hope or hype in harlem? city limits magazine
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Hope orHype inHarlem?
Plus:
Whos Afraid of Charter Schools?
Commitment, Connections and Cash Going Local Goes National A Modest Miracle Read. Tink. Do.
Vol. 34, No. 1
March 2010
WWW.CITYLIMITS.ORG
From Oprah to PresidentObama, people think Georey
Canada's Harlem Children's
Zone has ound the way or
America to fght poverty.There's just one question:
Does it work?
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Above: Christine Valentin, a student in Kelly Downing and
Patrice Wards ninth grade English class at Harlem Childrens
Zones Promise Academy I. Photo by Alice Proujansky.
THE LOOK
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Vol. 34, No. 1March 2010
CONTENTSIs the Promise Real? 4Te Harlem Childrens Zone becomesa template or national changeBy Helen Zelon / Photographs by Alice Proujansky
The Man of the Hour 5
We will fnd the moneyto do this because we cantaord not to.
The Great Escape 9
I you hit 65 percent othe population, thats thetipping point.
Shaping Success 16
Failure is not permitted,because unding is tied tosuccess, not ailure.Going National 25
We are so desperate or anylittle inkling o success
An Act of Faith 34
So you and I, we mustsucceed in this crusade,this holy deed.
Canadas Provinces 10
An inventory o the Harlem Childrens Zones initiativesBy Maria Muentes
In the Zone 13
Te physical ootprint o the Harlem Childrens Zone
The Charter Challenge 17
Te pros and conicts o a schooling revolutionBy Helen Zelon
Charting a Course 21
A timeline o Harlems charter schoolsBy Samia Shaf
Test Pattern 22
How Harlems miracle really ranks
Taking It Local 26
Anti-poverty programs beyond the ZoneBy Rachel Dodakian
Making Connections 30
Powerul riends, deep pockets and the HCZBy Maria Muentes and Jarrett Murphy
HomeWork 38
ExtraExtra 42
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o New York (CSS).
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CHAPTERS
SIDEBARS
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Editor'sNoteIt is hard not to be impressed with Geoffrey Canada.
Charismatic, passionate, eloquent, it is no mystery why he has become amedia star-- robabl the hi hest- rofile erson ever ersonall associated
with the fight against poverty. And there is no reason not to be impressed,
for Canada is not merely playing a role on 60 Minutes or the AmericanExpress commercial or wherever he makes his case. He is the genuinearticle.
Even before he began the Harlem Children's Zone, Canada had dedicated--
others had failed.
Fixing America's schools and ending poverty have been on America's to dolist for generations, and Canada's model offers a hope of doing both. From
Anderson Cooper to Wall Street financiers to President Obama, everyonewants to find something--anything--that will work, and so they have
' .
he media coverage the Zone receives is uniformly glowing. Millionaires andbillionaires have showered it with support. And Obama's signatureantipoverty program, Promise Neighborhoods, is modeled after theChildren's Zone.
But t ere s a pro em w en a m rat on turns nto up cat on. T eimpatience sewn by America's past policy failures has amplified the allure ofthe Children's Zones early successes. As Canada is the first to state, theexperiment he initiated on a few Harlem blocks in 1994 has yet to run its
course. After all, the charter schools that now anchor the multi-service,cradle-to-college Harlem Children's Zone are only a few years old. They'veyet to graduate a high school class. The schools have achieved much, but notwithout significant bumps along the way. The impact of the larger model ofHCZ's social interventions is harder to track. And the exact mix of services--schools, clinics, family resources--that produces success is still not clear.
Yet many of Canada's fans are quick to declare his success absolute. Someisolate one part of the mix, like the charter schools, as the only necessaryelement for re licatin the ro ect elsewhere. Others a little attention tothe unique neighborhood dynamics and financial resources that HCZ hasthrived upon.
The danger is not that HCZ gets an unwarranted reputation for success:Canada deserves all the credit he gets. The risk is that poor attempts to copyCanada's model will fail, reflect poorly on his good work, undermine yet
economic isolation. On the pages that follow, Helen Zelon takes a hard lookat what we and don't know about what Geoffrey Canada has accomplishedin Harlem, and what it might mean for a national agenda.
-Jarrett Murphy
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City Limits / Vol. 34 / No. 1Is the Promise Real?4
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Is thePromiseReal?
The Harlem Childrens Zone becomesa template for national change
BY HELEN ZELON / PHOOGRAPHS BY ALICE PROUJANSKY
Geofrey Canada strides to the lectern in the New York SheratonsGrand Metropolitan Ballroom amid the clatter and clink o ladenplates and silver coee urns, as 1,400 sets o eager eyes and earsansand acolytes, students and advocates, civic leaders, law enorcementocers, school chies, nonproft staers and a handul o unders rep-resenting 106 communities across the United Statesturn their atten-tion away rom their sliced-chicken-and-asparagus entres to the tall,lean man at the ront o the room. Te diners are gathered at a coner-
ence called Changing the Odds. Tey are there because they seek toglean the secrets and wisdom o the Harlem Childrens Zone (HCZ),Canadas all-encompassing neighborhood anti-poverty program.
THE MAN OF THE HOURWe will fnd the money to do this because we cant aord not to.
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City Limits / Vol. 34 / No. 1Is the Promise Real?6
Previous spread:
Teaching assistant Rudy
de la Cruz corrects tests for
fourth graders at Harlem
Childrens Zone.
Above:
The $44 million building
that houses the Harlem
Childrens Zones Promise
Academy I is a gleaming
presence on an otherwise
worn-looking block.
Opposite:
Geoffrey Canadas
charter schools have
been hailed as a national
model. Photo: Rebecca
Davis.
We are launching Promise Neighborhoods
to build on Geoffrey Canadas successes inHarlem with a comprehensive approach to
ending poverty, the President has said.
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And they are not alone in listening closely towhat Canada has to say. His grand experiment,which began in 1994 as an intensely local web ocradle-to-college social services and has expandedto include two charter schools and 97 square blockso central Harlem, is about the hottest commodityon todays national urban-policy scene.
Just a ew weeks aer the conerence, Canadawas eatured in a glowing 60 Minutes portraitthesecond time the premier V newsmagazine hascovered the Zone. Oprah Winrey calls Canada anangel rom God. ABCs Good Morning America,PBSs Charlie Rose and CNNs Soledad OBrienhave broadcast Canadas message; National PublicRadios erry Gross and avis Smiley have in-terviewed him; Public Radio Internationals TisAmerican Lie aired a lengthy profle; and articlesabout the Harlem Childrens Zone have appeared inTe Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report,Newsweek and other leading publications. In 2004,
the Harlem Childrens Zones frst charter schoolcaught the attention o author and New York imesmagazine editor Paul ough, whose book-lengthprofle o the Zone, Whatever It akes, was publishedin 2008.
Tink tanks right, le and center have discussedand evaluated Canadas work. President Bill Clin-ton has paid homage; Britains Prince Harry andPrince Seeiso o Lesotho visited last May. A reportlast spring by two Harvard scholars asserting thatCanadas charter schools have eradicated the long-entrenched achievement gap between black and
white students cued an ongoing avalanche o praiserom pundits, cheer-led byimes columnist DavidBrooks celebratory accolade Te Harlem Miracle.
In 2007, Canadas liework was singled out byBarack Obama the candidate, and it has since beenwritten into the Presidents proposed 2010 and 2011budgets as a template or Promise Neighborhoods,a program that aims to reverse generations ourban poverty and racial disparity. We are launch-ing Promise Neighborhoods to build on GeoreyCanadas successes in Harlem with a comprehensive
approach to ending poverty, the President has said.O the cost, which Obama estimates to be a ewbillion a year, the President has vowed, We willfnd the money to do this because we cant aordnot to.
Te Obama administration has already dedicated$10 million or planning grants, to be awardedcompetitively to 20 communities that will develop
Promise Neighborhoods built on the Harlem Chil-drens Zone template. Tats what drew the audience
that waited or Canadas words at the Sheraton thataernoon in November.
Yet as Canada readily admits, his work has justbegun. We wont have our cycle completed until 10years rom now, he told the crowd in November.Its a 20-year cycle. Te Zones Promise Academyschools have posted celebrated gains on New YorkState standardized tests, but the schools are them-selves too new to register a ull complement ostudents or graduate a high school class. Many oHCZs social-service programs predate the schools,but their impact has mostly eluded measurement.
