Monday, June 4, 2012

An Urban Teacher's Education: Things Fall Apart

An Urban Teacher's Education: Things Fall Apart:


Things Fall Apart

In the fall of 2005, the Academy for Citizenship and Empowerment (the school I teach at) was created out of Tyee (formerly a large comprehensive high school) along with two other small schools. From what I can gather, the conversion process was intense, and many of the staff members uninterested in working in a small school transferred to other large schools in the district.

Seven years later, staff members who were there when it happened tell stories of the immense effort and valuable payoffs that came out of the conversion. Advisory was the heart of the school, and getting students to a four-year university was paramount. It feels a little nostalgic. But whatever happened in its beginning years, ACE in 2012 is decidedly different.

In 2007, the on-time graduation rate was 88.8%. In 2010 (the last year OSPI reports data), it was 52.1%. The current seniors (whose last week of school began today) will graduate having worked with four different