do

2. something which influences the development

3. willingness to behave in a dishonest or immoral way, esp. in exchange
for money

4. to have no feedback or understanding

5. strong dislike, unfriendliness

6. to use something for help

7. a student who prevents the lesson from continuing as expected

8. to cause suffering or damage

2) Decide if the following statements are true or false according to the article:

1. The student's background has a relevant impact on their performance at
school.

2. According to the writer, society's role in forming the student's attitude to
studying is often negative.

3. Teachers have to resort to the art of teaching to keep control in the classroom.

4. As well as other professionals, teachers often face with the indifference
of their 'customers'.

5. As long as teachers aim at forcing their students to behave in an
orderlymanner, they will not succeed in the primary task of teaching.

6. The reasonfor the writer's pessimistic conclusion is that teachers have
no support from society.

 

READING 5