Getting Young Lives In Line
While the nation still struggles to fulfill the promise of Brown , these schools are proving that high achievement can also be colorblind
As would be expected from a school on a mission to improve, a purposeful vibe permeates Beulah Heights, with little groups of students cheerfully following teachers through the gleaming hallways to intensive reading clinics while their classmates busy themselves with traditional classroom instruction. Considering that teachers are constantly monitoring kids' performance--and being evaluated themselves--the place is surprisingly relaxed. Second-grade teacher Gene Sandoval happily relinquishes his place at the front of his classroom to Gallegos when she shows up to model a literacy lesson. Down the hall, fifth graders are discussing a wilderness survival novel. "They're taking the CSAPs next week, so I thought we'd do fun stuff this week," explains teacher Diane Stewart. "No need for the kids to stress out." -Samantha Stainburn
The Military's Intelligence
Leonard Gordon Sr., a U.S. Army master sergeant stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky., was contemplating retiring to Georgia after 27 years in the service, so he and his wife scoped out new schools for their 15-year-old son. They were not impressed--and neither was Leonard Jr., a recent National Honor Society inductee and linebacker on the football team at Fort Campbell High School. Not only was he miserable at the prospect of leaving the Department of Defense-run school where he'd spent his freshman year, but Leonard Jr., who is African-American, couldn't believe the lack of diversity and academic focus at the predominantly black public schools in the area where his family planned to relocate. It was "all athletics--almost like trade school," he says.
And that was not part of Leonard Jr.'s plan. So Gordon made the decision to stay a few extra years in the Army, allowing his son to graduate from Fort Campbell High. Now a sophomore, Leonard Jr.'s classes include Advanced Placement world history, Algebra II, and chemistry. "Here, they expect a lot from me," he says. "And I expect a lot from myself."
Head of the class. Just as the military has integrated minorities into its ranks more successfully than many civilian institutions, schools run by the Department of Defense have gained a national reputation for doing well by all of their students. Located on bases in seven states and two U.S. territories, as well as 13 foreign countries (including Germany, Japan, and Turkey), the Department of Defense Education Activity schools enroll some 103,000 children of military personnel--about as many as the Albuquerque, N.M., system.
On national tests of reading, writing, math, and science, African-American and Hispanic students at DOD-run schools consistently rank at or near the top on comparisons of minority achievement. The schools are small, nurturing, and demanding across the board. And that, says Fort Campbell High Principal Kenneth Killebrew, is the secret of their success: "In any class in this school, you're going to find rigor."
The racial makeup of Fort Campbell High mirrors that of the military itself: Nearly one third of its 600 students are African-American, 14 percent are Hispanic, and 7 percent are Asian and Pacific Islanders. True, they have the advantage of parents who have made it into the military. But 40 percent receive free or reduced-price lunches. And they all have success in common: Ninety-nine percent of seniors at Fort Campbell graduate, and 79 percent go on to college.
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