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pg. 105 have wide discretion as to how and what they teach. C74148641D8;38=6>=B>DC71A04BF>>31>D;4E0A3 Texas has been particularly hospitable to charters, which began ;>>:BAD= 3>F=5>AC74<4H4A;0=3B42C8>=>57>DBC>= to spring up in the mid-nineties. In 1994 Houston teachers Mark Feinberg and David Levin created the Knowledge Is Power Pro- F782774;?B4G?;08=F7HC74741A4F gram (KIPP). In Irving, a group of concerned citizens opened the 02034
emy is part of a growing movement in nations. U.S. students did fairly well on FINLAY ROBIN BY STYLING SPREAD: PREVIOUS Texas that may revolutionize our edu- cational system. It is a charter school, which is a public school funded by tax- payer money but run by a nonprofit or- ganization or a for-profit business (Har- mony is the former). In Texas, the State Board of Education grants the charter, and the TEA monitors the school’s academic progress. The charter establishes a new school district, which can have multiple campuses. Each charter receives $450,000 in start-up money and about $6,000 a year for each student enrolled, approximately $1,200 less than the allotment for students in regular public schools. As compensa- tion for lower funding, charter schools have considerable freedom to operate as they see fit. They set their calendar and the length of their school day, and they Opposite: Top, Ashley Agbasoga, at the Harmony Science Academy in Austin, participates in a graduation rehearsal. This fall she will attend the reading tests, but they performed miserably in chemistry, phys- the Top. (Governor Rick Perry chose not Columbia University, in New York. Bottom: ics, and math. Follow-up reports in 1998 and 2006 found little sig- to participate in the program because he A bulletin board nificant improvement. On the benchmark Trends in International believed it had too many strings attached.) shows the range of universities that have Mathematics and Science Study, conducted in 1998, the U.S. ranked As the Harmony schools have become accepted Harmony ahead of only Cyprus and South Africa in math and science literacy. models for other programs across the students. This page: Soner Tarim, the Even our best students ranked at the bottom when compared with state, they are poised to take advantage superintendent of the best in other countries. What’s more, tests of fourth-, eighth-, of this groundswell. Yet there’s an inter- the Harmony Public Schools. and twelfth-grade students showed that U.S. kids fared worse and esting wrinkle in the story of the Harmony worse by comparison as they progressed through the system. Later schools. The organizers, key administra- studies, in 2003 and 2007, concluded that American students had tors, and about half of the math, science, and computer teachers performed poorly at all three levels. are Turkish Muslims, not exactly what one would expect in Texas. To make things even more problematic, our educational system is Many of them have at least some ties to a broad-based movement in also dealing with a rising dropout rate. Major studies indicate that which well-educated, pious Muslims have established hundreds of 25 percent of American students fail to graduate from high school. the highest-performing secular schools in Turkey and the surround- Among blacks and Hispanics, the figure is nearly 40 percent. Closer ing Turkic states. Though this has created some controversy, it ap- to home, Texas has ranked dead last in high school graduation rates pears to be of no concern to the parents, students, and non-Muslim in recent years, with nearly 49 percent of students failing to earn a teachers connected to these schools. What is of concern is whether diploma. Moreover, of those who do manage to finish high school their approach to public education provides a road map for other and enroll in Texas colleges, half need remedial courses and many schools to help improve the quality of education across the state never graduate. This is not the picture of a nation at risk but of a na- or, as critics contend, merely drains resources away from existing tion and state in peril. public schools. Is the answer to our educational crisis to be found Though they are not without their detractors, charter schools have in that run-down building in Meyerland? tried to establish themselves as an answer to this challenge, and they are riding a powerful wave of support. Following the lead of the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, President Barack Obama has called for their expansion, urg- C745>D=34A>5C7470A<>=HB27>>;B8B0=8=C4=B4 ing states to lift the cap on the number of charters they will 1DCD=508;8=6;H2>DAC4>DB#" H40A >;3=0<43B>=4AC0A8< authorize—the Texas cap is currently 215, and the TEA has received bids for each spot—to qualify for grants from the who was born and raised in Istanbul. In 1991, while Tarim was $4.35 billion educational stimulus package known as Race to teaching at a Turkish university and work- | CONTINUED ON PAGE 167
