^^ I think a small part of Cleveland is in the Garfield Heights district, but I'm not sure.

Great Column:

 

To fix the city, first fix Cleveland's schools: Phillip Morris

By Phillip Morris, The Plain Dealer

February 09, 2010, 7:09AM

 

That neglect is what diminishes our future.

 

Simply, we failed to fix the Cleveland schools.

 

We busily constructed stadiums and museums, and, in some cases, reconstructed schools that will soon be shuttered, but we didn't save this city's children.

 

Many people, myself included, stayed in Cleveland during the growth decades of the '90s, because the civic and economic progress seemed real. The Gateway sports complex, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the Great Lakes Science Center helped us dream of a return to municipal relevance -- if not greatness.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/morris/index.ssf/2010/02/the_mere_illusion_of_growth_an.html

This topic is so complex. In my opinion, until the parents in a lot of these inner city neighborhods decide to take an active role in their child's life, we will not see improvement. I truly believe we could spend five billion dollars and very little will change. There are a lot of cultural issues that need to be addressed.

Amen

I work with someone whose granddaughter goes to the school in Reserve Square.  Even though it's a charter school, for parent teacher conferences last week, only 4 out of 19 parents showed up.

Stop being poor!  Stop it!  Stop it!  You're not getting a dime of help until you already have enough money to quit your second job and be a better parent in the evenings.

^Poor people can't tell their children education is important? I'm talking about a deeper problem here.

Stop being poor! Stop it! Stop it! You're not getting a dime of help until you already have enough money to quit your second job and be a better parent in the evenings.

 

You're right that many parents in Cleveland work long hours to support their children, but it only takes about 2 minutes to return a phone call from a teacher. My wife has been teaching in urban schools for 4 years and I could give dozens of stories about parents who flat out don't care.  The kids who succeed have parents who take an interest in their child's education.

Stop being poor!  Stop it!  Stop it!  You're not getting a dime of help until you already have enough money to quit your second job and be a better parent in the evenings.

 

You're right that many parents in Cleveland work long hours to support their children, but it only takes about 2 minutes to return a phone call from a teacher. My wife has been teaching in urban schools for 4 years and I could give dozens of stories about parents who flat out don't care.  The kids who succeed have parents who take an interest in their child's education.

 

Right.  My wife also has taught in inner city school districts and I think you would be appaled at the attitude of some parents (and volume of parents who share it).  Not to mention that there are significantly higher volumes of single parent households.

 

There's a chapter in the book "Outliers" by Malcom Gladwell that discusses how to fix inner city schools.  There was a story on 60 minutes about it as well.  A charter school in Harlem has found a way to turn around inner city schools.  In short, don't allow the kids to go home.

 

The problem is not the school.  The problem is what happens to the kids when they leave school - especially for the summer.  They enter an environment where they aren't learning anymore...or at least aren't learning about the right things.  It's about culture.  This is what is expected of you, this is how you behave.  It needs to be applied consistently and repeatedly.  And the amount of time a child spends in school is not enough to outweigh the impact of what the culture and enviornment is like when the child is outside of school. 

^^ Yes in many cases the problem is the parents, and no this doesn't come up nearly as often in Chagrin Falls.  Agreed.  But I do not gather from those facts that the solution is to turn the screws on dysfunctional low-income families, and I do not think the kids of these families should be held hostage to their parents' situation 24 hours a day.  A kid shouldn't have to spend his days bouncing between a bad home and a bad classroom.  A bad classroom has 30+ kids in it and 1 teacher.  That also happens less often in Chagrin Falls.

 

VV  tedolph I think you've hit the true issue and stated it very clearly.

The issue is jobs, jobs, jobs.  Get poor people into jobs and they will on average become better partents, better citizens, better husbands.  This did happen in the 90's.  Male unemployment in some of these hoods now exceeds 50 percent.  Of course people are going to turn to crime (the underground economy), drugs, alcohol, violence and there kids are going to model this.  To do this you are going to hav to bring in simi-skilled light manufacturing to the inner city.  No one, particularly our Mayor is focused on this and thus nothing will change.  Focus on high tech all you want, it is not going to bring any jobs to these people.  In fact, things are going to get worse if all our job growth is over the heads of these people. 

