Last week, a woman posted a comment on this blog asking us to “move beyond descriptive stats [on the achievement gap] and focus on what makes some kids resilient (both in public and independent/parochial schools) where others fail.” She said that although she had been raised by a single parent in Harlem public housing, she had “beat the odds” and she wanted to know “how can we make our schools, families and communities stronger!”
Her question is a perfect springboard into the first Insideschools’ book club choice, Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America, by Paul Tough. During the next two weeks, we encourage you to read the book, and send in your questions and comments. Then, we’ll interview the author, interspersing our questions with yours. You can find the book in your local library or buy it through our website, where some of the profits will be donated to Insideschools.
Paul Tough, who writes about education for the New York Times Magazine, tackles hefty social science quandaries – like what causes poverty and how it can be alleviated — within the narrative of Geoffrey Canada’s dramatic, ongoing struggle to change the lives of Harlem’s children. Canada, who grew up in the South Bronx, has devoted his professional life to figuring out how to tackle poverty by transforming a neighborhood rather than “saving” a few individuals. Canada’s solution, which has been endorsed by President-elect Barack Obama, is to create what he describes as a “conveyor belt” of interrelated programs and services to carry as many children as possible from conception to college, “contaminating” an entire neighborhood with a higher set of expectations.
After five years of reporting, Tough describes Canada’s venture – the Harlem Children’s Zone – through the stories of the people who work for and are served by the project, which includes two charter schools. Tough also explains the research behind anti-poverty efforts, relating it to the sometimes nail-biting, sometimes heartbreaking, yet surprisingly hopeful story of Canada’s work.
For more information about the book, the author, and the Harlem Children’s Zone, read the New York Times review, the Washington Post Review, visit their website, and look on our facebook page.
Read the book, and join the discussion! And remember to email me your questions for Paul Tough or post them here on the blog.
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Great post Lindsay.
In addition to serving as President and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, I’d also like to mention that Geoff Canada is the chairman board of Learn NY (www.Learn-NY.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that each of New York City’s students receives a high-quality education. I thought your readers might be interested in reading more about Geoff’s work with Learn NY, and why he’s advocating for the renewal of the Mayoral Control law in 2009.
As Geoff wrote recently in the NY Daily News:
“We have come a long way [for NYC schools over the last six years]. In what I now see as the “bad old days,” anyone who wanted to eliminate an obstacle to a child’s success – whether it was an incompetent official, a rat infestation in a school or the absence of necessary textbooks – would end up in a byzantine search to find someone who would take responsibility for and fix the problem. As a result of pervasive buck-passing and finger-pointing, students were the ultimate losers.
The key to the success of the new system has been holding officials truly accountable. It is not about any one mayor, but about having an elected official whose job description includes a clear mandate to improve school performance as much as he or she is responsible for making sure that the streets get swept and that emergency services are operable. New layers of bureaucracy will take us straight back to the bad old days, when corrupt and self-interested bodies answered to no one. We can’t have it both ways: either one person is in charge, or no one is.”
You can read the entire article at http://www.Learn-NY.org/viewpoints and check out our blog at http://www.Learn-NY.org/blog. Once you’re there, please considering sharing your NYC school stories or signing up for email updates.
We look forward to hearing from your readers, as well as becoming part of the discussion here about how we work together to continue to improve NYC schools.
Comment by Brian Keeler, Learn NY — December 5, 2008 @ 11:45 am
The Harlem Children’s Zone was mentioned today in a New York Times op-ed about finding more jobs for women as the economic situation worsens. Linda Hirshmam wrote:
“During the campaign, Mr. Obama also promised that the first part of his plan to combat urban poverty would be to replicate a nonprofit organization in New York called the Harlem Children’s Zone in 20 cities across the country. The group, which works to improve the quality of life for children and families in the Harlem neighborhood, employs several hundred people in full- and part-time jobs. By making good on this promise, Mr. Obama could create thousands of jobs for women in social work, teaching and child care.
Unlike the proposal to rebuild roads and bridges, the Harlem Children’s Zone program is urban, and thus really green. If cities become more inviting, more people will live in them — and that means they will drive less, using less fuel. The average New Yorker’s greenhouse gas footprint is only about 29 percent as large as that of the average American; the city is one of the greenest places in America.”
In reality, the poor economy has only hurt the Harlem Children’s Zone so far. According to Wall Street Journal story, HCZ cut 10 percent of its staff of 1,400.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122757618188455281.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_page_one
Comment by Lindsey Whitton Christ — December 9, 2008 @ 1:26 pm