photographs by WILL VAN OVERBEEK Head of the Class schools are a plus for the neighborhood be- tural categories. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 107 cause they provide parents with an option,” It will also come in handy if they get to visit ing on his doctorate in aquatic ecology, his he says. “If you go to the grocery store, you Istanbul. That is not a hookah dream. Ev- older brother asked him to come to Hous- like having a choice between brands. We ex- ery school sends groups of students to Tur- ton to look after his wife and three children plore, we experiment, and we have the free- key during spring break, at a greatly reduced while he underwent treatment for colon can- dom to try different programs.” cost. Renato Ramirez, the chairman, CEO, cer at M.D. Anderson. As the ultimately un- Like all public schools in the United States, and president of the International Bank of successful treatments dragged on, Tarim Harmony is forbidden from offering religious Commerce in Zapata, marveled at this op- started taking courses at the University of instruction or sponsoring religious activities; portunity. “It’s fantastic,” said Ramirez, who Houston to improve his English. He also be- though operated by Muslims, Harmony acad- helped pick up the half a million dollars of gan to check out possibilities for continu- emies are explicitly not Muslim schools. Still, cost overruns to turn his Laredo warehouse ing his scientific studies in the U.S. After his Turkish Muslim immigrants hold a near mo- into a Harmony Science Academy. “When I brother died and his family returned to Tur- nopoly on the top administrative positions was in high school, they would take us to the key, Tarim enrolled at A&M in 1994, where and occupy many of the math, science, and Coca-Cola plant.” he joined a cohort of more than 150 Turkish computer teaching slots, though nearly all the Not everyone shares Ramirez’s enthusi- graduate students, nearly all studying math, other teachers are American and non-Mus- asm. In recent months, several articles widely science, and engineering. lim. “Because we focus on math, science, and circulated on the Internet have been sharply As he gained more teaching experience at technology, we have to get qualified teachers,” critical of Gülen and, by extension, schools A&M, he and some of his colleagues discov- Tarim explains. “It is tough to hire math and such as Harmony that are operated by his ad- ered that, unlike beginning students in Tur- science teachers these days. We try to hire mirers, calling them madrassas and describ- key, many of the freshmen in the undergrad- people who are working on their master’s ing them as incubators of Islamist radicalism. uate courses they were teaching did not have and Ph.D. degrees.” The first such teachers These attacks are riddled with documented the basic math and science skills needed for were fellow graduate students he knew at factual errors, misleading assertions, and in college work. To bring their struggling charges A&M and other schools in Texas and Okla- some cases, complete fabrications. No one up to speed, they began offering free tutori- homa. These in turn recruited others, offer- familiar with the Harmony schools accords als in the afternoon. They soon realized that ing a path for young Turks wanting to live in the criticism any credibility. Consider SBOE what these students lacked was not intelli- the U.S. and needing help getting a visa. member David Bradley, one of Harmony’s gence but instruction. After a year or two of teaching, the most most vocal champions. “I would be the first Tarim and many of his peers have been in- promising teachers are assigned to a school to raise the alarm bell if I thought they were fluenced by the writings of Fethullah Gülen, in an apprentice role, such as assistant prin- terrorists, but they are not,” says Bradley, who an immensely popular imam and one of the cipal. Then, if they show potential, they have is part of the board’s conservative faction that world’s leading public intellectuals. Gülen’s a chance to become principal at that or an- seeks more emphasis on America’s Christian message, contained in sixty books and count- other school. But citing a Turkish adage that, roots. “Their concern is on reading, writing, less sermons, is that one can be both com- in effect, translates to “You can’t run a mill and arithmetic.” pletely modern and completely Muslim at by bringing water from another stream,” Ta- HSA-Dallas humanities teacher Amy Cur- the same time and that the rejection of