You make a good point, but where are we going to get these semiskilled light manufacturing jobs from? Our country's manufacturing base has been decimated. Plus, most light manufacturing companies employ a relatively small amount of people. You would need hundreds of these type of companies to employ the thousands of unemployed males in the inner city.

You would need hundreds of these type of companies to employ the thousands of unemployed males in the inner city.

 

Sounds like we better get moving on this.

I think it was hit on the head with how "complex" this is...  You aren't going to "fix" cleveland schools.  Cleveland schools aren't the problem.  It's Cleveland students that are the problem... and of course if you look deeper, a la 327 and tedolph, there's a root problem to that as well.

 

"we need to fix cleveland schools"... yeah... no problem, easy fix :roll:

^Agreed.

 

Crime is a symptom of joblessness. Some kids with no role models or a male figure to show them what's right will no doubt look up to the drug dealers in the neighborhoods. Along with the pimps, the robbers, and what is considered to be "cool" today. Adding jobs would be GREAT, but how do we employ in areas such as light manufacturing? How many light manufacturing are left in the city? In the STATE? Jobs are indeed needed, but how do we educate the thousands left in the city without skills for today's economy?

 

Lets factor in mass media and music artists who kids love the most (think Lil Wayne and TIP), and their messages. Fast money (a la drugs), fast cars, fast women. Factor in NFL, NBA, and other professional sports players and their actions on and off the court (Gilbert Arenas, Ron Artest, Braylon Edwards, the list goes on and on). These are some of the other role models kids in the city look up to. We can't forget that to some of these kids in our most impoverished neighborhoods, that professional sports is a "way out" of poverty- many work to achieve it, though few obtain it.

 

Also factor in the parents of some of these children, who don't give a damn about school or working, or paying rent, or a multitude of other factors. The parents are the people that the children have to deal with on a daily basis. Factor in Section 8- what type of example does this set for the children who have parents who don't even HAVE to pay rent, and get to live rent free?

 

I have a friend who first alerted me to the term, "Perpetual Underclass". She was right. The cycle never ends.

 

Changing the CPSD is no simple problem- I'll call it an exceedingly intricate problem with many obstacles to overcome. Given that most of the major cities around the country have school systems which are sub-par, it is definitely not just a Cleveland problem. If one school district has the answer, we should at the very least try to copy it the best we can, though it may need to be tweaked here and there to fit Cleveland.

My family runs a business.  As a part of that business, we hire unskilled workers - grounds crew basically.  Anyone can learn to cut grass, shovel snow, etc.  But you also need to show up on time, show up sober, actually cut the grass while you are there, etc.

 

If you have no education and no real aspirations to get an education, this is the ideal job for you.  Pays a decent living wage and provides health care benefits.  Plus, if you show promise, there's opportunity to move up. 

 

Yet you would be shocked at how hard it is to find someone who is willing to cut grass, shovel snow, etc who is also capable of showing up on time, showing up sober, and willing to take a reasonable amount of pride in their work.  I took a year and 6 different people to fill the last open spot before we found someone reliable.

 

(And - as I've mentioned in another thread, one guy recently quit and chose to do nothing.  He decided he'd rather live off WIC, food stamps, etc than actually go to work each day.  Ironically, his kids are home schooled).

 

So I actually don't believe jobs are the problem.  It's having a population of workers who show traits that qualify them to get a job.  Should this population exist in the inner city, yet not enough jobs were available, these people would still be capable of raising their kids to be a functional members of society.  But that's not the case.

Yet you would be shocked at how hard it is to find someone who is willing to cut grass, shovel snow, etc who is also capable of showing up on time, showing up sober, and willing to take a reasonable amount of pride in their work. I took a year and 6 different people to fill the last open spot before we found someone reliable....So I actually don't believe jobs are the problem. It's having a population of workers who show traits that qualify them to get a job.

