Remarkable Town/Gown Collaboration Creates Model Inner City School

[MarathonMan88]

<p>An inspiring story in the Boston Globe concerning Clark University’s collaboration with a nearby inner city school: </p>

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The grade 7-12 school is the centerpiece of Clark’s determined campaign to revive a neighborhood long blighted by poverty and gang- and drug-related violence. In the past four years, nearly every graduate has gone on to college, radically defying the odds for inner-city students . . . </p>

<p>The 240 students at University Park are categorically told that no one drops out, everyone passes the MCAS, and everyone goes to college. University Park has no entry requirements, and admission is by lottery, although siblings of current students are guaranteed spots. But small classes, intensive remedial work, and a demanding college-prep curriculum have spurred students to attend an array of top colleges, including Brown, Dartmouth, and Georgetown. Each college acceptance is announced over the intercom, then roundly celebrated. Most students are the first in their family to attend college . . . </p>

<p>Students learn quickly that teachers do not tolerate misbehavior, slacking off, or skipping classes. Family turmoil, no matter how intense, is no excuse. Teachers phone parents often, and, with all their students living nearby, aren’t afraid to pay house calls. Street talk is strictly taboo, and students are urged to speak formal English. Many students show up at 7 a.m. for breakfast, followed by tutoring, and remain after classes end to study at the school’s homework center until 5:30 p.m.</p>

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<p>[Partnership</a> between schools in Worcester yields a path to college - The Boston Globe](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/11/22/town_gown_triumph/?page=3]Partnership”>http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/11/22/town_gown_triumph/?page=3)</p>