mo- rim points to a growing number of non-Turk- tis sounds a similar note: “I’m a fundamental- dernity, especially in the areas of science and ish administrators as well, including sev- ist Christian and my son goes to this school. technology, has kept many Muslim countries eral women who are principals or assistant It’s such a good culture of ethnic toleration mired in the Middle Ages. For decades he has principals of Harmony elementary schools. that I have actually felt much freer and less spoken of the need for a “Golden Generation” The same evolution seems to be occurring in restricted than in a politically correct ISD. of people who will lead Turkey to a brighter the teaching ranks. At HSA-Houston, all the We have respect for each other’s culture and future. He stresses the value of altruism, vol- math teachers are from the U.S., and the sci- each other’s views. I’ve had many good reli- unteer service, and generous sharing of one’s ence department includes two non-Muslim gious and philosophical discussions with my time and money. In a pattern repeated thou- Americans. Tarim estimates that 60 percent Muslim colleagues.” When someone sent the sands of times in Turkey and elsewhere, peo- of the current math and science teachers in articles to faculty members at HSA-Dallas, ple influenced by his teaching have formed the Harmony system are non-Turks. she says, “I didn’t even read it. I’ve worked independent foundations that start and oper- As one might expect given the presence with these people for four years, and I knew ate schools, hospitals, relief agencies, news- of Turkish staffers, Harmony students have it was garbage.” papers, radio and television stations, banks, the option of studying Turkish to ful- and businesses. fill their language requirement. Some Tarim and his colleagues were about to be- question how useful Turkish will be to come the latest. With friends at the University Texas students, but interest is strong. C74:4HC>D=34ABC0=38=6270AC4A of Houston, Rice University, the University of Halil Tas, the superintendent of the B27>>;B¹0=3C748A8= Texas at Austin, and Baylor College of Medi- cluster of four Austin schools, said that cine, they put together a proposal and applied almost four thousand students are taking students across the country—is to realize how to the State Board of Education to open the Turkish in all the Harmony schools com- they differ from traditional public schools. first Harmony Science Academy, in Hous- bined. Several students mentioned that it Perhaps most important, charter schools ton. Tarim served as the first principal, and as would enable them to participate in state, na- are able to hire non-union, even uncertified more schools opened, he became the superin- tional, and international Turkish Language teachers; pay them based on merit rather than tendent of the Harmony Public Schools and Olympiads, where students compete in sing- seniority; and fire them when they perform Harmony’s single-minded champion. “Our ing, poetry, writing, folk dance, and other cul- poorly. Starting salaries typically run 10 to
167 T EXASMONTHLY. COM August 2010 | 15 percent below those for a local ISD—say, on seniority and tenure, which makes it al- viding parents with alternatives to “govern- $36,000 compared with $43,000 for a new most impossible to fire incompetent teach- ment run” schools. Opponents of charter teacher in Houston—but can increase more ers. They also take umbrage at what they see schools see them as a way to lessen the de- rapidly. It is this flexibility that excites charter as the chutzpah of naive young idealists who mand for vouchers that could be used at pri- school supporters, alarms teachers unions, have not paid their dues, literally or figura- vate schools, including those supported by and gives pause to less invested observers. tively. It’s one thing, they argue, to be full of fire religious organizations. Conservative foun- Supporters cite research indicating that a when you are 22 and have never had to worry dations and think tanks have long backed majority of public school teachers come from about a job or when you get to teach young- plans to increase school choice. Liberals usu- the bottom third of their college classes and sters whose parents reinforce the strict dis- ally support unions and measures designed that many of the teacher-education programs cipline system in schools like KIPP, YES, Up- to help all public schools. But more and more they attended are themselves inferior; a re- lift, and Harmony. It’s quite another matter people on the left are impressed at the suc- cent national study slammed the quality of to be 55 and still trying to instill learning in cess the best charter schools have had in ed- instruction at eight Texas colleges, includ- uncontrollable