BROCKTON, Mass. — A decade ago, Brockton High School was a case study in failure. Teachers and administrators often voiced the unofficial school motto in hallway chitchat: students have a right to fail if they want. And many of them did — only a quarter of the students passed statewide exams. One in three dropped out.
Then Susan Szachowicz and a handful of fellow teachers decided to take action. They persuaded administrators to let them organize a schoolwide campaign that involved reading and writing lessons into every class in all subjects, including gym.
Their efforts paid off quickly. In 2001 testing, more students passed the state tests after failing the year before than at any other school in Massachusetts. The gains continued. This year and last, Brockton outperformed 90 percent of Massachusetts high schools. And its turnaround is getting new attention in a report, “How High Schools Become Exemplary,” published last month by Ronald F. Ferguson, an economist at Harvard who researches the minority achievement gap.
What makes Brockton High’s story surprising is that, with 4,100 students, it is an exception to what has become received wisdom in many educational circles — that small is almost always better.
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3 comments:
For some places and kids, this is what works. For others, the charter schools work.
How about we support whatever works in whatever place instead of being as rabid about The One True Way as we are about Party Loyalty?
How about we worry about the kids first and forget the "my way or the highway" stuff?
Saw a great debate on the local news last night on education and a superintendent from Philly made that exact same point 9:58. Focus on what works and cut out all the finger pointing.
I was born and schooled in Brockton, Ma until I hit high school. My older sister in her freshman year had to be transfered to a private school halfway through the year because Brockton High School which opened in the early '70 & was the largest this side of the Mississippi was incredibly dangerous!!! I was fortune enough in that we had moved out of the city and I went to Stoughton High. My point? It took more than 3 & 1/2 decades to get where they are and that makes my be proud to have been born in Brockton. WAY TO GO Teachers who were born after my high school years.
Congradulation!!!! You've earned it!
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