Te White House, prominent academics and themedia have anointed the Harlem Childrens Zonethe weapon o choice or attacking poverty, eventhough little is known about what degree o dier-ence HCZ has actually made, and exactly how itwas achieved.
Tere has been some success, no doubt.Canada possesses enormous integrity; his lielongdedication is unquestioned. But its unclearwhether the Harlem Childrens Zone is anexportable, adaptable commodity that can workrom Cleveland to Compton or a sui generis,
only-inNew York idea. Not every neighborhoodcould claim the deep, dense fnancial and politicalresources that have nurtured the Harlem ChildrensZone. Not everyone has a homegrown GeoCanada to lead the way.
How much does a dynamic, charismatic,visionary leader matter?
Short answer: a great deal.
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At the Sheraton conerencecosponsoredby the Harlem Childrens Zone and PolicyLink,a Caliornia-based research and advocacynonproft with ties to the Obama administra-tionCanada drapes a lanky arm across thelectern as he speaks, sliding the mic rom itsstand, and moves downstage to confde inthe audience. wo giant screens bracket thestage, placed catercorner in the vast ballroomspace. When his stories build to an emotionalheight, Canada takes a precisely olded milk-white hanky rom his inside suit-coat pocketand dabs at his brow and the corners o hismouth, a gold bracelet gleaming on his wrist.
Polished and passionate, undeniably drivenbut charmingly sel-eacing, Canadas not shy
to put himsel in the punch line o an anec-dote or to use the silence between his wordsto hit hard truths square on: He is a master ohis message, and his presencehis story, his
vision, his dedication and his driveanchorsthe work that has made him a rock star in theuniverse o education reorm.
Although he now lives in a Long Islandsuburb, Canada is a son o the South Bronxwho grew up tough on Union Avenue. Wewere the poorest welare cheats there everwas, Canada wrote in his 1995 memoir-
maniesto, Fist Stick Knie Gun. One oour brothers in a single-parent household,Canada knew he was dierent: He was placedin honors classes in grade school, apart romthe other kids on the block. Yet he hewed tothe honor code o the street, fghting whenchallenged (and sometimes when not). Ten,he got a break: a move to the suburbs to livewith his grandparents. Canada escaped.
Educated at Bowdoin College in Maine,Canada earned a graduate degree in educa-tion at Harvard in 1975. In 1983, aer a stint
teaching at and eventually leading a schoolor troubled youth in Boston, he returnedto New York City and began work at theRheedlen Foundation, a nonproft that aimedto reduce truancy in Harlem.
At Rheedlen, Canada started to orm theideas that would become the HCZ abric.One passion was teaching a weekly tae kwon
do class, where respect, discipline, order andocus were both cultivated and required. Butmore students wanted to take tae kwon dothan could sign up; a long waitlist ormed.Inevitably, some were le out. Over time,this became a moti: Tere weremore children in need thanthere were programs and classesto serve them. Canada grewincreasingly rustrated withRheedlens inability to reach abroad swath o Harlems kids.He came to believe that un-less every child received amplesupport, the cycle o poverty that has longhobbled Harlem would never be broken.
Canada worked with and eventuallyreplaced Rheedlen director Richard Murphy,who joined the Dinkins administrationas commissioner o youth services. Ascommissioner, Murphy championed thecreation o Beacon community centers,which were sited in public schools and meantto provide aer-hours community resourcesand academic and social supports to localyouth. With Murphys authority and Canadasleadership, Rheedlens aer-school and anti-truancy programs evolved to become the
citys frst Beacon centers.At about the same time, Childrens Deense
Fund (CDF) ounder and president MarianWright Edelman convened a new group, theBlack Community Crusade or Children,and invited Canada to be part o it. Tegroup met every year at the rural-ennesseearm oRoots author Alex Haley. Even asCanada ound solace in the gathering o like-minded leaders, his discouragement grew:Te problems they all recognized as criticalthreats to poor, urban youth were only
increasing in the wake o rising gun violence,the ready availability o crack cocaine,growing rates o incarceration and abysmallylow academic achievement in Americaspoorest communities.
Te Childrens Deense Fund (whose boardCanada now chairs) articulated a disturbingcradle-to-prison pipeline, by which urban
Read an exclusive Q&A
with Geoffrey Canada.
www.citylimits.org/HCZ
CITYLIMITS.ORG
Opposite:
Tempestt Tucker, a
student in a ninth-
grade English class.
Schools were a late
addition to the cradle-
to-college pipeline.
THE GREAT ESCAPE
Continued on p.12
I you hit 65 percent o the population, thats the tipping point.
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City Limits / Vol. 34 / No. 1Is the Promise Real?10
Charter SchoolsPromise AcademiesAdmission is mainly by lottery,
conducted when students are 3
years old; admission to the school
includes an invitation to enroll in
Harlem Gems, HCZs intensive pre-
kindergarten program. Students
have an extended school day and
year, with classes running until
early August. Promise Academy I,
launched in 2004, will eventually
cover kindergarten through 12th
grade but currently has studentsin grades K through 6, 9 and 10.
The schools elementary, middle
and high school divisions oper-
ate separately, each with its own
principal. Promise Academy II,
located several blocks away and
operating since 2005, currently
has kindergarten to fourth grade
but will eventually have grades K
through 12.
Saturday Academy
Gives extra support in English
and math to Promise Academy
students.
Early ChildhoodProgramsThe Baby College
An early intervention program
for expectant parents andparents of children up to 3 years
old. The nine-week parenting
workshop emphasizes early-
childhood development and
reading to infants and children,
while discouraging corporal
punishment.
The Three-Year-Old Journey
A Saturday workshop for parentswhose children will enter pre-K
the following year. The program
emphasizes developmental
stages and language skills.
Harlem Gems
Pre-K for 4-year-olds with a 4-to-1
student-teacher ratio. The re-
ported expenditure per student is
$13,500, twice that of Head Start.
Targeting YouthHarlem Peacemakers
In conjunction with AmeriCorps,
this program trains college-age
interns to offer in-classroom sup-
port to young children, supervise
them during the school day,
provide after-school program-
Canadas ProvincesGeoffrey Canadas Harlem Childrens Zone encompasses anarray of programs serving different needs and populations
The Harlem Childrens Zones headquarters anchors the intersection of 125th Street and Madison Avenue.
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ming and coordinate outreach
to parents at seven elementary
schools in Harlem as well as at the
Promise Academy.
A Cut Above
An after-school program for mid-
dle schoolers who do not attend
the Promise Academy CharterSchools. Academic support and
high school and college prep are
provided.
TRUCE (The Renaissance Univer-
sity for Community Education)
An arts education and media
literacy program for youth ages 12
to 19 who live in the Zone. Those in
the program produce a public ac-
cess TV show called The Real Deal.
Learn to Earn
An after-school program for high
school juniors and seniors with a
focus on academic skills, college
prep and job readiness. Students
are paid weekly stipends for good
grades and good attendance at
school and after-school programs.
College Success Office
College admissions support
program for youth who gradu-
ate from high school and areinvolved in one of six other HCZ
programs, such as Learn to Earn
and Beacon. The office offers sup-
port through the college search
and admissions process and
throughout former students col-
lege careers.
Beacon
Centers that offer additional
afternoon, evening and weekend
services to students. Programs
include tutoring, drug counseling,
pregnancy prevention and social
events.
Neighborhood NeedsEmployment and
Technology Center
Provides access to computers,
technology classes and employ-
ment services for community
residents of all ages.
Community PrideThe community-organizing
program of HCZ organizes tenants
and block associations. It has
helped tenant organizations build
capacity by converting city-
owned buildings to tenant co-ops,
according to HCZ reports, as well
as set up community-building
events such as block parties and
film festivals.
Single Stop
Offers financial and legal services
to Zone residents.
Income Tax Consulting
Individualized, one-time counsel-
ing on income tax preparation
has garnered millions in gains,
say Zone officials.
Health andFitness Initiatives
TRUCE Fitness and Nutrition CenterOffers free dance, martial arts,
fitness and nutrition classes as
well as academic support for
students in grades 5 through 8.
It began as an effort to address
obesity in the community.
Asthma Initiative
A collaboration with Harlem
Childrens Zone, Harlem Hospital,
Columbia University and
other community partners, the
initiative surveys families in the
Zone to determine who suffers
from asthma, then works with
individual households to help
them manage the disease.
Healthy Living Initiative
Seeks to address the problem of
obesity in the communityand pro-
mote physically-active lifestyles
and healthy eating habits among
the children of central Harlem.
