A new approach to education: Uncommon Schools and the Harlem Children's Zone
"Build a great professional team, collect and respond to student performance data, and manage the school culture—in a nutshell, these are the three core characteristics shared by great schools," explains Madeleine Sackler, director of "The Lottery," a film about Harlem Success Academy.
Sackler succinctly identifies the principles behind two very different yet highly successful education organizations: Uncommon Schools and Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ). Both achieve enviable results on state assessments, and both send a high percentage of students to college. Both have closed the achievement gap for a socioeconomic group; Latino and black students in both schools produced test results equal to or greater than white students.
What do the two schools have in common?
The schools share two things: great professional teams and great supporting programs.
Doug Lemov, managing director of Uncommon Schools, is well known for his research. His observations help explain why some teachers are successful and some are not. He identified 49 techniques used by the most effective teachers, then set out to train other teachers to imitate those techniques. Lemov explains, "Here's how this teacher handled it differently from a typical teacher who has less compelling results." Uncommon Schools puts teachers at the center and builds around the sanctity of instruction.
Lemov sees the need for someone to take care of discipline and run the management end of schools, freeing teachers to teach. His teachers are well prepared to meet his expectations, serving a one-year internship, intensive summer preparation and half-day workdays each week to learn specific techniques. This professional team sets high expectations, stressing hard work as students master a rigorous curriculum.
Geoffrey Canada heads the professional team at HCZ and is the subject of Paul Tough's book, "Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America." He and his teachers put in long days yet receive an almost unbelievable amount of support from the total structure of HCZ. With community outreach and preschool programs (some begin before birth with parent education), students have the experiences and enrichment activities that replicate those of more affluent families.
Collect and respond to student performance data
Both schools spend time analyzing student data and designing programs to remediate and close gaps. And both schools report significant results: In 2009, Uncommon Schools' 1,000 black and Latin students reached a 99 percent advanced/proficient standard, a full 10 percentage points ahead of white students. One charter school in the Uncommon Schools system saw 100 percent of the senior class accepted to college. HCZ has equal success. Harvard economist Roland Fryer noted the success of the 2009 third-graders who were 100 percent at or above grade level in math. Fryer says, "The students had actually closed the black-white achievement gap."
Manage the school culture
Both schools have greatly expanded the school day and the school year.
At HCZ, this also means all-day kindergarten, Saturday classes for parents of 3-year-olds and pre-K programs in an effort to "plug all the holes that cause children to fail." HCZ stresses community outreach and enrichment programs designed to steer children away from destructive behaviors and to promote civic involvement. HCZ also provides medical, dental and nutrition programs, all as a total child approach to building a better student.
Uncommon Schools demands that students meet high standards of behavior and character; college is an ever-present goal, reinforced constantly. The extended school day allows for enrichment activities such as book clubs, guitar lessons and athletics. Tutors, Saturday classes and a Summer Academy support students.
How are they different?
Uncommon Schools is an umbrella for charter schools that have shown success in closing the achievement gap. Lemov does not see schools as a setting for social services, but focuses on the educational mandate of school.
HCZ serves a 97-block area of Harlem and works to spread change outward from the school. The blending of educational/social programs at the center of the HCZ vision seeks to ultimately improve entire neighborhoods.
Both schools have been refining their practices for almost two decades; persistence and consistency may account for some of the current successes. There is no template for meaningful school reform. There are, however, fundamental principles common to all successful schools.