kids whose parents are crack- ucating inner-city kids. The Bill and Melinda ing the University of Houston, Texas Tech heads or dope dealers and whose only other Gates Foundation, the Michael and Susan University, and Texas Christian University. relevant institutions are the welfare office and Dell Foundation, and the Doris and Donald Contrast that with the encouraging results the prisons they visit on weekends. Fisher Fund identify less with a particular achieved by Teach for America, which re- Observers with less personal investment in political stance than with a conviction that cruits recent graduates and working profes- either position concede the problems of the research, pilot experiments, competition, ac- sionals to teach in inner-city schools. Many rosy scenario. In her latest book, The Death countability, and results-based rewards will participants and alumni of that initiative and Life of the Great American School Sys- help schools become better. attended elite private universities and ma- tem, educational historian Diane Ravitch All of which sounds great, except for the jored in something other than education. noted that it’s unrealistic to think it possi- fact that existing empirical evidence indi- Or note that even within the same schools, ble to stock large numbers of schools with cates that most of them achieve results that students in some classes consistently out- outstanding teachers: “This is akin to saying are no better or are even worse than those of perform students right across the hall. The baseball teams should consist only of play- regular public schools. The most recent na- conclusion seems obvious: Better teachers ers who hit over .300 and pitchers who win tional study, conducted in 2009 by the Cen- get better results. at least 20 games every season.” ter for Research on Education Outcomes Teachers unions see charter schools as a Charters have also found allies among sup- (CREDO) at Stanford University, assessed palpable threat to two of their most cherished porters of vouchers, who see the schools as more than 2,400 charter schools in the na- principles: salary and job placement based a way of demonstrating the appeal of pro- tion and found that only 17 percent did better than public schools at showing improvement over time on standardized tests in reading and math. Thirty-seven percent did worse. Texas was one of six states whose charter schools compared most unfavorably with regular public schools. “This study,” the researchers concluded, “reveals in unmistakable terms that, in the aggregate, charter students are not faring as well as their [traditional public school] counterparts.” The CREDO study did, however, acknowledge a crucial exception: “Charter schools that are organized around a mission to teach the most economically disadvantaged students in particular seem to have developed expertise in serving these communities. We applaud their efforts and recommend that schools or school models demonstrating success be further studied with an eye toward the notoriously difficult process of replication.” That helps explain the success of KIPP, YES, IDEA, Uplift, and Harmony. All of them target such at-risk students, and all can point to data showing that their students do mark- edly better than regular public school stu- dents from the same neighborhood who have the same demographic and economic charac- teristics. Critics contend that the comparison is faulty. While it is true that charter schools must admit students by a strict lottery sys- tem when demand exceeds supply, the fact
168 | August 2010 T EXASMONTHLY. COM that parents are sufficiently concerned about need to stay until five o’clock or come on Sat- perform above grade level and, as a natural their children’s education to learn about the urday, let’s do it. If necessary, run a second set by-product, to score well on the TAKS tests. school and enter the lottery means that the of buses to make that possible. If parents need As TAKS results are the primary measure winners are hardly a random sample. More- to be involved, make sure the schoolhouse is by which schools are judged under No Child over, the regular public schools where they open and the lights are turned on at night to Left Behind, public schools have no choice would have gone will be left with less mo- accommodate working parents who can’t get but to pay attention to these annual tests, but tivated and, quite likely, less able students, there in the day. If small classes are the key, many educators view them as an inferior in- worsening an already bad situation. let’s pay for small classes, not increase class dicator. The Harmony schools take them se- Some teachers I interviewed conceded that sizes from thirty to forty students. Since we riously but do not let