Harlem Childrens Health Project
A health clinic located inside thePromise Academy I middle school
provides on-the-spot medical
support and dental and mental-
health services to students. The
intent is to address the immedi-
ate health needs of children who
have no health insurance and to
remove possible health-related
barriers to learning.
Preventive ServicesThe Family Development Program
Conducts family assessments and
refers families to mental-health
services.
The Family Support Center
Provides group sessions on par-
enting and anger management,
crisis intervention, referrals and
advocacy.
The Midtown Family Place
Provides preventive services to45 families in Chelsea and Hells
Kitchen; also runs a food pantry
and a literacy program.
Project CLASS (Clean Living
and Staying Sober)
Provides referrals for drug abuse
treatment and monitors sobriety
for families at risk of foster care
placement.
Truancy Prevention
Provides supportive services for 90
families in Manhattan Valley and
central Harlem. Includes domestic
violence and parenting support
groups.
Maria Muentes
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City Limits / Vol. 34 / No. 1Is the Promise Real?12
youth, most oen boys o color, are ar more likely tospend time in prison than to entermuch less graduateromcollege. Canada conceived an alternate pipeline,a cradle-to-college conveyor belt that would insulate
Harlems children rom the ills that long plagued the com-munityone that would, once a child was in the pipeline,guide that child inexorably, inevitably, toward high schoolgraduation and into college.
Canadas connections allowed him to marry his ideastomoney. Te CDFs Edelman got Canada appointedto the board o the Robin Hood Foundation, which wascreated by hedge under Paul udor Jones II to channelcorporate generosity into the citys neediest schools.Trough Robin Hood and via Edelmans networks,Canada met billionaire hedge-und magnate Stanley
Druckenmillera ellow Bowdoin alumand otherfnancial powerhouses. Canada was already riends withcurrent American Express CEO Ken Chenault rom theirundergraduate years at Bowdoin.
Te economic disparities that plagued Harlem whenCanada started work at the Rheedlen Foundation werestark: According to William Julius Wilsons landmark1987 bookTe ruly Disadvantaged, only 38 percent oArican-American men in Harlem were employed in1984, compared with 82 percent a generation earlier,in 1965. Even the economic boom o the 1990s largelybypassed Harlem; about 40,000 residents lived below
the poverty line in both 1989 and 1999. Employmentremained relatively constant, 49 percent in 1989 and 51percent a decade later.
Beyond economics and employment, academicachievement among Harlems children consistently laggedbehind that o kids growing up below, say, 96th Street.And the defcits perpetuated themselves: Parents whoddone poorly in school passed subpar verbal and reading
skills on to their children. As Canada puts it, Te gapstarts at Day Oneand it never gets any closer, unlesschildren have more time to learn.
Te unders soon realized Canada was unusually
dedicated and extraordinarily agile in his ability to moverom the boardroom to the tenement with fnesse. Temore they got to know him, they realized what a uniquelytalented, dedicated person he is, Norman Fruchter,director o the community involvement program at theAnnenberg Institute or School Reorm, says. Teypledged X million i he came up with a plan to transormHarlem. Tat was the origin o the Harlem ChildrensZone. Druckenmiller and others helped Canada write abusiness plan; Rheedlen became the HCZ.
wo succinct concepts defne the Harlem ChildrensZone. Te frst is the pipeline, a metaphor or the matrix
o services and programs designed to usher local childrenrom birth to college. Te second, the tipping point,describes a milestone in the neighborhoods developmentwhere positive change becomes inevitable.
Te cradle-to-college pipeline is actually designed tobegin beore birth: Expectant parents are recruited intoBaby College, a nine-weekend workshop that teachesbasic parenting skills and discipline strategies and aimsto instill the importance o early-childhood enrichmentslike reading aloud to babies and toddlers. Children enterthe pipeline in preschool, via the Tree-Year-Old Journey,Get Ready or Pre-K or, or those whove won the lottery
or slots in the two Promise Academy charter schools, theintensive Harlem Gems pre-kindergarten. Te PromiseAcademies (Academy I was launched in 2004, AcademyII in 2005) themselves are designed as K-12 schools,although neither has all 13 grades in place yet.
HCZ brings in older teens through its RUCE mediaand ftness eorts, its Peacemakers school volunteerprogram, Employment and echnology workshops and
Canada conceived an alternate pipeline, a cradle-
to-college conveyor belt that would insulateHarlems children from the ills that long plagued
the communityone that would, once a child wasin the pipeline, guide that child inexorably, inevitably,
toward high school graduation and into college.
Continued from p.9
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In the ZoneTe physical footprint ofthe Harlem Childrens Zone
1. Harlem Childrens Zone
Headquarters
35 East 125th Street
2. The Baby College
(not shown)
2037- 39 Seventh Avenue
3. Booker T. Washington Beacon
(not shown)
103 West 107th Street
4. College Success Office
147 St. Nicholas Avenue
5. Community Pride
157 West 122nd Street
6. Countee Cullen Community
Beacon
242 West 144th Street
7. Employment and Technology
Center
304 West 117th Street
8. Family Development Program
689 Lenox Avenue
9. Family Support Center
207-211 Lenox Avenue
10. Harlem Gems
41 West 117th Street
11. Harlem Gems Head Start
60 West 117th Street
12. Harlem Peacemakers South
2031 Fifth Avenue
13. Harlem Peacemakers North
1916 Park Avenue
14. Learn to Earn
1916 Park Avenue
15. Midtown Family Place
(not shown)
457 West 51st Street
16. Promise Academy I Upper
Elementary, Middle School
& High School
35 East 125th Street
17. Promise Academy I
Lower Elementary
175 West 134th Street
18. Promise Academy II
2005 Madison Avenue
19. Truancy Prevention
(Project CLASS)
309 West 134th Street
20. TRUCE Media Project
147 St. Nicholas Avenue
21. TRUCE Fitness and
Nutrition Center
147 St. Nicholas Avenue
4
5
10
16
11
9
6
7
8
18
12
17
19
21
20
13
14
The Harlem Childrens Zone covers 97 square blocks, from 116th Street to 143rd
Street and from Madison Avenue to Frederick Douglass Boulevard.
1
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the College Success program, which oers high school se-niors at six area schools workshops on college admissionand fnancial aid and helps students secure internshipsand community service placements.
Adults who live within the Zones boundaries gainaccess to community-building resources; more thantwo dozen city-owned properties have become tenant-owned co-ops through HCZ-led organizing, and HCZ-supplied tax guidance has secured millions in tax creditsand rebates or local residents, the organization says.Community-wide HCZ initiatives harness local hospitaland social-service resources to fght asthma and obesity;provide medical, dental and mental-health services orPromise Academy students; and aim to keep strugglingamilies intactwith their children out o oster care.Tey are all part o the Zones score o programs, whichemploy a sta o 1,500 and involve about 8,000 localyouth at a per capita cost o $5,000 a year.
According to Canadas tipping point theory, once
Harlem reaches a 65 percent level o successacademic,economic, social and healthuture success and academ-ic achievement will be the natural outcome. At that point,what Canada characterizes as a positive contaminationwill take place: Everyone will begin to beneft rom HCZ,whether he or she is part o the schools, the aer-schooland youth employment programs, the community devel-opment eorts and the myriad other projects that existin the Zoneor not. Tat tipping point, and the osmosis
o benefts rom theew to the many, hasbeen part o Canadas
thinking or nearly 30years. It is, however,not a fxed target.Teres no knownscience to support 65[percent], says Anne
Kubisch, director o the Aspen Institutes Roundtable onCommunity Change, who has studied HCZ and otherplace-based initiatives. Its not like theres scientifc evi-dence that i you hit 65 percent o the population, thatsthe tipping point. But thats their theory.
Canada began putting the theory into practice in 1994
with community centers and a blocked-o weekday playstreet that revived a drug-steeped, bullet-scarred blocko West 144th Street. oday, that same block houses theCountee Cullen Community Center, a teen center, and anursery school, all under HCZ auspices. Since 1994, theZone has grown rom 24 to 97 square blocks o centralHarlem, in a rough rectangle rom 116th Street up to143rd Street, bounded by Frederick Douglass Boulevard
and Madison Avenue. In 2000, the area was home toaround 70,000 people.
