The Harriet Tubman Charter School, opened in 2004, is run by LearnNow, a division of Edison Schools, perhaps the best-known of the for-profit public-school management companies. It is the only Edison school in New York City and one of only a handful in the state. Tubman is housed in a bright green and yellow former supermarket building whose parking lot has been turned into a school yard. Parents, staffers, and volunteers from New York Cares (a nonprofit organization that sends volunteers to help spruce up city schools) built a welcoming playground with climbing equipment and swings for the youngest students. Inside, the building was still being renovated at the time of our visit, with the lower level being transformed into a cafeteria, an all-purpose room that will be used as a small gym, a library, and a computer room.

The school underwent growing pains during the 2005-06 school year when it nearly doubled the number of students it enrolled, adding middle school grades at the same time that it was doubling the space it inhabited. (It will be a K-8th grade school in fall 2007). Many of the students were new to charter schools, which generally have a stricter culture than the public schools the students had attended previously. Tubman also introduced a "junior academy" in grades 6-7, with children traveling to different classrooms throughout the day. This proved to be a double challenge, administrators told us, because teachers who were more accustomed to younger children had to get used to teaching older kids, while 7th graders new to the school had to adjust to Tubman's way of doing things.

There was a change, as well, in school leadership, as the principal left her post to take on fund-raising responsibilities and Gwen Stephens, former principal of Harlem Day Charter School, was brought in to focus on academics. At Harlem Day, she told us, virtually all the students are performing at or above grade level; at Harriet Tubman about 52 percent of the students are.

On the day of our late May visit, most of the school's students were leaving to go on trips--to the Intrepid museum, to Ellis Island, or to a dance performance--so we had the opportunity to view only a few classes in session, mostly in the middle school.

We saw attractive classrooms, especially in the younger grades, and hallways full of student projects. Lots of attention is paid to teaching writing and it seems to have paid off in long, well-written essays even by 2nd graders. We saw evidence of "quick writes"--taking a topic and writing as much as you can for a minute. The teacher showed the children how to do the lesson, brainstorming and writing down as many ideas as she could in a minute while the students timed her.

We saw some science projects that went far beyond the customary poster boards. One showed the youngest children in photographs with newly hatched chicks. Another, carried out by kids studying the solar system, included well-made models of planets hanging from the ceiling. In a quick lesson before they left for Ellis Island, 4th graders attempted to form a square out of different shaped blocks--a re-enactment, their teacher explained, of the skills tests given to immigrants before they were allowed to remain in the United States.

The middle school grades are a work in progress. We sat through a lengthy and confusing 7th grade math lesson about ordering decimals from least to greatest. "I still don't understand," one girl said at the end, and we felt the same way. A 6th grade English class struck us as disorganized, with students shuffling through papers and not paying attention to the work at hand. In a lesson called "word knowledge" from a reading anthology series called Open Court, students were learning about words with Latin roots, among them those beginning with "bi," such as "biennial" or "bilateral." It was disconcerting to see one example, "bicentennial," misspelled "bicentinial" on the board. Another teacher, who allowed her students to do their writing lesson outside on the children's playground on the beautiful late spring day of our visit, spent most of her time policing them to make sure they were working and not climbing on the equipment.

Students dress in khaki pants and white shirts, with middle-schoolers adding a tie to the outfit. There is no full size gym in the building and there is also no music program. Parents and neighborhood residents we talked to say that they welcome the school--a beacon of color that stands out in an otherwise bleak commercial neighborhood.

Admissions: A lottery is held in April.  Priority is given to District 9 residents. There is a long waitlist.

After school: There is an academic program in which kids get tutoring and homework help, in addition to recreational activities. There is also a summer tutoring program held in the mornings. A parent support group meets regularly.

Special education: Students with special education needs make up about 12 percent of the school population. They are included in regular classes. Two special education teachers provide services. (Pamela Wheaton, May 2006)