Skip to main navigation

Catalogue Blog

Question for the Day

From the “The Fragile Success of School Reform in the Bronx,” NY Times, April 6, 2011:

Upon arrival at 223, students pass through a gantlet of smiling teachers. Gonzalez requires that faculty members stand outside their doors at the start of the school day, part of his effort to set the school off from the grim streets surrounding it. “In our location, kids have to want to come to school,” he says. “This is a very sick district. Tuberculosis, AIDS, asthma rates, homeless shelters, mental-health needs — you name the physical or social ill, and we’re near the top for the city. Which means that when our kids come to school in the morning, when they come through that door, we have to welcome them.”

Drawing out the pluses and minuses of New York public school reform, seen mainly through the lens of a public middle school in the Bronx, the article is an extremely compelling read — both in its critique of the New York system specifically and, more broadly, its focus on the great reliance of educational innovation upon ex-classroom factors:

Studies dating to the 1960s have suggested that children’s experiences inside the classroom are responsible for as little as 20 percent of their overall educational development. No less important is how they spend their evenings, their weekends, their vacations [...]

Gonzalez sees this firsthand every September, when tests show that many of his returning students have dropped a full grade level in reading over the summer.

In other words, much of the work of improving schools (or the schooling experience) does not take place exclusively within the school building. So what are the crucial steps in connecting school and community life? Are the obstacles similar in the Greater Washington area? Do read the full article here and let us know what you think.

One thought on “Question for the Day

  1. I read the article and found it very moving. Aside from the complex educational challenges, what struck me most was the importance of creating an “education culture” for the students at the school and, critically, at home. This is what Gonzales is trying to do, and he’s finding it mighty hard. In our universe of Catalogue nonprofits, I’m always struck by how much work it is, how important it is, to create this culture FOR kids, either in school or, in many cases, in after-school programs that seem to have a culture of their own: they do the basic hard work, but they also instill in kids a real belief that they CAN accomplish, they can succeed. I think of Higher Achievement Program, and there are others as well. Success seems to depend on creating that culture. Academics are critical but won’t alone do the trick.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>