 

As mentioned in another thread, this is the same problem with the hospitality staff in town as well.  Honestly, I don't know what the solution is, except bringing lots and lots of people into this area from other places who do want jobs, who don't mind hard work and don't feel content or like they are worthwhile contributors to society when they sit back and collect welfare and drink all day long.

A large group of young parents who live in Ohio City and Detroit-Shoreway have decided to take matters into their own hands with the school issue. With the desire to retain and attract young families who normally seek non-CMSD educational alternatives to the near west side, the Near West School (charter) is being formed with the goal of opening in Sept 2011. The school would be based off of the nationally-acclaimed Intergenerational School model.

 

Here is their website:  http://nearwestschool.org/

the Near West School (charter) is being formed with the goal of opening in Sept 2011.

 

Good idea, but probably won't happen.  There are to many barriers to opening a charter school in this state.  The biggest being that you have to be an existing manager or sponsor of a current charter school to get a license to operate.  There is pretty much 3-4 operaters of charter schools around here (lighthouse, whitehat, the one that operates success tech, and a forth I cannot remember for the life of me).

 

Just another barrier to a quality education in the city. 

Good idea, but probably won't happen.  There are to many barriers to opening a charter school in this state.  The biggest being that you have to be an existing manager or sponsor of a current charter school to get a license to operate. 

 

Discussions with a potential sponsor and operator have been very positive and are progressing.

My family runs a business.  As a part of that business, we hire unskilled workers - grounds crew basically.  Anyone can learn to cut grass, shovel snow, etc.  But you also need to show up on time, show up sober, actually cut the grass while you are there, etc.

 

If you have no education and no real aspirations to get an education, this is the ideal job for you.  Pays a decent living wage and provides health care benefits.  Plus, if you show promise, there's opportunity to move up. 

 

Yet you would be shocked at how hard it is to find someone who is willing to cut grass, shovel snow, etc who is also capable of showing up on time, showing up sober, and willing to take a reasonable amount of pride in their work.  I took a year and 6 different people to fill the last open spot before we found someone reliable.

 

(And - as I've mentioned in another thread, one guy recently quit and chose to do nothing.  He decided he'd rather live off WIC, food stamps, etc than actually go to work each day.  Ironically, his kids are home schooled).

 

So I actually don't believe jobs are the problem.  It's having a population of workers who show traits that qualify them to get a job.  Should this population exist in the inner city, yet not enough jobs were available, these people would still be capable of raising their kids to be a functional members of society.  But that's not the case.

 

You've touched on another major problem- that unfortunately welfare has created a culture of entitlement to the impoverished (SOME, not all).  Again, children are brought up under these circumstances, and then told that school is important.  Why, when you can do nothing and get paid?

^^ I think it's great that parents are taking charge on this issue, but doesn't Urban Community School already serve this area?

So I actually don't believe jobs are the problem. It's having a population of workers who show traits that qualify them to get a job. Should this population exist in the inner city, yet not enough jobs were available, these people would still be capable of raising their kids to be a functional members of society. But that's not the case.

 

I have to agree.  And I know enough people teaching in inner city districts to know that even the most motivated and talented teachers can't make an impact on kids that are in DH or expelled halfway through the year.  And the behavior that leads to that is because of a lack of or just bad parenting.

^^ I think it's great that parents are taking charge on this issue, but doesn't Urban Community School already serve this area?

 

Urban Community has a waiting list and many people can't get their kids in there. The school has lost some of its funding and had to downsize a little bit. Some slots are kept for kids from families with lower incomes and who attend some of the local parishes.

 

Additionally, there are many families who don't want to send their kids to a catholic school, or don't want to pay 6k for kindergarten. There are many young families that have moved to the burbs because there isn't a viable public/charter option.

Discussions with a potential sponsor and operator have been very positive and are progressing.

