|
Mr. Speight with Ms. Husbands’ second grade.
Photo: Heather Schoell.
|
In Ward 8, the academically lowest-performing section of the city, 502 boys and girls have been placed in the care of Friendship Southeast Elementary Academy by families – 85 percent from Ward 8 – who have chosen the public charter school and its proven quality in teaching and learning.
Adhere to the Culture
“We expect excellence and do not tolerate less than that,” said Friendship Southeast Elementary Academy Principal Joseph Speight. Speight has been at the wheel for just a short time – this is his first year as principal, though he learned much during his two years as an assistant principal under Michelle Pierre-Farid. Before that, Speight taught fifth and sixth grades in Prince Georges County and is a product of New Leaders for New Schools.
Using benchmark exam data as their guide, teachers stay aware of students’ deficiencies, and teachers learn where they can improve as well. Speight has gone into the classrooms and modeled lessons. Data is everywhere you look in the school, covering hallway walls, classroom walls, even the lunchroom walls. Students know exactly where they stand in what they know and what they need to know. Their substantial gains of 27 percent in math and 16 percent in reading on the DC CAS (DC’s standardized test for grades three and above) – from 27 percent proficient in math in 2008 to 54 percent in 2009, and in reading, 32 percent in 2008 to 48 percent in 2009 – is the pay-off. “Everyone took ownership; the teachers and students knew the data,” Speight explained. “Parents knew the data. It was a true village approach.”
“The parents feel a sense of empowerment,” said Speight. “We have the Parental Advisory Committee – in fact we just had a Data Dinner for parents of third- to fifth-graders,” he continued. “The parents pinned a star pin to what we call our Presidential Scholars, and those students committed to tutoring every Tuesday and Thursday, to Spring Break School, to Saturday School.”
Presidential Scholars are those students who have been selected by their teachers as rising stars, those who will adhere to the culture of learning. “About 190 students from grades three to five have been selected as presidential scholars, and about 120 from grades K to two will be selected as Junior Scholars,” Speight added.
“We want to make not just AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress), but life-long learners,” said Speight. “We expect 80 percent or above, no matter what you do.” So if a child doesn’t make 80 percent on a test or a paper, the teacher sits down with that student to devise a plan, to strategize on how to do better. And if he or she did an 80 percent job, the same thing happens – a plan of action to challenge oneself to do even better.
The Past to the Future
Friendship Public Charter school is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1997, that builds on the success of established programs – like a mélange of best practices. As a public charter, it must adhere to curriculum standards but enjoys some autonomy. For example, DC public school children must be 3 years old by the cutoff date of Sept. 31, but Friendship opted to keep the cutoff date of Dec. 30.
The building where Friendship SE is now located was once an underperforming charter school inaptly named Southeast Academy of Scholastic Excellence, which the Friendship group bought when Excellence lost its charter. Before that, the school was a Safeway. “It was a square,” said Speight. “They built around it and up, adding the Smart Lab, the library and 16 classrooms.” The new spaces are bright and airy with windows from the floor to the high ceilings, with plenty of light and equipped with internet access and Promethium boards.
Friendship uses progressive approaches to teaching such as Creative Curriculum, Writers’ Workshop and a very impressive Smart Lab. This lab enables hands-on learning through research and experimentation. Ms. Baynard, the Smart Lab teacher, explained, “The teachers implement projects, and the students come in here to publish, do photography, multi-media projects, build mechanical structures.” The list goes on. Students research on the internet what variables they need to know for their project. They explore weights and the kinetic properties of a spinning top. Fourth-grader Trévaugn was working on developing a robotic truck, and Jarod was researching a catapult.
Teachers as Models
“The teachers at Friendship Southeast Academy are extremely hard-working and dedicated to go above and beyond to provide our students with a world-class education,” Speight said. Each classroom is designated by the teacher’s alma mater, the college or university where he or she graduated. This gets students to think in terms of higher education as normal and accessible, something with which they can identify.
Each teacher brings their strength to the table, as Speight pointed out on a building tour: Ms. Windley, who teaches a grades’ two/three split, was awarded Friendship’s Teacher of the Year; Ms. Price, a pre-k teacher, is particularly adept at teaching with the Promethium board; Ms. Fairley is especially creative; Mr. Powe is great at differentiated learning; and Ms. Husbands puts on a fun hat to let her students know that she should not be interrupted during an important lesson.
Friendship Days
Parent Advisory President Michael Johnson wrote of the school in an e-mail: “FSEA offers a great balance of seasoned and young administrators, educators and student support professionals, and ... the classroom resources are state-of-the-art. There are a whole host of extracurricular academic (robotics and band) and sporting (cheerleading, basketball and flag football) activities available at FSEA that are instrumental in rounding out the students.”
Friendship Southeast Elementary Academy is an all-day school. For all of its students, the day begins with breakfast at 7:45 a.m. Lunch is split into three periods. Preschool and pre-kindergarten classes have their lunch brought to them in class. Kindergarten and first grades eat together in the cafeteria, then second and third, followed by fourth and fifth grades. Students who did not complete their homework from the previous night must sit at the ZAP lunch table and finish it. ZAP stands for “Zeros Aren’t Permitted” – no skipping homework allowed.
Friendship Academy’s students must be in uniform – khaki bottoms and burgundy tops. Mr. White, dean of students, addresses student compliance with the code of conduct at the school.
Fifth-graders have lockers and switch classes for different subjects to prepare them for their transition to middle school. Special education is incorporated into the regular classroom so as to avoid pulling students from class. Students are removed for behavioral issues when appropriate, allowing class to continue undisturbed, and putting that student on a six- to eight-week monitoring plan. “Throughout the six to eight weeks,” said Speight, “we conduct bi-weekly check-ins with teachers to assess the interventions and provide next steps for parents and teachers. Based on the outcome of the interventions, we are able to develop next steps for the student or parent prior to any expulsions. ... Within my tenure, fewer than five students have been expelled.”
School ends at 3:15 p.m. for some, and 4:15 p.m. for those who receive mandatory additional instruction after school, at which time aftercare provides further enrichment through partnerships with organizations such as the National Building Museum, the Dance Institute of Washington and the Kennedy Center.
Visit Friendship SE during an upcoming open house, held every third and fourth Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., February to May. Friendship Southeast Academy is located at 645 Milwaukee Place SE. For more information, visit www.friendshipschools.org or call 202-562-1980. |
