Striding through the halls of Amistad Academy in New Haven, Connecticut, Director Dacia Toll has discovered a forlorn fifth grader, slumped on a bench.

“Can I help you? What do you need?” she asks.

Scowling, he replies softly, “A chance.”

Toll quickly establishes that the boy is crushed because he hadn’t received one of the school’s monthly achievement awards. “Did you win the first race you ever ran?” Toll asks him. “No, you train and you work hard, and then you enter another race. Everything builds on itself. You’ll get there. What you did this month puts you in the running for next month.”

Shyly, the boy smiles. “I’m going to keep trying,” he says with determination, and skips off to class.

Amistad Academy truly lives up the federal mandate: “Leave no child behind.” A charter school withgrades five through eight, it opened its doors in 1999, determined to bridge the achievement gap between urban minority students and their mostly white suburban counterparts.

In the four years that Amistad has been in operation, it has more than succeeded. The student body of 220 is 97% black and Latino. Eighty-four percent are eligible for the free lunch program. And yet students who come to the school performing on average two years below grade level upon graduation, winfull scholarships to prestigious prep schools or are accepted into the honors programs in public high school.

Last spring, the eighth graders surpassed the city and state average in reading, writing and math on the mandated state tests. On the writing portion, they scored higher than students in the wealthy suburbs of Greenwich and Westport. (And the school does not hand picking their students. Enrollment is by a blind lottery.)

How has Amistad managed to succeed? “We insist that kids reach high,” says Toll. To get every student up to par, Amistad demands long days -- 7:30am to 5pm -- and total dedication from students and teachers

The academics are rigorously structured with assessements every six weeks. If a student has not grasped a skill at that time, teachers strategize the best way to reteach the material. “We’re always looking to make what is good even better,” says teacher Michele Svede

As for behavior, “We fight the battles over the little things. You let them go -- the eye rolling, untucked shirts, rudeness--and they quickly erode the culture,” says Toll.

Amistad has changed the prevailing peer culture of “it’s not cool to achieve.” Students here want to succeed. “At my old school, I was picked on because I was smart so I stopped working. Here, if you do well, you get more respect,” says Samantha Torres, 14, who graduated in June. That’s done through what Toll calls “hype.” Every morning starts with a pep rally in which awards and recognitions are handed out. College banners, students’ acceptance letters to private high schools and inspiring quotes adorn the walls. There is even a graph that shows the difference in earnings potential between a high school dropout and a college graduate. Students are not asked to just think about college; they are told that they will go.

Marcus Hamilton, 14, who graduated in June, says, “At my old school, there were more kids on the street than in class. If I had stayed there, I would never have applied to private high school. In March, I was accepted to three. Amistad changed my life.”

 

SIDEBAR FOR AMISTAD ACADEMY:

Tips for Parents:

Education has to be a partnership between home and school, says Dacia Toll, executive director, Amistad Academy. Her advice:

* Don't just encourage reading -- insist on it in a positive, reinforced way. Amistad students must read independently for 20 minutes every night. If you read to your child, make sure the child can see the page so he can be engaged.

* Make sure homework gets done in a top quality way. "This is not about giving the child choices. Present it as 'Do your homework. Period.'," says Toll.

* Do not schedule family vacations or appointments during school time. Showing up for school consistently and on time forms lifelong habits. "No child should be missing more than five days a year unless they are really sick. You will see the difference in the grades," says Toll.

* Support the school's discipline -- positive and negative. Celebrate achievements and awards. Do not tolerate disrespect at home or at school. If you disagree with the school, keep it between the adults but present a united front to your child.

* Emphasize the value of education over and over. Says Toll, "This truly is the secret to success."

 

Woman's Day September 1, 2003