 

3231, I assume you are a part of this movement.  I hope it works out well for you, but I know the barriers and laws regarding school, specifically dealing with management company's.  It is a up hill battle the entire way, most of it with start up funding after ODE approval.  I did email the organization offering my assistance, I hope to hear back from them. 

 

I assume NWS (which looks like a off shoot of intergenerational schools) are partnering with Breakthrough Charter Schools management company.  Good move, I am interested to see how that sakes out (for the entire collective).  Though I am generally anti business people trying to break into and run schools, two different worlds. 

You make a good point, but where are we going to get these semiskilled light manufacturing jobs from? Our country's manufacturing base has been decimated. Plus, most light manufacturing companies employ a relatively small amount of people. You would need hundreds of these type of companies to employ the thousands of unemployed males in the inner city.

 

 

This is the huge myth.  There are still lots of manufacturing jobs in this country.  Everything you see with "made in the USA".  We simple aren't competing for those jobs at all on a national level.  Someone in the Mayor's office needs to be targeting small manufacturing companies (20-50 employees) poised for growth and offer them a turn key (site, building, financing) package on city owned industrial land.  As I understand it, we do this somewhat on a local level (e.g. Pierre's Ice cream) but there are few local companies that fit this profile.  Do so nationally and it could make a real difference.  Of course, this would be a lot of work with no dramatic moves, just lots of small ones (you are correct, hundreds of these deals would be necessary) but the pay off in unskilled/low skilled jobs would be immediate not to mention the improvement in the tax base.  You would really need someone in the economic development department with lots of business experience and some national exposure and I don't think the current mayor is tied into those kinds of people.  In fact, he is proud of his poverty heritage (no, don't go there) and as far as I can tell has never worked in the private sector.  I don't think he has a clue as to what it takes to make a machine shop work. 

I'm not so sure that light industry is the answer for inner-city economic development anymore.  It requires an awful lot of land for not very many jobs.  Industry used to make sense because businesses could shoehorn a multistory factory onto a small wedge of land and it would provide hundreds of jobs.  Automation, one story layouts, and massive parking lots and truck maneuvering areas change the equation.

In an attempt to redirect this thread away from welfare, and back towards Clevand Metropolitan Schools:

 

I have some friends who live in Cleveland that are homeschooling because the neighborhood school performs so poorly.  I on the other hand live in a poor neighborhood in Cincinnati, but still send my kids to a successful public school.  What is the difference?  The difference is that Cincinnati Public Schools long ago began to implement a Magnet School program.  there are 4 elementary school Montessori magnet schools as well as several language magnet programs and a Performing Arts program. In addition to these magnet programs for primary grades, ALL of the high schools are "schools of choice", meaning that they are available to anyone in the city.  Most choose their students on a first-come basis, but some also have tests or even auditions. These magnet programs are fantastic at keeping middle and upper class families in the city and in the public school system. 

 

Any large public school system that strictly assigns children to neighborhood schools without any choice is doomed to failure.

I'm not so sure that light industry is the answer for inner-city economic development anymore.  It requires an awful lot of land for not very many jobs.  Industry used to make sense because businesses could shoehorn a multistory factory onto a small wedge of land and it would provide hundreds of jobs.  Automation, one story layouts, and massive parking lots and truck maneuvering areas change the equation.

 

This is why I urge that light industry NOT be the plan for University Circle or Euclid Avenue... even if it's bio-related.  In its modern form light industry is inimical to street life.  Better to concentrate it in areas (cough Opportunity Corridor cough) where desirable urban development seems comparatively remote.

 

For the sake of the schools and everything else, I strongly agree we need to stimulate this sort of thing in the city.  I just think we need to be careful about how we locate it.  It needs to be concentrated, tucked away, and transit-accessible.

You've mentioned this "poverty heritage" many times in threads. I really don't understand what you mean. The guy worked his way through Tri-C and went to law school. I have no problem with an individual who is proud of their heritage.  As for jobs...yes, there a numerous small manufacturing companies throughout the country and Cleveland could do a better job. However, these jobs are competitive and will never employ thousands of people. Again, we are talking about 20-50 employees per firm. I think a mix of light manufacturing and distribution could help alleviate some of the unemployment. This still doesn't address the cultural issues I mentioned in my earlier post.