Physical expansion was supported by exponentialfnancial growth: Te annual budget has grown rom $6million in 1994 to $74 million in 2008. In fscal 2007,HCZ paid $7.2 million in salaries and wages. Canadaearned $494,000. George Khadoun, the chie operatingocer, earned $217,600; development director MindyMiller was paid $266,000, or slightly more than bothPromise Academy principals combined. Consultantsbilled or more than $1.4 million. Te chess tutor received$66,000 to $75,000 a year; $105,000 went to Wyzantutoring, a national tutor-placement service; and theorganization spent $175,000 on travel. Te Zones in-kindsupport or the Promise Academy I (which leases itsspace, unlike Promise Academy II, which is located in apublic school building) slashes the schools rental costsrom an estimated $35 per square oot in 2003 to $2.70per square oot.
HCZs physical presence is easy to see. ake the inter-
section o Madison and 125th. On one corner, an emptyshell o a building languishes. On another, theres a row oshopssome vacant, others ulltopped by the derelictMason and rowel ballroom. But directly across thestreet, dominating the block and the local skyline with sixspanking new stories o steel, glass and brick, sits the Har-lem Childrens Zone headquarters, a $44 million structurethat exudes both permanence and wealth.
HCZ reports that its programs serve more than 17,000local residents. Its schools enroll about 1,200 studentsa raction o the number o children in the neighborhood
but still substantial or an aspect o the HCZ that, atthe outset, was an aerthought. While the PromiseAcademies and the early-childhood programs thateed them now command the greatest public attention,the Harlem Childrens Zone didnt originally envisionrunning its own schools.
Instead, back in 1994, the weight was squarely on socialservices; schools were out o the picture. We had com-mitted ourselves to notgoing into that business in theearly 90s, says longtime treasurer Mitch Kurz. We didntwant to have to deal with the old [Board o Education]bureaucracy. Schools meant risk: I the program quality
suered, Kurz says, the brand would be attached to some-thing mediocre, and that would hurt the brand and hurtour ability to make money to support the programs.
Working with the local schools in the 1990s meantwrangling with local school boards, which were variouslyindebted to, or controlled by, local politicians. GeoCanada was very soured on the inability o the publicschool system to educate Harlem children, or children
A video report on the HCZ
from Jay DeDapper. Check
out www.citylimits.org/HCZ
CITYLIMITS.ORG
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o color, period, says Annenbergs Fruchter.Tere were two villains: the UF [UnitedFederation o eachers], which Geo heldresponsible or what teachers didnt do andor being embedded in local politics, andthe local politicians, who controlled schoolboards, as had long been the case in HarlemsDistrict 5.
During its frst decade, the HCZ pipelinegrew more robust, but the results Canadaand his team sought, in terms o academicachievement and progress out o poverty, didnot materialize. We realized this hole in ourservice provision, particularly in District 5,and the hole was in the schools, says Kurz.oo ew children were succeedingCanadaelt there had to be a way to scale up the eortand save all the kids, instead o a handul.
Canadas rustration with the citys publicschools continued undimmed. By January
2002, when Bloomberg began his frstterm, Canada had worked with fve schoolschancellors. But in the summer o 2002, orthe frst time since the Boss weed era, themayor secured control o the citys schools.With Bloombergs blessing, new schoolschancellor Joel Klein cultivated vigorousprivate support or public schools rom
corporations and nonprofts.Te charter school movement changed
the landscape, says Kurz, a multimillionairewho, aer a career in advertising, now servesas HCZ treasurer and works with the BronxCenter or Science and Mathematics, a smallhigh school where he teaches math andserves as a college adviser. Te mayor and
the chancellor were both pro-change, and [anHCZ] board with pre-existing relationships,particularly with the mayor, enabled us to getin ront o the chancellor. (See Charting aCourse,p. 21)
Klein met with Canada early in his tenureas chancellor and suggested that Canadabypass the traditional open-enrollmentpublic schools and open his own charterschool, which would become central to theHarlem Childrens Zone pipeline o cradle-to-college programs. Canada and his team
wrote a proposal, recruited teachers andadministrators, and organized an admissionslottery that meant door-knocking acrossthe Zones 24 blocks. In 2004, the PromiseAcademy elementary and middle schoolsopened their doors.
Above:
Kelly Downing leads
a ninth-grade Englishclass at Promise
Academy I, a school
launched in 2004 and
now at the heart of the
HCZ model.
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Students in the Harlem Childrens Zone achieve theresults they do, Canada says, because they invest more:Tey invest more actual time in the classroom, witha ar longer school day and a school year that beginsin September and ends in early August. All PromiseAcademy students are in school about 60 percent longerthan average public school students. Struggling studentscan spend twice as many hours in school as the averagekidin class and in tutoring or in small-group beore-and aer-school instruction. HCZs corporate and schoolleaders say they hold each child to high standards andexpect teachers to do whatever it takes to achievesuccess. And the charters invest more money per childper yearnearly $19,000 in 2008than the $14,525 thecity spends on children who attend general-educationprograms in traditional open-enrollment public schools.
Te fnancial investment starts well beore the frstormal day o kindergarten. Te Harlem Childrens Zonespends almost as much per child in its Harlem Gemspreschool, $13,500, as the city spends on a typical olderstudent. Gems tykes are careully cultivated and groomedor school; theyre in the Promise Academy pipelinealready, because Harlem Childrens Zone planners holdkindergarten lotteries when a cohort o students is 2 or3 years oldeectively holding seats until they are oldenough to attend kindergarten. In addition, HCZ spends$5,000 per child each year or aer-school and extra-curricular programs or students who dont attend the
Promise Academies but live within the Harlem ChildrensZone. Some o the money goes to direct payment omiddle school children, or good grades and participationin HCZ programs.
Te school day begins at Promise Academy I and II at8 a.m., even or the youngest students. At Harlem Gems,the lottery admission pre-K program that eeds into thePromise Academies, the day stretches rom 8 a.m. to 4p.m. Aer-school programs, which include 4- and 5-year-olds, run until 6 or 7 p.m. Teres Saturday school everyweekend, and some teachers and students meet as early as7 a.m. or intensive test preparation.
Every single child has to make it, says Shana Brodnax,senior manager o early-childhood programs at the HCZ.Its an entirely no-excuses-accepted policy that takes an al-most incomprehensible amount o resources and support.
Failure is not permitted, vowed Canada, speaking to apublic gathering in Springfeld, Mass., in November. Noexcuses. Failure is not permitted, because unding is tiedto success, not ailure.
In the world o education, success has many defni-
tions. But the HCZ schools are simply too new to be ableto measure success in the vocabulary o graduation orcollege enrollmentno students have yet graduated romthe Promise Academys high school, so theres no gradua-tion rate to discuss. Regents scores rom 2009 are encour-aging but preliminary, as only one cohort o students hastaken the exams. Nearly 500 young adults who partici-pated in nonschool HCZ programs are now in college,but not much is known about that group.
Instead, at the Promise Academies, success has an ex-plicit benchmark: We are judged by the New York Statetests, says HCZ spokesperson Marty Lipp. We literallylive or die by that test.
Like all other public school students, those at the Prom-ise Academies take statewide assessments every year. TePromise Academy schools have recently posted strong
results in math: In 2009, 87 percent o Promise Academyeighth-graders scored at or above grade level, comparedwith 61 percent overall in District 5. On the state mathtest, 91 percent o Asian students and 86 percent o whitestudents citywide scored at or above grade level, as dida mere 62 percent o black students in the citys schools.Since the Promise Academy is 91 percent black, its highscores suggest a ar narrower racial achievement gap thanmight otherwise be expected.
On the 2009 English-language arts (ELA) test, 57 per-cent o Promise Academy eighth-graders met or exceededgrade-level standards, compared with 46 percent in
District 5 at large and 50 percent o black students in NewYork City. While HCZ students' scores exceed city aver-ages or black students, a substantial and signifcant racegap persists: Citywide, 76 percent o both white and Asianeighth-graders scored at or above grade level. (PromiseAcademy eighth-graders bested their District 5 counter-parts in 2007 and 2008 on math and English, as well.)
In April 2009, Harvard economists Roland Fryer andWill Dobbie released a study asserting that the HarlemChildrens Zone is enormously eective at increasing theachievement o the poorest minority children, basedon their analysis o 2007 state test score data. In middle
school, they documented gains that reverse the black-white achievement gap in mathematics. Grade schoolresults are even stronger, Fryer and Dobbie say, and closethe racial achievement gap in both subjects [math andEnglish-language arts].
est scores are the single most powerul measure in thecitys annual progress reports about each school. Yet boththe citys Department o Education and New York State
SHAPING SUCCESSFailure is not permitted, because unding is tied to success, not ailure.
