Results 1 to 1 of 1
Thread Information
Users Browsing this Thread
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
-
01-03-2014, 10:08 AM #1
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
- Posts
- 8,546
Belief in student ability key to success at Milwaukee charter school
Belief in student ability key to success at Milwaukee charter school
By Mary C. Tillotson / January 2, 2014 /
Part 40 of 43 in the series Educating America
By Mary C. Tillotson | Watchdog.org
Pascual Rodriguez said he won’t hire teachers who feel sorry for the low-income, often Hispanic students his school serves.
“Don’t come in with a passive attitude, ‘I feel sorry because you’re Latino and you’re impoverished,’” he said. “I want teachers not because they feel sorry and want to give back to the community, but because they know our kids can learn just like any other demographic in the state.”
YES YOU CAN: High expectations and no excuses make the kids at Bruce Guadalupe Community School perform well academically.
Bruce Guadalupe Community School, an independent charter school in Milwaukee, serves students from age 3 to eighth grade. The school is 97 percent Latino and 80 percent of the students’ families meet low-income requirements for free and reduced-price lunch. Though the school is not bilingual, many of the students enter speaking little or no English.
Yet the students’ test scores are competitive with wealthier schools that don’t need to teach their students English, Rodriguez said.
“Black, white, green, yellow — I’m going to treat you like you’re the smartest individual and you can learn, and I’m going to set those expectations high,” he said.
The school is planning to expand in the next few years to accommodate more students.
High expectations and a student-focused approach keep the school running and get the kids educated, he said. Teachers and administrators aren’t afraid to upset the status quo if it isn’t working.
When teachers and administrators noticed their sixth-graders had limited science skills, for example, they built a science lab for elementary students. Science scores rose, and sixth-grade science teachers could begin the year teaching at a higher level than they had been.
Students and classes have peaks and valleys in performance, he said, and sometimes all it takes is some tweaks in how the material is presented. But other times, as with the science lab, more dramatic measures are needed.
“We don’t just change on a whim,” Rodriguez said. “If it doesn’t work one year, well, let’s uncover every stone and see what went wrong.”
Since teachers spend the most time directly with the students, he makes a point to listen to them and understand their concerns before making decisions.
“I’m the lead principal here. My job is to hire people smarter than me,” he said.
For years, the school taught students one grade level ahead in math, and the system was working well.
But recently, “we were noticing that the kids aren’t getting it. The teachers were wondering, ‘What’s going on?’” Rodriguez said. “So we decided we need to go back to grade level, and it’s made a difference. Our first graders are first-grade material; our K-5s aren’t.”
It took humility, but the students’ needs took priority, Rodriguez said.
“It sounds real nice and fancy to say, ‘We teach our kids one level ahead,’ but in our circumstances, we were doing our kids an injustice,” he said.
Rodriguez has no illusions that poverty doesn’t impact students’ academics, but he refuses to lower expectations because of it.
“Poverty does have an impact. A child goes home that doesn’t have access to a computer, that is in front of TV because the parents are working — that just means we have to work a little harder and provide more services after school,” he said. “If we do that, they will perform.”
“We don’t buy the excuse that they’re poor. That’s just some other districts’ excuse to explain their test scores.”
Contact Mary C. Tillotson at mtillotson@watchdog.org.
Part of 43 in the series Educating America
- Arizona mom won’t give up on special needs kids, no matter what state says
- Reviving a 1970s lawsuit, DOJ would keep black students in failing schools
- Relocating sexually abusive teachers would be more difficult under Pennsylvania bill
- DOJ backpedals on Louisiana voucher lawsuit
- Court says charter schools won’t pay for Atlanta’s pension debts
- Biggest education impact from shutdown? Furloughed bureaucrats
- Appeals court upholds Arizona school choice program
- Indiana’s voucher program expands; diversity a factor in one family’s choice of school
- ‘Vouchers don’t do much good for students’ claim is false
- NYC mayor’s race could affect school choice
- Vermont public school goes independent, raises ire from state bureaucracy
- Arizona education savings accounts aren’t vouchers, study says
- Legal institute fights Alabama union’s attempt to repeal school tax credit
- Experts: School choice improves education in public schools
- SC school-choice program helps special needs kids, could expand
- DOJ wants Louisiana parents out of voucher lawsuit
- U.S. House passes bill to prevent ‘passing the trash’
- ‘Non-traditional’ journalists barred from viewing tax-funded test results early
- New center hopes to help charter schools help kids with special needs
- Charter school advocate to Philadelphia schools: Listen to parents
- $45 million not enough for Philadelphia teachers’ union
- Study: Rhode Islanders support school choice
- Study: Choice would help failing Chicago schools
- Scholarships could lift SC school dedicated to real-life, hands-on learning
- Parents make good school choices, study says
- Divisive charter school reform bill headed toward vote in PA
- In Louisiana school voucher lawsuit, DOJ changes gears
- Opponents sue Washington to overturn charter school law
- School choice proponents’ challenge? Educating parents
- Judge: Federal oversight may not hamper school voucher program
- PA lawmakers push to amend tight teacher furlough policies
- College ready: A Milwaukee inner-city school success story
- Proposed economic furloughs could slay sacred cow of seniority in Pennsylvania schools
- What is Massachusetts doing right?
- Goldwater to appeal Louisiana school voucher decision
- Want to end poverty? Educate the kids
- Breakdown in Philly schools not only about the money
- North Carolina scholarship program on firm legal footing, attorney argues
- Philadelphia school district threatens charters
- Belief in student ability key to success at Milwaukee charter school
- Choosing to sue: Here’s a look at some 2013 lawsuits involving school choice
- Three things to know about Philadelphia’s school budget: Debt, pensions and safety
- Philly charter schools outperform district counterparts
Please, feel free to "steal our stuff"! Just remember to credit Watchdog.org. Find out more
http://watchdog.org/120876/student-ability-milwaukee/
Could this be turning common core on its head or is it just another way of accomplishing it, probably need to watch this a little more closely????
Last edited by kathyet2; 01-03-2014 at 10:14 AM.
PHOTOS: Biden’s Released Migrants Still Camp on Streets of El...
05-04-2024, 04:01 PM in illegal immigration News Stories & Reports