What is the difference?  The difference is that Cincinnati Public Schools long ago began to implement a Magnet School program.  there are 4 elementary school Montessori magnet schools as well as several language magnet programs and a Performing Arts program.

 

Cleveland has being doing this for a long time, ALL large school districts do.  Cleveland school of the arts, Cleveland school for business, Cleveland school for nursing, Cleveland school for..., heck we used to have a magnet FLIGHT school here.  The problem with magnet (I'll even throw charter schools into the mix) is they get to cherry pick the good students.  If those students don't work out/problems, they are sent back to the public schools.  That is exactly why you have schools under performing so well like South.  All that is left are the kids that cannot perform.  That is the foundation to the Sanders transformation plan, to break the concentration up and spread them among the other schools.  Will it work, in the short term yes, but after a while another set of schools will become the dumping ground.  It unfortunately is human nature to do that, the save the kids you can mentality. 

 

The best thing CMSD district can do is pump money into prek-3 education, that is when the resources can make the most difference.  I don't know all the inter workings of that district, but it seems like they need to merge child services  and early childhood education into one all inclusive new department.  Urban problems require different solutions then those of their suburban counterparts.  You can move the kids around all you want, but at the end of the day they have to go home to a hostile, generally undereducated environment.   

You've mentioned this "poverty heritage" many times in threads. I really don't understand what you mean. The guy worked his way through Tri-C and went to law school. I have no problem with an individual who is proud of their heritage. As for jobs...yes, there a numerous small manufacturing companies throughout the country and Cleveland could do a better job. However, these jobs are competitive and will never employ thousands of people. Again, we are talking about 20-50 employees per firm. I think a mix of light manufacturing and distribution could help alleviate some of the unemployment. This still doesn't address the cultural issues I mentioned in my earlier post.

 

I couldn't disagree more.  I put myself through college on those kinds of jobs in Cleveland (and later Solon) and worked side by side with people that lived in those hoods.  I can say catagorically that a responsible job makes responsible citizens, husbands and parents. 

I'm not so sure that light industry is the answer for inner-city economic development anymore. It requires an awful lot of land for not very many jobs. Industry used to make sense because businesses could shoehorn a multistory factory onto a small wedge of land and it would provide hundreds of jobs. Automation, one story layouts, and massive parking lots and truck maneuvering areas change the equation.

 

This is why I urge that light industry NOT be the plan for University Circle or Euclid Avenue... even if it's bio-related. In its modern form light industry is inimical to street life. Better to concentrate it in areas (cough Opportunity Corridor cough) where desirable urban development seems comparatively remote.

 

For the sake of the schools and everything else, I strongly agree we need to stimulate this sort of thing in the city. I just think we need to be careful about how we locate it. It needs to be concentrated, tucked away, and transit-accessible.

 

Bingo!

The problem with magnet (I'll even throw charter schools into the mix) is they get to cherry pick the good students.  If those students don't work out/problems, they are sent back to the public schools.  That is exactly why you have schools under performing so well like South.  All that is left are the kids that cannot perform.  That is the foundation to the Sanders transformation plan, to break the concentration up and spread them among the other schools.  Will it work, in the short term yes, but after a while another set of schools will become the dumping ground.  It unfortunately is human nature to do that, the save the kids you can mentality. 

 

OK I think you are looking at this backwards.  You build a good school district by ATTRACTING good students.  If you want to attract good students and middle class families to older urban neighborhoods, then you MUST offer them a good education.  You cannot go around forcing middle class families to go to school where 75-90% of the kids are below poverty level.  If you do, those families will leave the district and leave the city.