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Regents chancellor Merryl ischrecognize that the Level 3 scorewidely translated as at grade levelor profcient, which is where mostHCZ students scoreddoes notactually predict academic success.In act, students who score Level3 in eighth grade have only a 52percent chance o graduating romhigh school in our years, accord-ing to isch and analysts at the cityDepartment o Education.
Fryer and Dobbie based theirconclusions on gains made by a sin-gle class on a single test in a singleyear. In other years, and or othergrades, state-exam scores at thePromise Academy have not alwaysbeen impressive. Te fh-gradersscored lower than the district aver-
age on the 2009 math test. Only athird o the schools eighth-graderswere at grade level on the 2008English test.
On nonstate exams, the resultsare even more mixed. On the Iowaest o Basic Skills (IBS), theeighth-graders average score was41, well below the HCZ-set targeto 50 and a score that correlatesto an achievement ranking on the33rd percentile nationally. (IBS
scores since 2007 have risen but stilldo not meet HCZ-set goals.) Onthe erraNova English assessment,HCZs goal was or 65 percentthetipping pointo students to score80 percent or above, a goal thatthe school has not yet been able toachieve. A similar target was set ormath; again, the organizations test-ing goals were unmet, despite three-month delays in testing that shouldhave translated into extra gains.
Te act is, any test one looks at,whatever result is shown, is o limiteduse in judging whether the Prom-ise Academy model works or not.Each Promise Academy test cohortcomprised ewer than 100 studentsa airly small pool rom which toconclude that the project is brilliantor a bust. (See est Pattern, p.22)
Te CharterChallengeTe pros and
conficts o aschooling revolution
The charter school movement has
been gathering steady steam since
the late 1990s in New York City.
Nearly 100 are in operation today,
predominantly in parts of the city
long-plagued by poverty and low
academic achievement. Central
Harlems District 5 is no exception:
20 percent of local schools are
charters. More are coming. New
York State education leaders said in
December that they support open-
ing 200 new charter schools. Mayor
Bloombergs current five-year capital
plan would allocate $200 million for
the new charters.
Charter schools are public schools
that are exempt from some of the
constraints under which other
schools operate. Their teachers typi-
cally do not work under a union con-
tract, principals have more autono-my over curriculum and instruction
and their students can be selected
by lottery. (Most other public schools
have open enrollment.)
Proponents contend the schools
ability to innovate produces bet-
ter results. In a 2009 study of New
York City s charter schools, Stanford
University academic and charter
advocate Caroline Hoxby con-
cluded that charter school students
make long-term gains that signifi-
cantly narrow (but do not close) theScarsdale-Harlem achievement
gap. Results like those have made
charters increasingly appealing to
policymakers from the left and right.
President Obamas secretary of edu-
cation, Arne Duncan, has called for a
$52 million increase in charter school
funding in the 2010 federal budget.
But the reports of success in the
charter experiment have met with
some skepticism. When the CREDO
institute, also based at Stanford
University, analyzed data from
70 percent of the nations charter
schools, it said only a fraction, 17
percent, excel, while 37 percent post
lower outcomes than do traditionalpublics. Reports from the New York
City Department of Educations char-
ter office say that charter students
do not make as much academic
progress each year as their peers in
traditional public schoolsand note
the dramatic difference in high-need
populations between school models,
with open-enrollment publics serving
far more special needs students and
English-language learners than the
lottery admission charters.
The rivalry between the charter
school and public school models is
not abstract: Its a very real competi-
tion for teaching talent, students,
attention, money andin New York
City, anywayspace. The Depart-
ment of Education is locating more
of the expanding universe of charter
schools in public school buildings,
cutting into space that noncharter
kids use.
The charter debate provokes
philosophical questions too, saysPedro Noguera, executive director
of the Metropolitan Center for Urban
Education and an NYU professor.
The regimentation, the silence and
the emphasis on control concern
me. Middle-class kids are never
treated that way, he says. Many
charters, including the Promise
Academy, seek to cultivate char-
acter and mold behavior to more
traditional, middle-class standards
what some describe as a kind of
paternalistic, top-down impositionof mainstream culture. They are
preparing kids to be followers, not
leaders to conform, not innovate,
says Noguera. I support what Geoff
Canada is doing his ambition, his
dedication, his commitment. He is
a sincere, dedicated individual. It
doesnt mean that everything they do
is right, though.
Helen Zelon
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Above: David Rosen leads vocal
practice in his and Clinton Moores
fourth-grade music class.
Below:Veronica Thomas oversees a 10th-
grade global studies class. Teacher turnover
at the HCZ schools has been significant.
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And comparing the student populations atPromise Academy with those in the nearby regularpublic schools is an apples-to-oranges matchup:Te HCZ schools serve signifcantly ewer high-need learners, like special education students orkids who are learning English. For instance, only 6percent o the third graders who took the 2007-08English test at the Promise Academy had disabili-ties, while disabled kids made up 30, 40, even 60percent o the test-taking pool in open-enrollmentschools in the district. Only a handul o students atthe Promise Academies are English-language learn-ers, compared with 14 percent in schools citywide.And the students who attend HCZ are selectedby lottery, which may in itsel shape the schoolspopulation: Unlike open-enrollment neighborhoodschools, the lottery requires a measure o parentalinitiative that benefts HCZ students in other ways.One has to take the evidence with a grain osalt, Fryer and Dobbie caution. Children who
participate in the HCZ are not a random sampleo students. Students served by HCZ arelikely to be sel-selected, and results thatcompare [them] to other children inHarlem may be biased.
Harlem Childrens Zone schoolleaders, however, are adding more thana grain o salt. Faced with dramaticallydierent testing outcomes betweenstate tests and the Iowa exam, theydecided to fnd an alternative to theIowa. According to the organizations
2008-09 annual report, wo years ago,a decision was made to deemphasizethe [Iowa test] in order to ocus onNew York state standards and the skillsneeded or success on state assessments; thus theschool is looking or another nationally recognizedstandardized test which aligns more closely withNew York State standards.
Being able to display the right kind o results isa matter o survival. We are bottom-line kind opeople. We live by the numbers. Show us the out-come. Tats how were measuredthats how we
measure you, said HCZ supporter Ken Chenaulto American Express at the November Chang-ing the Odds conerence. Te Harlem ChildrensZone thinks about product value, just like they doat Apple, just like they do at J. Crew, just like we doat my company. A strong brand can bring fnancialassetsa promise o goods and services, basedon trust.
At the Promise Academy, school leaders andteachers work backward rom the test score goalsset by Canada and the HCZ leadership: As Paulough related in Whatever it akes, disturbinglylow test scores in the schools frst years dictateda results-oriented attack. Te whole school wasgoing to be concentrating on one thing: raising thetest scores, ough wrote. During the period rom2004 through 2008 when ough reported on theschool, test prep began beore school, at 7 or 7:30a.m. or some students, with cash incentives orattendance. Schoolwide test prep started in Septem-ber, ough reported, with morning test-prep ses-sions, a test-prep block during the school day, testprep in the aer-school program, and test prep onSaturdays. Over the 11-month school year, ocuspersisted on the state tests.
Every week, teachers tell City Limits, studentstook practice tests, using previous state exams asstudy guides. We used exactly what people were
going to see on the exam, says a ormer math
teacher, to make sure students were thoroughlyinculcated with test sophistication, test practice. Sothat when they got on the feld, theyd be ready.
Its all about the numbers, another ormerPromise Academy math teacher tells City Limits.Everyone elt the pressure. People got bonusesor their perormance. Tere was a synergy there.It wasnt so clear-cut, that iXchildren ail, Im
out o a job. But you knew, at any time, you couldbe released.
HCZ does not deny its ocus on testing. We dowork with the kids to prep or state testsduringschool, aer school and weekends, says HCZsLipp. We are judged by the state tests. We haveto pay attention to it.
One part o the HCZ experience that is not
One has to take the evidencewith a grain of salt. Children who
participate in the HCZ are not arandom sample of students.
Results that compare [them] to otherchildren in Harlem may be biased.
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The Harlem Childrens Zonethinks about product value, just
like they do at Apple, just like theydo at J. Crew. A strong brand
can bring financial assetsa
promise of goods and services,based on trust.