them take over the cur- this assertion is plausible but noted that the have all these models that have ‘proven them- riculum. “When we started,” Tarim recalls, more successful charter schools have long selves,’ why aren’t we doing that for all chil- “people told us to focus on that, but we de- waiting lists, indicating that large numbers dren? That is a failure of the people in gov- cided it was inadequate. That is a very low of parents want a better education than most ernment in the state of Texas.” standard. If you focus on that, you are set- regular public schools provide. Last ting kids up for failure.” year, Harmony schools had to turn away That message has been delivered. At every almost 14,000 students. YES Prep had school I visited, teachers conceded that doing to say no to almost 4,000 students seek- B>F70C20=0;;B27>>;B¹270AC4A0=3 well on the TAKS is important but that it does ing entry to its seven schools in Hous- >C74AF8B4¹;40A=5A><C74BD224BB not consume their lives. “When I first came ton, and the original KIPP Academy, in here, it immediately struck me that Harmony Houston, currently has a waiting list of some of the Harmony model? Though the Harmony is not a TAKS-oriented school,” said Jenni- 600 students, nearly equal to its total enroll- schools follow the regular public school cal- fer Butcher, a teacher at HSA-Laredo. “They ment. The solution, they assert, is not to con- endar (KIPP, by contrast, has school days were actually teaching the curriculum. At demn charter schools but to open more of that last from 7:30 until 5, along with a man- public schools I’ve worked at, they were al- them. As for the parents, they are more con- datory summer session), they offer extensive ways passing out practice tests. Here I actu- cerned with the future of their offspring than tutoring and time-intensive extracurricular ally get to teach history, science, grammar, with the plight of the poor schools they now activities, such as robotics, after school and and everything they need to learn. It’s not attend. As one put it, “These are my only two on Saturdays. Another important idea picked just TAKS.” kids and this is the only time they have a shot up from KIPP is home visits. Harmony teach- That approach seems to work. More than at an education. I want the best for them.” ers visit more than 90 percent of their stu- 90 percent of Harmony students consistently Charter skeptics also note that the lure of dents’ homes at least once during the year. pass the TAKS tests. When Hispanic and millions of dollars in federal money, $450,000 HSA-Houston student Djenaba Aswad said, black students at Harmony schools are com- of it right up front, is certain to attract the “It’s good to see the teachers interact with my pared with their ethnic counterparts across crooked, corrupt the upright, and convince family. My parents see the teachers as caring. the state at the sixth- and ninth-grade lev- incompetents that it must be easy to run a It makes the school seem more like a family. els, they outclass them by 30 to 54 points, school, especially if they hire some relatives. My chemistry teacher is like another father with the largest difference at the higher lev- Sadly, financial chicanery, nepotism, unac- or an older brother.” els, indicating the cumulative effects of Har- ceptable academic practice, and even child At most Harmony campuses, 60 to 90 per- mony schooling. This success at closing the abuse have been all too common. In one of the cent of the students are Hispanic or black achievement gap led to HSA-Houston’s re- most notorious Texas cases, involving the Pre- and qualify for free or discounted lunches. ceiving the National Title I Distinguished pared Table Charter School, in Humble, three But because admission is by lottery, there School Award in 2005. It was one of only 52 family members of the leader of the school, can be no quotas, so the demography of the middle and high schools in the nation to do the Reverend Harold Wilcox, pleaded guilty schools tends to reflect that of the neighbor- so, and the only charter school. to exaggerating enrollment, using a sham ca- hood. However, principals at nearly every In addition to regular classroom instruc- tering company to overbill the federal lunch school I visited spoke of parents who drive tion, every school offers extensive free tuto- program, and laundering money through the at least half an hour to bring their children to rials after class and on Saturdays for students church where Wilcox was pastor. school. As Harmony’s reputation spreads, the who need extra help, all year in every subject. Observers like Houston state representa- picture may change. At a Harmony campus in More important, teachers and administra- tive Garnet Coleman argue that even good northwest