 

The school district must have a college prep magnet high school and several good college prep magnet grade schools that feed it.  Maybe Cleveland has that, but the school district website talks a lot about school <a href=http://www.cmsdnet.net/en/Resources/~/link.aspx?_id=90EEDDC2F4494BB3A2312D057EA4C7AB&_z=z">assignment,</a> whereas the Cincinnati School District website talks a lot about <a href="http://www.cps-k12.org/Schools/schools.htm">choosing</a> your school. 

 

Cleveland Schools consider adding Citizens' Academy as fourth charter school

 

The Cleveland School District is close to adding a fourth charter school to its portfolio.

 

The school board will consider sponsoring Citizens' Academy, a University Circle school with 400 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The district and Citizens' Academy are discussing a five-year contract that would take effect July 1.

 

Citizens' Academy was rated "excellent," the equivalent of an A, on its most recent state report card.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/02/cleveland_schools_consider_add.html

Like everything else in the real world, you should choose your preferred school -- and if there is more demand for the school than there is supply then the school should be allowed to choose you, too, based on grades, attendance, extra-curriculars, good behavior, etc. I realize this is probably overly-simplistic since public schools must meet various standards and mandates. But I'd love to see as much of this implemented as can be, within the constraints of the law.

Three Cleveland schools lauded in study of Ohio urban districts

By Edith Starzyk, The Plain Dealer

May 26, 2010, 7:59AM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Three Cleveland schools -- Citizens' Academy, Horizon Science Academy Middle School and Louisa May Alcott Elementary School -- are highlighted in a new report for their high achievement with large numbers of poor and minority children.

 

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute says more should be done to learn from their success and replicate it elsewhere. But right now, they and five other Ohio schools are "Needles in a Haystack," the title of the report Fordham released Tuesday.

 

Fordham, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank focused on education, started with 816 public elementary and middle schools that showed high scores and progress on state tests. Then it narrowed the field to 55 schools where at least 75 percent of students come from low-income families.

 

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/05/three_cleveland_schools_lauded.html

Does anyone know if it is legal for the school district to offer teachers buyouts, like they did at the automotive companies? 

When I saw this thread topped I figured someone would be discussing the Cleveland schools brawl at the zoo on Monday. 

^Sure.  The buyouts would be in settlement of or in lieu of the teachers' filing a collective bargaining agreement grievance.  The teachers could take the money, and the District would hopefully be smart enough to insist upon a waiver of any legal or contractual recourse.

Cleveland public school students wow crowd at foundation meeting

Published: Thursday, June 10, 2010, 6:00 AM   

Margaret Bernstein, The Plain Dealer

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland Foundation leaders enlivened their annual meeting Tuesday at Severance Hall by spotlighting several examples of hope hewn from poverty.

 

President and Chief Executive Officer Ronald B. Richard said signs of success are sprouting for the 10 "innovation schools" his foundation has helped fund in the Cleveland school district in recent years.

 

He then wowed the crowd by telling them that 100 percent of seniors at the School of Science and Medicine on the John Hay campus have been accepted to four-year colleges.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/06/cleveland_public_school_studen.html

 

4 more years

 

Cleveland schools CEO gets contract extension

The district takes steps toward implementing its ‘transformation plan’ in the fall

 

by Rachel Abbey

April, 2010

 

 

Cleveland’s Board of Education approved a contract extension through June 2014 for its CEO last night, assuring that the man in charge of creating the district’s new reform plan will be around to help implement it.

 

“I’m excited about the opportunity to continue,” Eugene Sanders said.

 

http://www.catalyst-ohio.org/news/index.php?item=931&cat=28

 

Breakthrough Schools' charters hope to add 3 Cleveland sitesPublished: Thursday, June 24, 2010, 8:27 PM   

Thomas Ott, The Plain Dealer

 

A group of charter schools plans to nearly double in size next year, but the hopes may hinge on getting use of Cleveland school district buildings.