Above: Student Cheik Niang on the
recorder. Class sizes at the Zones schools
are significantly smaller than at other
neighborhood schools. Continued on p.23
emphasized in media coverage is the stunningrate o teacher turnover the Promise Acade-mies have posted. In 2006-07, a third o Prom-ise Academy Is teachers le or were dismissed.Te year beore 48 percent were fred or quit.Only one o the original teachers is still withthe Promise Academy middle school.
Some teachers elected to leave, like thosewho told City Limits that working with datatook precedence at the school over workingwith children. Others were fred. One teacher,who ew in rom Hawaii to teach at the Prom-ise Academy, was let go beore her householdurnishings arrived by shipping container.
Efom Ukoidemabia, the schools ormermath coach, stepped into a teaching role aeran instructor resigned, and was summarilydismissed. Beore I was fred, I was neverobserved in the classroom. I was never oeredeedback on my perormance. Tere was no
paper trail, and there was no guidance. I wasgiven no chance to improve over time, hetells City Limitsall steps that would havebeen in place i the school were bound by thesort o union rules and contracts that charterschool proponents contend inhibit educa-tional innovation.
On the aernoon City Limits was permittedto visit the Promise Academy I school at Har-lem Childrens Zone headquarters, the teach-ers encountered were predominantly young;about hal had not taught school previously
in New York City (or elsewhere). wo cameto teaching via the New York City eachingFellows program and each or America,alternate-certifcation programs that bringbright, young college grads into the publicschools, with mixed long-term outcomes.
Classrooms were clean, bright and bare-bones modest: Tey were thinly supplied,with little student-made artwork, writingor other projects on display and limitedclassroom resources like the libraries andmanipulative materials oen seen in public
school classrooms. Most oen, students werearranged in old-school rows o desks, with theteachers desk at the ront o the room, but theinstruction was oen energetic and engaging:In one ourth-grade music lesson, the teacher,who had drawn a cartoon sel-portraiton a whiteboard beore the lesson, wipedaway an ear in protest aer a cacophonous,enthusiastic recorder display. Put the ear
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1998: New York State CharterSchools Act is passed under Gover-
nor George Pataki, authorizing the
opening and subsequent renewal
of new schools but setting a limit of
100 schools statewide.
1999: Sisulu-Walker Charter School,
New York States first, is established
on West 115th Street. The John A.
Reisenbach Foundation partners
with the Learning Project, a non-
profit educational-management
organization, to found the JohnReisenbach Charter School.
2001: The Bush administrations No
Child Left Behind Act is passed, al-
lowing students in poorly perform-
ing public schools to enroll in char-
ter schools and compelling failing
schools to restructure, perhaps into
charter schools. Harlem Day Charter
School is established by Sheltering
Arms Childrens Service and real-
estate tycoon Benjamin V. Lambert.
2003: KIPP STAR College Prep
Charter School opens in Harlem.
Former teacher and businesswom-
an Deborah Kenny founds the first
of three Harlem Village Academy
charter schools committed to
banishing bureaucracy. Schools
chancellor Joel Klein describes
Kenny as a star.
2004: The Harlem Childrens Zone
Promise Academy I charter schoolopens. Leonard Goldberg, formerly
an administrator at a Westchester
County school, establishes Op-
portunity Charter School on West
113th Street following the inclusion
model. Its student body is roughly
half general-education students
and half students with learning
disabilities who learn in classes
side-by-side. The John Reisenbachschools charter is revoked because
of poor standardized-test scores.
2005: In his re-election campaign,
Mayor Bloomberg pledges to elimi-
nate the cap on charter schools
and double the number of charter
schools in NYC to 100 by 2009. P.S.
861 Future Leaders Institute on West
122nd Street converts to a charter
school in July, and the Harlem
Link Charter School and Harlem
Childrens Zone Promise AcademyII open in September.
2006: Democracy Preparatory
Charter School is founded on West
133rd Street by teacher Seth An-
drews. Harlem Success Academy,
the first of the Success Charter
Network that planned to expand
to 40 schools over the next decade,
is founded by former city council-
woman and education committee
chair Eva Moskowitz, a reformerand adversary of the teachers
union, which she claims under-
mined her bid for borough presi-
dent in 2005.
2007: Britains Prince Charles; his
wife Camilla; and British ambas-
sador David Manning tour the
Harlem Childrens Zone in January,
joined by Geoffrey Canada and Lt.
Gov. David Paterson. Prince Charles
speaks to school officials about
incorporating the Harlem ChildrenZones educational concepts into
his 16 UK foundations. After years
of pressure, state legislators vote
in April to raise the charter school
cap to 200 with 50 of the new char-
ters reserved for New York City. As
part of President Bushs campaign
to pressure lawmakers to reau-
thorize No Child Left Behind, Bush,
Education Secretary MargaretSpellings and Rep. Charles Rangel
tour Harlem Village Academy. Bush
declares, We can see that No Child
Left Behind is working nationwide.
The visit precedes National Charter
Schools Week. South Carolina Demo-
crat and House majority whip Rep.
James Clyburn visits Harlem Success
Academy in November, speaking
out in support of charter schools.
2008: St. Hope Leadership Acad-
emy on West 134th Street and
Harlem Success Academy 2, 3 and
4 open. Cindy McCain, wife of
John McCain, visits Sisulu-Walker
in June to observe the schools best
practices. I chose to come here
because of the schools high record
of achievement, McCain notes.
In August, Bloomberg and Klein
announce the opening of 18 new
charter schools in the fall, more
than the city has ever opened in
a single year, bringing the totalnumber of NYC charters to 78, with
24,000 students enrolled.
2009: In July, police are called to
P.S. 123, which houses Harlem
Success Academy, after movers
arrive with orders to make way for
the charter schools expansion and
P.S. 123 teachers block the workers.
After an hour-long standoff, DOE
officials declare there has been a
mistake in communications and
stop the move. In his bid for a thirdterm, Bloomberg again pledges
to double the number of charter
schools in the city by creating 100
new schoolswhich would give
charters 100,000 school seats, or
nearly 10 percent of all public
school seats in New York City
by 2013.
Charting a CourseA timeline of Harlems charter schools
Samia Shafi
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KIPP Infinity
Harlem Village Academy
KIPP STAR
Frederick Douglass Academy
Democracy Prep
New York State
Knowledge & Power Prep IV
Thurgood Marshall Academy
HCZ Promise Academy I
New York City
Manhattan District 5
Choir Academy of Harlem
Knowledge & Power Prep II
I.S. 195
Academy for Social Action
I.S. 286
Acad. of Collaborative Education
Powell Middle School
0 20 40 60 80 100(%)
KIPP Infinity
Harlem Village Academy
KIPP STAR
Democracy Prep
Frederick Douglass Academy
Knowledge & Power Prep IV
HCZ Promise Academy I
New York State
Thurgood Marshall Academy
New York City
I.S. 286
Choir Academy of Harlem
Manhattan District 5
Academy for Social Action
I.S. 195
Acad. of Collaborative Education
Knowledge & Power Prep II
Powell Middle School
0 20 40 60 80 100(%)
Harlem Village Academy
I.S. 195
Choir Academy of Harlem
Frederick Douglass Academy
Manhattan District 5
Knowledge & Power Prep IV
Powell Middle School
Thurgood Marshall Academy
KIPP STAR
HCZ Promise Academy I
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35(%)
I.S. 286
I.S. 195
Acad. of Collaborative Education
Knowledge & Power Prep II
Knowledge & Power Prep IV
Manhattan District 5
Academy for Social Action
KIPP Infinity
Choir Academy of Harlem
Powell Middle School
Democracy Prep
Thurgood Marshall Academy
Harlem Village Academy
HCZ Promise Academy I
KIPP STAR
Frederick Douglass Academy
0(%) 3010 2 0 40 5 0 60 70 80 9 0 100
I.S. 195
Powell Middle School
Manhattan District 5
KIPP Infinity
Knowledge & Power Prep IV
Democracy Prep
I.S. 286
Academy for Social Action
Acad. of Collaborative Education
KIPP STAR
Knowledge & Power Prep II
Choir Academy of Harlem
Frederick Douglass Academy
Thurgood Marshall Academy
Harlem Village Academy
HCZ Promise Academy I
0(%) 62 4 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Eighth-Grade English Scores
Eighth-Grade Math Scores
Class Size
Free Lunches (percentage of students qualifying)
Limited English Proficiency
On standardized tests in 2009, the Harlem Childrens ZonesPromise Academy I fared well compared to most other schoolsin its upper Manhattan district (District 5), and rivaled city- andstatewide averages. Other charter schools in District 5 alsoposted high marks. But there are significant differences between
the student bodies at the Promise Academy and the otherschools to which it is compared.
est PatternHow Harlems miracle really ranks
Data source: New York State Department of Education
(students scoring ator above grade level)
(students scoring ator above grade level)
(students per eighth-grade English class)
(percentage of studentsdeemed LEP)
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Continued from p.20
back! called out one boy, so you wont beVincent van Gogh!
eachers in the classes City Limits visitedoen worked in pairs, giving the very smallclasses o 10 to 16 students additional atten-tion, discipline and guidance. While someteachers shushed kids on the stairways orsnapped their fngers at children, expectingobedience, others coaxed their charges withhumor, like the English teacher who pleadedwith students or details in their essays: No-body wants a sandwich without the mayo andthe lettuce. An essay without color, thats
just the meat and the cheese. Tats dry.Students wear uniorms that wouldnt
be out o place in parochial schoolsgrayplaid skirts and white blouses or the girls,gray slacks and red vests or the boys, withhigh schoolers in khakis and button-downs.
