Finally a positive story coming out of IPS! I would question some of the assumptions here (i.e. charter schools & Teach for America) but it's good to see how a dedicated administrator can turn a school around. Of course, the piece of this puzzle related to the firing of teachers in a beleagured district is troubling (wasn't the stimulus package supposed to stop that, Superintendent Bennet?) and I wonder how administrators can be supported to do this kind of work.
Bringing hope into the classroom
by Mathew Tulley at Indy Star
For anyone who cares about urban education, these are, believe it or not, promising times.
Across Indianapolis, charter schools are providing inspired choices for many families. In Washington, Education Secretary Arne Duncan is challenging harmful old-school policies and entrenched education interest groups. Groups such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, meanwhile, are aiming billions of dollars at innovative educational programs.
This is all just a start, of course. Few problems are more vexing and immense than the dire condition of urban schools. There are no easy fixes. But there are signs of hope.
That was the thought I had recently after visiting Gambold Middle School, a Westside school of about 400 students run by an energetic principal named Yvonne Rambo. An educator for 25 years, Rambo thinks the only way to improve city schools is to dramatically change the way they are run.
"We changed everything," Rambo said, recalling her 2006 arrival at the Indianapolis Public Schools middle school. "It was out of control. You'd drive up and see kids throwing things from the windows. Teachers couldn't clear the halls. There was graffiti, and gang issues."
Rambo didn't make excuses out of the high crime and poverty rates surrounding the school or the heartbreaking troubles many students carry with them each day like books in a backpack.
Befitting her last name, Rambo got tough, installing security cameras and a zero-tolerance policy that led to increases in suspensions and expulsions. She pushed teachers so hard that many quit. She also championed a program to tailor classes more closely to each student's skill level and built self-esteem by pushing top students to take high-school classes.
"The first couple of months were really rough," Rambo said. "We were trying to change a culture and change bad habits."
Three years later, ISTEP scores are still low, but they're up. Suspensions and expulsions are down. A hard push has cut the number of students not reading at grade level from 140 to 40. Walk the halls, and you'll see students move quietly from class to class. Rambo, meanwhile, is chock-full of innovative ideas, such as using iPods to improve the English skills of her many Spanish-speaking students.
"This is the age where you hook students in -- through sports or band or academic success -- or you lose them forever," she said of middle school.
Peek in classrooms at Gambold, and you'll find wonderful teachers such as April Partee, a dynamic educator who engaged her special-education class on a writing project by dancing around the classroom. Or Stephanie Parido, a recent college graduate who is spending this year at Gambold as part of the inventive Teach For America program.
Sadly, budget cuts could cost Rambo four of her 20 teachers next year. The problems at urban schools won't go away. Still, there are no excuses at Gambold.
"We have to be creative," Rambo said. "We have to see every challenge as an opportunity."
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