Lauded Harlem Schools Have Their Own Difficulties
Promise Academy II is an elementary school run by the Harlem Children’s Zone in public school space.
By SHARON OTTERMAN
Published: October 12, 2010
President Obama created a grant program to copy his block-by-block approach to ending poverty. The British government praised hischarter schools as a model. And a new documentary opening across the country revolves around him: Geoffrey Canada, the magneticHarlem Children’s Zone leader with strong ideas about how American education should be fixed.
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Julio Rodriguez, standing, teaches physics and earth science at Promise Academy. Donielle Richards, foreground, worked on a physics problem.
Last week, Mr. Canada was in Birmingham, England, addressing Prime Minister David Cameron and members of his Conservative Party about improving schools.
But back home and out of the spotlight, Mr. Canada and his charter schools have struggled with the same difficulties faced by other urban schools, even as they outspend them. After a rocky start earlier this decade typical of many new schools, Mr. Canada’s two charter schools, featured as
