Learning from the Harlem Children's Zone

http://halfinten.org/

Harlem Children's Zone is America's most ambitious and closely watched effort to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. HCZ aims to create a "conveyor belt" for Harlem's poor children, a series of rich and effective supports-from a "Baby College" for parents, to an all-day pre-kindergarten and extended-day charter schools, to health clinics and community centers, all the way to help in succeeding in college. Together, these efforts aim to give poor children the stimulation and the opportunities that most kids growing up in middle-class neighborhoods receive from birth. This year, HCZ will serve 8,000 children living in the 97 block Zone. The initiative has been featured on 60 Minutes, the Oprah Winfrey Show, and in the New York Times Magazine.

Policymakers have long talked about the lessons of HCZ for anti-poverty policy nationwide, and now there are proposals to replicate the HCZ model nationally. This event brings together Geoffrey Canada, HCZ's President and Chief Executive Officer; Roland Fryer, a Harvard economics professor and the founder of Harvard's new Education Innovation Laboratory, a major effort to identify and evaluate promising approaches to closing the achievement gap; and Paul Tough, a New York Times Magazine editor and the author of the new book, Whatever It Takes, a critically acclaimed look at HCZ in the broader context of American poverty and education policy.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• american
• canda
• children
• education
• geoffrey
• half
• harlem
• in
• new
• poverty
• progress
• school
• seeprogress
• teacher
• ten
• york

[clontsdollie]

awesome clip .. thanks and god bless =)

[titititi001]

God bless Dr. Geoffrey Canada and his cause. I always believed that white people can not stand fair competition, they will always loose because they are lazy and bigot; their intelligence does not impress me. Dr Canada is right, poor, marginalied monority students, competing with white middle and upper class students is not a competition at all. Balance the power structure, then talk to me and see who win!

[YTwatcher38]

@RockTheFacts so true!!

[MondoBeno]

Here's why The Harlem Children's Zone is a success:

1. everything is set up for them, so that they can begin studying quicker. Eight year olds should NOT have to make too many decisions.

2. Extended time means they can do their studying before going home. A noisy, crowded apartment is NOT a place to study.

3. The parents are required to cooperate. If the parent will not do his/her bit, then they can expel the child.

[dJames2002]

Because the culture around these students is part of the reason there's a high drop-out rate! They become criminals! Because the temptation to use drugs is part of the problem! The school has to be proactive in removing the temptations that will lead them to failure. The parent, in many cases, cannot provide a home that does that. They cannot sit on their kid 24/7. So until the community cleans itself up, Canada is making an investment in these kids. Also, it's a private school

[imbologna]

There's an episode of Chicago Public Radio's program "This American Life" with a segment on the Harlem Children's Zone. The episode is called "Going Big."

[ebeledi]

interesting

[mcketim]

"Saturdays and Sundays... If you're motivated you will spend the time" doesn't sound like a sustainable model. How do you get to raise your own family? So this guy is in schools "giving the message to let market forces take over" and anybody who doesn't agree with him is forcing the kids to be drug dealers. Sounds like a predator capitalist evangelist out to privatize the world. Or else just a dupe for them. I agree the kids deserve a rich educational experience including chess and the arts.