A sign at the buildings entrance prohibitshats, durags and hoodiesstreetwear thatdoesnt belong in the classroom.
Te schools two science labs are notcurrently used as labs but as regular class-roomscertainly complicating the instruc-tion o Regents-level science classes like biol-ogy and chemistry.History students learningabout World War I studied rom books thatincluded Regents and other test preparatorymaterials, although their teacher assured CityLimits that they used a textbook on other
days. (We didnt see any textbooks in use, buta ew were on classroom shelves.) Te gleam-ing gym, visible rom 125th Street through awall made o 15 double-height panels o plateglass, eatures an HCZ logo on the basketballcourts maple oorand 15 automated white-abric panels that slide down, like so manyeyelids, when the kids in the gym wave topassersby on the street.
Most o the teachers who came toandlethe Promise Academies (the second
school, launched a year aer the frst in 2005,is located a ew blocks away on Madison Ave-nue) bought into Canadas vision o educationreorm. One ormer staer recalls crying, shewas so inspired the frst time she heard Can-ada speak. Ukoidemabia says that becomingthe math coach o the Promise Academy wasa dream aer 15 years teaching in the citys
public schools. On a visceral level, Im anArican male, this is 125th Streetyou cantget any more Harlem. Tere were these otherArican males, rom Harvard, BowdoinIwas dazzled, he says. It was an amazingopportunity to shape kidsand a $44 millionbuilding. I thought, I want in on this.
But reality was less inspiring. Physicalconditions in the frst years were bad, someteachers say. Discipline, an initial obstacleor many Promise Academy teachers, was achallenge or leadership as well, says HCZtreasurer Kurz. We developed a lot o grandplans, educational philosophies, he recalls,and we overlooked sort o the undamentalaspect o running a successul school, andthat is managing the culture o the school,managing the discipline. Forget the curricu-lum maps and everything else, until youvegotten the blocking and tackling o the
culture as a whole.Canada says teachers should be treated
as proessionals, like hard-driving, well-compensated young associates at law frms.You take the brightest young people, andyou work them to death, he said at theSheraton conerence, only hal joking.Indeed, the demands on Promise Academyteachers are high and near constant. Teschool year begins on or near Labor Day andfnishes in the second week o August. Longerhours and a longer year were part o the
original job description; evening sessions andSaturday school were not. All o the schoolssta, rom the principals down, serve at thepleasure o Canada and the HCZ board.Tere is no union, there is no tenure, andthere is no job security. Tat lack o securitycan be a stumbling block or experiencedteachers and administrators.
Former Promise Academy teachers saythat leadership applied a double standard toteachers versus parents. o get parents tomeetings, they would give away iPods, ste-
reos, Pathmark gi certifcates, says ormerliteracy coach Shelly Klein. At parent meet-ings, dinner was ordered or parents whoattended, but they would not let the teacherseat, Klein says, despite the act that teach-ers remained on call aer a very long schoolday. Te message rom the board was clear,she says: Te people who gave us the money
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City Limits / Vol. 34 / No. 1Is the Promise Real?24
Details on the
Presidents plan.
More coverage at
www.citylimits.org/HCZ
CITYLIMITS.ORG
[or the schools] wanted to see results. Tesegentlemen gave millions o dollars. Te kidswerent getting better. Te responsibility, andthe critique, was to the teachers.
Canada does not dispute this. O the mostreluctant parent-participants, he says atly,
I bribe them. Boxes o Pampers,cases o Coke, ree pizza din-ners, tickets to ballgames, gicertifcateswhatever it takesto get parents engaged and intothe schools. Canada relates howhe motivated competition inan ongoing anti-obesity initia-tive: Children who lost the mostweight won a trip to Disney
World in Orlando; winning staers wererewarded with a sojourn in the Bahamas.
Canada, in eorts to inspire students,visited the school requently, Klein says. In
middle school, when kids did their home-work, Geo Canada would stand in theauditorium with a roll o money and paythem. Kids would be called up by name. Oh,you gotXgrade, heres $20. He would callup kids. Dont orgethes not the principal.And hed hand out money. Tats what Oprahdoesnt say.
Te conditions and demands took theirtoll, on individual teachers and the schoolsthemselves as they tried to build a cultureo success amid staggering turnover. New
teachers come in12 new teachers, 12distinct cultures. It aects the gestalt. Tesum o the parts doesnt equal the whole,says Ukoidemabia.
Attrition has lessened since 2008, a result,at least in part, o a dramatic move to revampthe schools ocus.
Te tension between the teaching staf atPromise Academy I and the HCZ board cameto a tumultuous head in March 2007, when,aer three years o consistently dismal test
scores, Canada elected to close enrollmentin the middle school or a year. No newsixth-graders were to be admitteda luxurythat an open-enrollment neighborhoodschool, which is by law obliged to educate allyoungsters within its catchment zone, couldnever entertain. (Te school also decided notto admit sixth-graders the ollowing year,
restarting the middle school in grade fve.It also ended the practice o the middleschool admissions lottery and began thepreschool lottery that determines eventualenrollment in the Promise Academy. Neitherstrategy would be permitted in conventionalopen-enrollment schools.)
As it closed the entrance to new kids, thePromise Academy also ushered existingstudents out the exit. O the 100 eighth-graders who were the inaugural PromiseAcademy middle school studentsthose whoentered the school with the understandingthat they would continue through 12th gradethere65 remained in the academy whenthe board stopped enrollment. Tat May,they were hastily graduated and placed incity and private high schools. Where the kidsended up is not clear.
We dont track them in the sense that we
evaluate our own kids, says HCZ spokes-person Lipp, who couldnt detail where thatcohort went to high school or discuss theirprogress toward graduation. We dont trackthem as a group, like we would track oureighth-graders. Tis divisionour eighth-graders vs. the children who were oncePromise Academy eighth-gradersstands insharp contrast to the o repeated promise othe Promise Academy and the HCZ: Once achild is in the HCZ pipeline, theyre secureand supported all the way through college.
Here, children who once were in are now out.In the all o 2008, the Promise Academy
I midle school again accepted new students.But instead o admitting sixth-graders, thedecision was made to start resh with fhgraders who came up rom the PromiseAcademy lower grades, eectively controllingthe quality and previous education ostudents entering the middle school. Teeighth-graders whose 2007 test score gainsinspired Fryer and Dobbies enthusiasm, justa year aer the middle school hiatus went
into eect, are now in the Promise Academyhigh school. In 2014, 10 years aer it openedits doors, the Promise Academy will fnallyreach its ull K-12 enrollment.
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www.citylimits.org 25
Above:
Roshana
Richardson
and Stephen
Sutherland
in class.
The Promise
Academies
have recorded
impressive
scores on state
math tests.
Its unclear
why that
success hasnt
translated to
other tests.
Doubts about test scores shouldnt nulliy allthe optimism about the Harlem Childrens Zoneschools. Lots o schools are accused o teachingto the test and cherry-picking the numbers theypresent to the world, but the Promise Academieshappen to have better numbers than many. Tat
the gains are pretty recent and largely limited to thestate tests, that they contrast sharply with the sameschools perormance just a ew years ago, eventhe serious problems with teacher turnoverthesedont invalidate the idea that something special isgoing on in Harlem. Tey might just be warningsigns or those hoping to replicate the Harlemmodel elsewhere: Tere are curves in the road,
slippery conditions, even sudden stops.Tere also might be more than one road.
