From A Nation at Risk, the 1983 imperative for educational reform, to the recent documentary Waiting for Superman, our K-12 schools have been placed in the omnipotent position of solving our nation’s achievement gaps and, by inference, its economic woes.

 

When researchers attempt to separate the effects of schools on academic achievement from non-school influences, they generally conclude factors like home and community weigh heavily. For children living in chronically impoverished environments, schools cannot do it alone. Poor inner-city kids bring a host of disadvantages into the classroom and return to those circumstances in their neighborhoods every day, repeating patterns and following trajectories established before they arrived at school. Opportunity gaps, such as limited exposure to books and language or poor access to health care, result in issues that hinder a child’s ability to learn. To fill these gaps, other institutions within communities must be mobilized to support the efforts of schools.

The integration of social and educational services has taken hold in many communities. The best known and most successful is Harlem Children’s Zone. In nearly 100 blocks of New York’s central Harlem, poor children receive the things middle-class kids take for granted high-quality schooling, a safe neighborhood, parents who read to them and good medical care. This strategic cradle-to-college approach seeks to break the cycle of poverty for the 10,000 children in its neighborhood.

Inspired by the work in Harlem, President Barack Obama proposed Promise Neighborhoods. It is a grant program intended for the most distressed communities to develop plans to coordinate a network of services – from health clinics to early childhood programs to parenting classes and other social outreach – all focused on improving educational outcomes for poor children. Out of 339 applicants nationwide, the Obama administration last September awarded grants capped at $500,000 for 21 Promise Neighborhood planning efforts. A second application opportunity is expected next June. Lawmakers have been asked to approve $10 million a year for 20 additional planning grants as well as $20 million per year for a smaller number of implementation grants.

In Columbus’ most distressed community, the Weinland Park Collaborative did not score high enough to receive initial funding, but it is eligible for one of the larger implementation grants. The project has more than 60 partners – they include the JPMorgan Chase and Columbus foundations, city government, Columbus City Schools, Ohio State University, United Way and the Weinland Park Civic Association – who seek to improve the neighborhood’s schools as a strategy to stabilize the high-poverty community and make it more attractive to families. Clearly, Harlem Children’s Zone’s 10-year program is an aspirational model for Weinland Park.

Howard Goldstein is a recognized researcher and the lead scientist guiding the Schoenbaum Family Center’s research program in Weinland Park. The Schoenbaum center is the first early childhood care, education and research facility built in a neighborhood of documented need by a university with corporate and community partners. With his work on the Weinland Park Promise Neighborhood initiative, Goldstein seeks to create a college-bound culture in the neighborhood through a holistic, integrated mission. The effort requires even greater coordination to overcome challenges if the collaborative hopes to win a Promise Neighborhood implementation grant this summer.

The deciding factor for Weinland Park as a Promise Neighborhood grant recipient may be tied to the performance of its public schools, particularly Weinland Park Elementary. It is physically connected to Schoenbaum Family Center but is run by Columbus City Schools and is slated for state improvement and Race to the Top funding to better its academic outcomes.

A recent Columbus Foundation funded survey by Schoenbaum Family Center found parents consider the quality of teaching the most important factor when deciding where to send their children to school. The survey also revealed many are choosing the send their children to schools outside the neighborhood. As the neighborhood continues to stabilize and diversify, it is critical Weinland Park Elementary capitalize on community support and improve its academic performance to keep neighborhood students.

A kindergarten readiness initia- tive of Columbus City Schools Education Foundation also is underway to track and refer for ser- vices all 3- and 4-year-olds in the school district. Test results found more than one in three district kindergartners lacked basic literacy skills. Not only did they not know their letters, but many didn’t know how to turn the pages of a book, or that sentences are read from left to right. Columbus Kids: Ready, Set, Learn, an effort led by United Way of Central Ohio and involving more than 60 community partners, was launched in the central city and Weinland Park areas last February reaching more than 1,200 children, referring 31 percent of them for intervention services to get them ready for school. Columbus Kids expanded its effort to the Linden area in November.

In his role as the principal investigator of OSU’s International Poverty Solutions Collaborative, Goldstein plans to continue to develop and evaluate programs in Weinland Park that aim to help children thrive regardless of whether a Promise Neighborhood Implementation grant is awarded. Working with more than 70 faculty collaborators from 13 colleges, Goldstein envisions family advo- cates, health coaches and work- force development teams working together.

“We’re hoping that the process, and several specific programs, can be replicated in other high-need neighborhoods,” Goldstein says. “We can achieve economies of scale if we capitalize on trans-dis- ciplinary efforts to reduce barriers and improve communities.

“We can’t just throw money at these problems, but we must build a sense of hope and help lift people out of poverty,” he says.

This is the second of a three-part series by LINDA KASS, chairwoman of Champion of Children, an initiative of United Way of Central Ohio.

Copyright 2010. Business First of Columbus Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.