South Boston. Chattanooga,
Tenn. Prince George
County, Md. These aren’t cities
readily know or recognized for their education reform effort. But, according to
this
New York Times article, despite their differing populations—all of which
include high populations of minority students—each urban school district has
radically changed the way they prepare their students for life after graduation.
Chatttanooga got rid of their multi-track curriculum, in
which only some students were college-bound. Prince
George County
starting arranging campus tours for students—many of whom are the first in
their family to go to college—as early as seventh grade. South Boston
instituted days where teachers wear their college shirts to school and
introduce students to their alma maters before campus visits. What incredible
strategies for change!
Each school district realized that by providing a
college-going culture and setting high expectations for only some
students, they infringed on the civil rights of all students.
Thankfully, because they created a system that believed in the
college-going abilities of every single student and modeled behaviors for
achievement, each school district was able to change their urban center’s
culture and ideas about who can succeed.
“This is transformational change,” Dan Challener, the president
of the Public Education Foundation,
a Chattanooga group that is working
with the area public schools, told the NYTimes. “It’s about the purpose of high
school. It’s about reinventing what high schools do.”
Well put. But it's also terrific evidence proving
that in Washington state, now
certainly isn’t the time to look back when so many others are looking ahead.
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