Whats oen overlooked in the warm glow omedia attention to HCZ is the act that othertraditional public schools and charter networksachieve comparably robust test scores, with lower
per-student spending and oen without theextended dayextended year paradigm.
Dozens o open-admission public schools andcharters, in New York and the nation, demonstrateongoing, dramatic success with high-need, high-poverty students. Some have progressive educa-tional policies; others hew to a more traditional,structured, prescriptive style. Established national
GOING NATIONAL
Continued on p.28
We are so desperate or any little inkling o success
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aking ItLocal
The Comprehensive Community
Revitalization Program (CCRP), which
ran from 1992 through 1998, concen-
trated its efforts on struggling South
Bronx neighborhoods along the Cross
Bronx Expressway that had since the
1960s and 1970s been battling de-
population, arson, declining business
activity and job loss. While HCZ has
made intensive investments in pre-K
through 12th-grade education, neigh-
borhood outreach and preventive
care at the family level, CCRPs ap-
proach focused more on employment
assistance, health care, economic
development and overall quality of
life to help reverse years of blight and
poverty in this part of the city.
According to a 2006 assessment
report published by the program,
CCRPwhose founders were linked
to the Surdna Foundation and the
Local Initiatives Support Corporation
(LIFC)relied on the philosophy
that in order to achieve success and
longevity, redevelopment had to start
at the ground level with local support.
The best way to do this, the leaders
believed, was through community
development corporations (CDCs). The
program partnered with four South
Bronx CDCsthe MBD Community
Housing Corporation, the Mid-Bronx
Senior Citizens Council, the Mount
Hope Housing Company and Phipps
CDC-West Farmsto lead revitalization
efforts in each neighborhood,
building off of what the CDCs had
already managed to accomplish in
housing production and property
management and broadening
those roles to include addressing the
economic and social needs of their
neighborhoods.
CCRP managed to raise $10
million from 21 funding groups,
according to a 1998 final assessment
report by the Organization and
Management Group. Successes
include the development of six parks,
the conversion of the prostitution-
plagued Jerome Motel in Mount
HopeMorris Heights into a supportive
housing project for homeless HIV-
positive individuals (renamed
Jerome Court, and opened in 2000)
and a predevelopment grant that
helped lead to the construction of
the New Horizons Shopping Center,
which brought close to 350 jobs to
Crotona Park East. While it was not
free from trial and error through
its demonstration phase, CCRP, in
its 2006 assessment report, said
that by the end of the program,
the neighborhoods emerged from
the initiative vastly enriched and
energized, and the participating
CDCs ended with more staff, more
money and a more comprehensive
plan to address the social and
economic needs of its residents.
Community Change for Youth
Development (CCYD), launched in
1995 bythe nonprofit Public/Private
Ventures (PPV), aimed at providing
young people from sites in five cities
across the countryAustin, Texas;
Kansas City, Mo.; Savannah, Ga.; St.
Petersburg, Fla;and, in New York
City, the Lower East Side and Staten
Islands adjacent Stapleton and
Clifton neighborhoods (considered
one site) with resources and
support programs that tried to
steer youth away from crime and
joblessness and toward skill-building
and future goals. Unlike HCZ, its
efforts were concentrated almost
exclusively on developing programs
that met the needs of teenagers
during the nonschool hours: after-
school programs, regular support
and guidance from neighborhood
adults, homework help, and summer
employment programs. It worked by
partnering an existing and credible
lead agency, such as a government
agency or a nonprofit community
In its 15 years of
existence, the
Harlem Childrens
Zone has earned
national recognition
for its comprehensive
approach to reversing
generational poverty.
But Harlem is not the
only neighborhood
in America where
a focused, holistic
attempt has been
made to reduce
poverty.
Philadelphias Penn Alexander
School. Photo: UPenn.
Anti-povertyprograms beyondthe Zone
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institution like the YMCA, with a
neighborhood council composed of
local residents to design and guide
programs that best met the needs
of each site, according to a 2002
report by the founders.
In its six years working with these
cities, CCYD yielded some concrete
results in the target neighborhoods.
In St. Petersburgs Childs Park neigh-
borhood, the CCYD framework lived
on through the Childs Park Youth
Initiative Council. The lead agency,
the Pinellas County Juvenile Welfare
Board, helped the council garner
attention and support from local
government for neighborhood
needs. This led to major improve-
ments in and around the Childs
Park Recreation Center: increased
police presence, progress in plan-
ning for a long-awaited swim-
ming pool and greater input from
residents in overall management of
the recreation center. At the policy
level, the initiative yielded lessons
going forward on the dos and donts
for creating positive youth develop-
ment programs at the neighbor-
hood level.
In 1996 the Neighborhood
Improvement Initiative (NII),
a $20 million-plus project supported
by the William and Flora Hewlett
Foundation, set out to reduce poverty
in three sites across Californias Bay
Area (Mayfair, West Oakland and
East Palo Alto) that were geographi-
cally compact and moderately
populated and that shared char-
acteristics like high unemployment,
high crime and low high-school
graduation rates.
By partnering a local community
foundation with a local lead agen-
cy at each site to help create and
manage neighborhood improve-
ment plans that drew heavily from
resident involvement, NII attempted
to strengthen and bring together
anti-poverty efforts already in place
in these communities, according
to a 2007 assessment report. On the
whole, experts in the community
change field deemed NII a disap-
pointment because end results in
each of the three communities did
not match the scale envisioned by
stakeholders, given the substantial
financial backing the initiatives
received. Nonetheless, at least
one successful project managed
to bloom from the West Oakland
initiative after some reorganization:
The McClymonds Youth and Family
Center runs a host of after-school
programs mainly geared toward
college readiness, youth leader-
ship, physical and mental health,
and family support. The center is
located in the McClymonds Educa-
tional Complex, which also houses
two small high schools that require
all their seniors to apply to college.
Housed in an adjacent building, the
complexs clinician-staffed Chappell
Hayes Health Center provides to past
and present McClymonds students
and their siblings ages 12 to 21 a
range of physical and mental health
services free of charge, courtesy of
the Childrens Hospital of Oakland.
Lack of jobs, rising crime, failing
schools and a general decay of re-
sources and infrastructure had been
taking its toll on West Philadelphians
for decades. But not until the murder
of a University of Pennsylvania
graduate student just off campus
in 1996 did the citys largest private
employer decide to take action.
TheWest Philadelphia Initiatives,
designed, led and mainly funded
by the university, comprised a heav-
ily marketed campaign that drew
on university resources, student par-
ticipation, local community groups
and government to spark what
organizers hoped would be fast,
noticeable improvements in several
key areas: infrastructure and public
safety (streetlight installation in a
123-block area, for example), hous-
ing options, local retail and devel-
opment activity, and the quality
of local public schools. (The Penn
Alexander School, a joint project of
the university and the Philadelphia
School District, opened its doors
in 2001.)
The university, through a top-
down structure starting with the
presidents office, delegated each
component of the initiative to a
different university entity while hold-
ing monthly meetings with neigh-
borhood representatives and civic
groups to share information about
current plans and to hear and ad-
dress local community concerns,
according to a 2004 case study by
the university.
The university has agreed
to provide an annual subsidy
of $1,000 per student for Penn
Alexanders 700 pre-K through
eighth graders, to cover operating
costs (up to $700,000 annually) for
10 years. Penns Graduate School of
Education plays a major role in staff
and curriculum development and
continues to offer support programs
to Penn Alexander and other local
public schools, according to the
case study. Children enroll in Penn
Alexander not through a lottery
system, as is the case with the
HCZs charter schools, but instead
based on how close they live to
the school. This helps ensure a
connection between the school and
the community, the study states.
According to the universitys case
study, at least 70 percent of Penn
Alexanders primary-grade students
show proficiency in reading and
math on standardized tests.
Rachel Dodakian
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programs like the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP),Achievement First and the Opportunity Charter Net-work, as well as individual local charter schools like Bos-tons Roxbury Prepand the Bedord Stuyvesant CharterSchool or Excellence in Brooklyn, achieve comparableresults without the vast HCZ network o social sup-portsor the HCZs copious fnancial resources.
Te success o these schools and programs does notdiminish HCZs work. Rather, they are alternative modelsthat oen deliver similar gains or ar less money, goingto the heart o the challenge in designing new responsesto poverty. Does urban poverty have a single cure? Ordo dierent models, with unique approaches, have theirplace? And are great schools enough to tackle p