 

Breakthrough Schools is now an umbrella for four independent Cleveland charters: Citizens' Academy, Entrepreneurship Preparatory School, Village Preparatory School and The Intergenerational School.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/06/cleveland_charters_plan_to_add.html

 

 

Cleveland school district, Cleveland State University team up to open new school

Published: Thursday, August 19, 2010, 7:00 PM

Thomas Ott, The Plain Dealer

 

 

A new Cleveland school opened Thursday, easing its first students into a program that will supplement the basics with Mandarin Chinese.

 

The Campus International School, a joint venture between the school district and Cleveland State University, welcomed 60 first- and second-graders a week before most other city students resume classes. Sixty kindergartners will arrive Wednesday, bringing the school to capacity.

 

About a fourth of the students come from the suburbs.

 

Campus International, the latest addition to the district's "innovation" portfolio, will grow by a grade each year until it extends through high school. It's in leased classrooms at the former First United Methodist Church, on Euclid Avenue at East 30th Street, but officials hope to move eventually to a building at the neighboring university.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/08/cleveland_school_district_clev.html

 

Also posted in the Cleveland State thread:  http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,10753.msg507143.html#msg507143

Dude, if we're still living downtown when we have kids that need a school, we're sending them there!

My cousins husband is all excited about this.

Good stuff!  Great to hear that this school is drawing suburbanites. 

Interesting article..

 

Progess can hopefully be seen at the Interntional School at Cleveland State, and the school at Tyler Village for Cleveland.

 

Harlem Children's Zone founder visits Cleveland, finds an audience eager to copy his success

Published: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 7:00 AM   

Margaret Bernstein, The Plain Dealer

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Low-income urban children are ignored and discarded, and the nation is in peril unless someone does something about it, educator Geoffrey Canada said Monday during a speech in Cleveland.

 

Canada -- founder of Harlem Children's Zone, a nationally recognized education program in New York -- told a crowd of about 1,400 that America is nearing the point where the number of children born to minorities will soon outnumber white births.

 

"The country will fail if we don't solve this problem," he said. "You can't simply can't do what you've been doing and think you're going to fix this."

 

His appearance at the Palace Theater was presented by PNC Bank's "Grow Up Great" program, a $100 million initiative to prepare children here and elsewhere for kindergarten.

 

Canada cited several studies, including a just-released Schott Foundation report that found less than half of black males graduate from high school nationally. Cleveland's rate was 27 percent.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/08/harlem_childrens_zone_founder.html

 

New Tech High School offers hands-on, project-based curriculum

By: Kimberly Gill

 

CLEVELAND - Cleveland schools CEO Dr. Eugene Sanders will speak today at the opening of a new high school for 9th and 10th grade students.

 

New Tech will be housed on the campus of East Tech High School.

 

Part of the campus has been completely gutted to make way for a new 21st century state-of-the-art high school. The model of the New Tech program is centered on project-based learning and a hands-on approach.

 

They have a one-to-one computer ratio so that students have all the research capabilities they need. The approach is part of a nationwide program made up of more than 60 high schools in 14 states.

 

New Tech is the second school of its kind Ohio, and the other in is on the west side at Garrett Morgan.

 

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/education/new-tech-high-school-offers-hands-on-project-based-curriculum

 

The #1 reason families don't move into the city is lack of public school option.  Someday, this absolutely needs to be fixed:

 

 

Cleveland schools try to solve attendance, tardiness problems

Published: Tuesday, October 05, 2010, 8:00 AM   

Thomas Ott, The Plain Dealer

 

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland schools will be hard-pressed to deliver on a plan to raise test scores and graduation rates if students fail to show up or to get there on time.

 

Poor attendance and widespread tardiness continue to be serious problems as the district embarks on the first year of its academic transformation plan, a sweeping set of reforms. A report for Sept. 27, one month into the school year, shows that 16 percent of the 45,000-plus students were absent or late, but the numbers ran much higher at some buildings, particularly high schools.

 

For example, 21 percent of the students at East Tech High School were listed as absent, and 9 percent were late. In the Ninth Grade Academy, one of four independent small schools operating within East Tech this year, nearly 40 percent of the 146 students either didn't show up or came tardy.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/10/cleveland_schools_battle_atten.html