TEAM approach to success in education
The teachers' commitment is a large part of why kids learn, said Al-Nisa Thompson, Ruquyyah's mother.
"I don't know of another school where the teachers are here until 10 at night with the children," she said.
She credits hard work by everyone in the building, students and teachers, with the school's stellar test scores. By the time the youngsters are in seventh grade the average reading scores went from the 21st percentile nationally to the 71st. Math soared from the 31st to the 91st.
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TEAM approach to success in education
By Kasi Addison
The
April 11, 2006
Derrick Cohen can hardly believe four years have passed since he walked through the doors of
A lot has changed, he said. Once a struggling student, he learned to enjoy math. His mastery of big words earned Derrick the nickname "Dictionary" and come September he'll likely be leaving
"I thought boarding schools were where they sent kids for punishment," he said laughing. "But now I'm like, I can do that."
As one of 55 eighth-graders, Cohen is among the first batch of youngsters to graduate from the school. All the kids were accepted to non-public schools, and many like Cohen will be attending prestigious private and boarding schools.
If school officials have their way, this may be the first and last class of kids that must leave TEAM to attend high school. As part of the school's ambitious expansion plans, a middle school,
"Our kids are our kids for life," said director and school founder
Started four years ago with roughly 80 students, TEAM now has 320 students in grades five through eight, 21 teachers and 17 classrooms. Statewide there are 51 charter schools, with about 15,000 students attending. Though publicly funded, the schools operate under state charter, independent of local districts.
TEAM uses the KIPP approach to learning which focus on high expectations, more time, leadership, commitment and results.
School starts at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m., students wear a uniform top of sweat and T-shirts emblazoned with the TEAM logo, and teachers and students involved in activities roam the halls long after the class lets out.
"It doesn't seem like a school," said Kinyette Henderson who is headed to
Classmate Ruqayyah Thompson backed her up.
"I beg my mom to let me stay so I can do my homework and play with my friends," she said smiling. Ruqayyah will board at Peddie in Hightstown next fall.
The teachers' commitment is a large part of why kids learn, said Al-Nisa Thompson, Ruquyyah's mother.
"I don't know of another school where the teachers are here until 10 at night with the children," she said.
She credits hard work by everyone in the building, students and teachers, with the school's stellar test scores. By the time the youngsters are in seventh grade the average reading scores went from the 21st percentile nationally to the 71st. Math soared from the 31st to the 91st.
TEAM's success is about hard work, said Drew Martin, who will become principal of
"There is no magic potion the kids drink," he said. "We get there when the sun rises and work until the sun sets and do that 221 days a year. They have more time on tasks when they are in class, there is quality instruction and lots of it."
A high school operated with TEAM's focus on learning and teaching would allow students to receive a high quality education while remaining in the city, Hill said.
Upon its grand opening it will become the second charter high school in
Initially the TEAM high school will be housed along with
Though some students will continue to head off to private and boarding schools after graduating from the middle school, they will always be a part of the school, Hill said.
"Our teachers don't want to educate them and send them off and forget about them," he said acknowledging the campus of a boarding school is different from the streets of
Derrick has no plans to leave TEAM or
"Being here, there is a sense of community, a feeling I should really get involved," he said. "I think though I am leaving
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The New York Post
SCHOOL REBEL PROBE
By DAVID ANDREATTA
April 11, 2006 – EXCLUSIVE
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/66802.htm
Fed up with resistance to its plan to place a charter school in a building that houses gifted public school students in Manhattan, the city Education Department moved yesterday to have the principal leading the revolt investigated for misconduct.
In a document obtained by The Post, the department accused the principal of New Explorations Into Science, Technology and Math School of fudging enrollment figures in an effort to keep the Lower East Side building solely for her school.
NEST's principal, Celenia Chevere, was so intent on blocking the charter, according to the document, that she shuffled students from room to room to convince department inspectors that there was no space for another school.
The charges, among others, were outlined in a letter to NEST parents and sent to Special Schools Investigator Richard Condon with a formal request for a probe.
The letter, from Garth Harries, head of the department's Office of New Schools, was the latest salvo in a nasty war over the use of NEST's Columbia Avenue building.
Last week, more than 500 NEST parents, students and educators descended on City Hall to protest the department's proposal to have NEST share space with the new Ross Global Academy Charter School.
"Over the past few weeks, I have been surprised and disappointed at the behavior of some members of the NEST community, who have ignored the facts . . .," Harries wrote.
Chevere, a 34-year veteran educator who has made a career of starting successful and sometimes controversial new public schools, vehemently denied the allegations.
"This person Garth is not even qualified to clean my toilet," Chevere said. "This is like defamation of character. They're wasting taxpayer money."
The department also claims NEST, which serves students from kindergarten through 12th grade, improperly offered slots to eight private-school students who did not go through the city's admissions process.
NEST is one of two city schools resisting department plans to have them share space with an incoming charter school.
At the other, PS 154 in Harlem, about 100 teachers and parents gathered yesterday with United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten to protest a charter being created by Eva Moskowitz, who butted heads with the union when she was head of the City Council Education Committee.
posted by Whitney Tilson at 7:40 AM
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