With the blessing of St. Paul's mayor and city school system, parents, and private donors, City Academy set up folding tables and chairs in a recreational center on St. Paul's East Side, and began offering intensive, year- round classes in standard high school subjects ranging from English to physics. Most of the students were minority males who had permanently left the traditional school system.
In that part of the city, as many as 40 percent of the urban youth are unemployed and out of school. City Academy is exploring new ways to retrieve, support, and educate a portion of the students who are considered the hardest to reach and teach.
"One of the keys to our early success is our size," says Milo J. Cutter, a City Academy founding teacher.
City Academy's teachers want to help students learn foundation skills and to guide them through traditional subjects such as algebra and composition so that the students are prepared for advanced study. Toward this end, City Academy teachers improvise an interdisciplinary approach within the standard academic divisions and use multiculturally sensitive texts.
City Academy's innovation lies in its approach. The Charter School reaches youngsters through personal appeals and individual attention in a small, intimate setting. This strategy is reinforced through each student's interaction with a student support group at the school.
"One of the keys to our early success is our size," says Milo J. Cutter, a City Academy founding teacher. "We are small enough to give these students the attention they need and deserve. It makes a big difference." (See Reflections on the Nation's First Charter School.)
Early Progress
The students at the St. Paul City Academy are actively involved in setting school rules and running the program. Many of the students even assisted in the design of City Academy's charter plans and application. Since City Academy opened in the fall, every one of the former "dropouts" has made academic progress.
All of the students have elevated their sights toward postsecondary education after City Academy. The small Charter School and its teachers have rekindled academic and personal ambitions; several of the former "at-risk" students are already taking part-time college courses through the Minnesota Postsecondary Education Option Program while they complete their high school diplomas at City Academy. City Academy has given students both the skills and the confidence to succeed.
From a founding teacher's perspective, Charter Schools deliver several benefits. "Besides having the chance to create a school that takes into account the approaches we know will work," Cutter says, "the biggest benefit is that we are held accountable. For us, accountability is a daily concern. We listen to what the students want and need, because we ask them. And each day we ask ourselves if we are doing things the best way we can.
"We also have the flexibility to respond," she adds. "We can change the curriculum to meet these needs as soon as we see them. Anywhere else it would take a year to change. It is much better than anything we have known in the traditional setting."
Posted on March 6, 1995
URL: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/93-2frst.htm