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February 23, 2008 6:51 PM Subscribe
I am looking for information about a program I heard about on NPR, years ago. It is something like this: a gentleman in NYC (I think it was Harlem) started a special school for high school drop outs. The school focused on learning about culture (art, music, literature, etc) rather than the typical reading, writing, arithmetic model. The graduates had a much higher rate of getting out of the cycle of poverty than the traditional school system. Does this ring a bell for anyone?
Sounds similar to Bill Strickland and his center.
posted by sixacross at 8:24 PM on February 23, 2008
posted by sixacross at 8:24 PM on February 23, 2008
That sounds something like the Renaissance University for Community Education (TRUCE), which is part of a much bigger project called the Harlem Children's Zone.
http://hcz.org/project/sites.html#truce
posted by chickletworks at 9:43 PM on February 23, 2008
http://hcz.org/project/sites.html#truce
posted by chickletworks at 9:43 PM on February 23, 2008
Possibly the American Indian Public Charter School in Oakland? [NPR][www]
There was a thread on the blue late last year about a renovated school in a ghetto neighborhood that was having some notable success, but I can't find it now. Most of the commenters were assuming there was an application process, but I believe I found there wasn't one. I don't think they had a special curriculum so much as a lot of one-on-one attention and parents signing homework pledges and so forth.
There are actually quite a few charter schools using some variation of Robert Maynard Hutchins's Great Books curriculum. [one list]
I couldn't find anything about a specific school that was reducing poverty rates among its graduates, although there are some statistics that charter schools generally are about 5% more successful at this than public schools as a whole.
posted by dhartung at 11:05 PM on February 23, 2008
There was a thread on the blue late last year about a renovated school in a ghetto neighborhood that was having some notable success, but I can't find it now. Most of the commenters were assuming there was an application process, but I believe I found there wasn't one. I don't think they had a special curriculum so much as a lot of one-on-one attention and parents signing homework pledges and so forth.
There are actually quite a few charter schools using some variation of Robert Maynard Hutchins's Great Books curriculum. [one list]
I couldn't find anything about a specific school that was reducing poverty rates among its graduates, although there are some statistics that charter schools generally are about 5% more successful at this than public schools as a whole.
posted by dhartung at 11:05 PM on February 23, 2008
I was reminded of Ramón Gonzalez' South Bronx Laboratory School of Finance and Technology (so named because kids "wanted to learn how to make money and use computers") as featured in Smithsonian Magazine. That may not be it however.
posted by Overzealous at 11:12 AM on February 24, 2008
posted by Overzealous at 11:12 AM on February 24, 2008
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Consider this: Most programs like that consist of an applicaton process. The fact that there is this screening means that EVERYONE that comes to such a program is motivated to stay in it. The hard part in turning around public schools is how to get through to the kids that never apply to special programs, attend the "normal" schools, and aren't motivated.
posted by Doohickie at 7:48 PM on February 23, 2008 [1 favorite]