Education And SEED Schools
Sep 25
A few miles from the White House in southeast Washington sit some of the worst public schools in America. The students there are mostly poor, mostly black, and their test scores are low. Only one in three finish high school; of those who do go on to college, just five percent graduate.
60 Minutes: How the Seed School Is Changing Lives: May 23, 2010
This is certainly a glaring indictment of the wealthiest county in the world, which in its own capital is unable to successfully graduate the vast majority of students in their public school system. Even more disturbing is that apparently until more recently no one seemed to care. A new high profile Chancellor, after three years of hard work and many changes, has been only marginally successful in restructuring a system everyone agrees is in ongoing terminal crisis.
But right in the middle of this same area is also one of the most successful and innovative public schools in the country. Started in 1998, the school is called SEED. It’s the nation’s first urban public boarding school. Ninety one percent of the students finish high school, and 95 percent go on to college. It’s a charter school that’s getting national attention.
60 Minutes: Seed School
So, right in the middle of one of the worst school districts in the country is one of the best schools in the country. How can that happen? And more importantly, why isn’t it happening all over the country and in every school district?
Admission is by lottery, open to any family in the district willing to take a chance. This last spring, parents and children showed up for a lottery with a unique prize: a $35,000-per year education paid for by private and government money. Only a third of the over 200 or so kids who applied heard their number called. It all starts on SEED’s campus, a four-acre oasis, a safe zone where 340 kids can focus on school, free from distractions back at home.
60 Minutes: Seed School
Some numbers are helpful here. According to a Washington Post series in 2007, which is somewhat dated but still puts much into perspective, the Washington DC School District has 55,000 students, of which they spend somewhere around $13,000 per student, which is the third highest per student in the 100 largest school districts in the country. The total school budget for FY 2009-2010 was $773 million, which included the cost of 11,000 teachers and employees.
Try getting your brain around those costs and demographics! It is a logistic nightmare to imagine this school district even runs at all.
A Few Things Stand Out
-
It takes a boarding school (five nights a week) to get results. In other words home is not a great environment for succeeding in school.
-
That boarding school environment costs $35,000 per year per student, paid by a combination of PRIVATE and government funds.
-
There are only 340 students in this walled-off “safe zone”. What’s going on outside the zone?
-
Only 200 applied for the available openings. What were the other 50,000 children/parents thinking about? It is a lottery.
-
Multiply 55,000 students by $35,000 plus building infrastructures. Any hope of that happening anytime soon so a majority of the remaining students could be included?
Overpopulation and Education: A Grim Scenario
SEED (Schools for Educational Evolution and Development) is the brainchild of Raj Vinnakota and Eric Adler. The two former businessmen quit their jobs 13 years ago to take an old idea and make it new. “There’s boarding schools for rich kids; why aren’t there boarding schools for poor kids?” Vinnakota said. “The intense academic environment, the 24-hour aspect and constant access to role models. Why wouldn’t all of those things be just as important for poor kids as it would be for rich kids?” “We believe very strongly that there is a group of kids for whom the answer is a 24-hour supportive educational environment. And they’re not gonna have a shot if we don’t give it to them,” Adler added.
They (SEED) don’t simply have to raise a kids’ test scores – they have to change their values.
60 Minutes: SEED School
-
An educational environment, ethical values, committed role models and substantial amounts of money make all the difference in the world of public education
-
Where are parents in this formula – they are purposefully excluded because they are the major cause of student failure
-
The Seed School makes up only one-half of one percent of the school children in Washington DC
-
Kudos to SEED. but what are the chances of adopting this throughout the district, not only for college bound students but for the majority of students seeking technical and trade school curriculums
-
So it is plain to see we are chasing the numbers game again, and the chance for catch-up is depressingly bleak
-
In fact it is time for all child-rearing age people to really rethink whether they have what it takes to be a parent
Education, particularly for young minority women, is crucial for both birth rates and hence overpopulation to decline.
If there is any hope for education, total student numbers must be drastically reduced so programs such as SEED and the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education can be more universally adopted.
That would mean significant progress is not only a reality for a few, but a realistic scenario for most.