Houston, the distribution is about tors know which students require additional charters drain away funds from local dis- 30 percent Hispanic, 30 percent Asian, and attention. Within the charter school com- tricts. Coleman understands why parents 30 percent Anglo. Banners hanging from raf- munity, Harmony is becoming famous for send their children to charter schools when ters in the gym signify students with roots in its sophisticated database at its central of- the neighborhood school is inferior: “Who more than forty countries. In recognition of fice, in Houston, which houses an extraor- would argue with that? But parents have a dif- their diversity, the schools organize and invite dinary level of real-time data. In addition to ferent job. My responsibility as a legislator is parents to participate in Day of the Dead and such administrative information as salaries to all children.” He freely admits that schools Cinco de Mayo celebrations, Black History and other expenses, the database includes such as KIPP, YES, Uplift, and Harmony fol- Month, Asian Heritage Week, and an inter- the full curriculum, test-preparation tools, low practices proven to work: longer hours, national festival to cover other cultures. attendance records, and a fantastically de- after-school and weekend tutoring and en- But ultimately what distinguishes Har- tailed grade book for every course. On the day richment programs, insistence on parental mony and the other top-performing char- a test or other assignment is graded, a student, involvement. “We need to take those things ter schools is a well-taught, rigorous cur- parent, teacher, principal, or curriculum di- and make them universal,” he said. “If kids riculum. Harmony students are expected to rector in the central office can see not only
172 | August 2010 T EXASMONTHLY. COM the overall grade but how the student per- HSA-Houston shows President George W. dently say we are successful. We can’t claim formed on parts of each test or other assign- Bush presenting an award to a student who that now, but the mechanism is in place.” ments. This makes it possible to spot trouble placed first in the national Math Counts com- Harmony and other successful charter early on and direct students to individual or petition in 2008. More recently, the school’s schools can serve the purposes for which group tutorials specifically tailored to their computer programming team placed first at they were created—testing ways, both old shortcomings. the state UIL competition in April. Robot- and new, of improving our educational sys- The database may prove to be the key to rep- ics is a popular activity at most Harmony tem and reaching students who have failed in licating the Harmony model on a much larger schools, and their teams have excelled re- or been failed by other schools. They can be scale. The schools already give the software peatedly. The two-year-old Laredo school invaluable models for regular public schools. free of charge to any other type of campus, as placed first among 80 teams that competed But they still serve less than 2 percent of the long as it has a math and science focus. But Ta- in Houston in February, and an El Paso team nearly five million school-age children in rim has a much grander vision. He has offered competed for the United States against 84 our state. The task ahead is to discern the the program to Rice University’s Connexions teams in a 2009 European robotics champi- best practices of both kinds, as well as those project, an ingenious multilingual computer onship in Denmark. Even though most Har- of private schools, and to have the will to im- resource that publishes materials that teach- mony schools have been open for less than a plement them. It will likely mean rethinking ers and researchers around the world can use decade, their students have won more than teacher education, restructuring tenure, as- to suit their needs. Together, Tarim and the two thousand awards in local, state, and inter- signing veteran teachers to challenging posts, Connexions team are writing a $30 million national science fairs and Olympiads. Given lengthening both the school day and year, en- grant proposal that would pay thousands of this record, it is not surprising that of the first couraging home visits, and instilling a culture teachers to prepare lesson plans in their var- 35 schools designated as T-STEM (Texas of high expectations and “no excuses.” It will ious fields. These lesson plans in turn would Science Technology Engineering and Math- mean providing the resources required to at- be reviewed by experts who would customize ematics) Academies, which receive funding tract more young people from the top third of them for schools around the world. from public and private organizations such their college classes into the noble profession The database also keeps a running score as the TEA and the Gates and Dell founda- of educating children. And since little of this on students’ standing on the Discipline Point tions as part of the Texas High School Proj- will be free, it will also mean coming to real- System. Following advice from KIPP and YES, ect, 14 were Harmony schools. ize that taxes are not a curse to be avoided but Harmony holds students to a high standard of More impressive than all these plaques and the dues we pay for civilization. T order and responsibility. Various “unwanted trophies is Harmony’s ability to achieve its behaviors,” such as tardiness, failure to bring primary stated goal: to thoroughly prepare TEXASMONTHLY.COM materials, talking back to the teacher, chew- students to enter and succeed at four-year Read a Q&A with William Martin. ing gum, or leaning back in the chair, are as- colleges. “If it stops with high school,” Tarim signed points befitting their perceived se- says, “we are not successful. And we don’t riousness. Students who amass more than want them to drop out of college.” In almost ten points in a week are required to attend every school, from the elementary grades up- after-school or Saturday detention. If they ward, scores of college pennants point stu- *774/872-*, *236:/9958-*"* $"* #(* (* "* $" .* * ! * @<* 5522* go a week without receiving any points, the dents to that goal. When asked what they like !#* #!"##*57.* $#*:22=*$"# .* '"*9:9270* (!#* >*4232*(* "* $" .* ** #"* "!%0* ! #/ count reverts to zero. about Harmony, fourth graders volunteer, * *#* 0* ! "* "#* *#*$"# .* '".* * Though the Harmony schools have em- “It’s preparing me to go to college.” When I #*# * * @"0* "* ) * !*#"*#! !"* (* #**! ! $* *& * !* * !#* * (* ! * !*(* braced many of the typical elements at other asked middle-schoolers, “How many of you (* "*#! * !* .* $ * # (/ * !*! ! .* !*(* (* ! # *"# !* *!#!%* campuses, so far organized sports are lim- think you will go to college?” I invariably got "("# * &* & * !* !#!* % #* &# $#* &!## * ited to basketball, volleyball, soccer, and ka- a unanimous show of hands. But humanities ! "" *! *#* $"!0* * & *"** !#*"#* *#! !"* 1 !*"!%* !"* * "* $" .* rate. State representative Richard Raymond, teacher Amy Curtis said, “That is not a ques- !*#"*@#"* $ *!"#!* !"*"* # ‘Which who has a son at the Laredo HSA, described tion we would ever ask. We ask them, the seventh-grade basketball team he volun- four-year college are you going to attend?’ Col- teers to coach as “sort of the Bad News Bears, lege readiness begins in elementary school, but I’m trying to teach them the basics—the not in the ninth or tenth grades.” * !*"$"! # * $!"<*!#*# * .* $"! # * !%* / mental part, teamwork—and they’ll be bet- These efforts are not feeding an empty hope. #!.* 0 0* '*643;57.* * "#**54364=**"#<*#'"/ ter next year. We often lose by twenty points, Of the 83 students who graduated from the #(0 0* "* &*"'*&"* !* * *!""* !* &* !!"0* * *(!* "#*"$"! # * !*"* but they’re all going to play and they’re all go- Harmony Science Academies in Houston, +340* *+90*$*!#"* *! $"#0* $"!!"<**#* "#* !%*!#"*$"*##*( $!* ) *"*$ %!.* ing to play the same amount of time. Over the Austin, and Dallas this spring, only 3 had not &*%* *$!#!* # *$ ""*&*!%** !!#* !""* &# * * (!0* * !$ /!* "$"! # * "* course of the season, everybody made some yet been accepted to a four-year college. Such %* *! $"#0*!""*#"* ** #!* !!" / baskets. In the last game, they played a girls’ a record would cause most superintendents *# * .* 0 0* '*378;.*$"# .* '"*9:989/ 378;0* * $"!* ""$ "* * !" "#(* !* !* team that was a year older—and won. Man, to puff up with pride, but Tarim is not satis- * !#$! * * $ " #* #!"0* #$! * "#* $"#* (* #!**#*"*# **!#$! 0* * *% #*"* you would’ve thought they had won the NBA fied. He is, however, optimistic. “We are not "$* #!*"$#*#"* ) *# * (* * !* / championship.” yet successful,” he insists. “We are at the be- *"* !*" !*!"0* " (*&* * $!*"$/ "!!*"#*%*# *!$(*"! * "*##* Harmony also encourages students to en- ginning. In three years we will have close to ?!* ! $#"* *"!%"*##*&*%*& $* #!"#* $!*!!"0**( $* * #*& #*# *!%*#"* ?!"* 1 !* ter all sorts of academic contests, to prove to a thousand Harmony school graduates in the ! # .* "*%"*$"*#* 0 0* '*378;.*$"# .* '"* 9:9890* * *!""* "*# * .* themselves that they can face the strongest of state. Eventually, far more. When all the Har- '*642457.* * "#.**543640 competition. The result is display cases, even mony schools produce students who graduate in the newer schools, that are filled with tro- from four-year colleges and become contrib- phies and medals and plaques. The display at uting members of society, then I can confi-
173 T EXASMONTHLY. COM August 2010 |