Bladensburg Project
Improving Student Achievement in Three Bladensburg Area Schools
For moral, civic, and economic reasons, we must
improve urban education and minority achievement.
Improvement of minority student achievement remains one of the great challenges of our time. The changing demographics of the state and nation suggest that failure to address the minority achievement gap will have strong, negative workforce and economic consequences. A variety of school reform methods have been developed and private takeovers are commonly seen as a solution. Through this proposal, we seek to develop, implement, and evaluate an alternative to privatization that builds school district reform capacity.
Collaborative Model of School Reform
The proposed project will be a collaborative method of school reform that empowers school districts and provides them with the tools to transform all of their schools. Specifically, we plan to combine the following elements in a model demonstration in three of the lowest performing schools in Prince George's County:
- university consultation on research-based best practices and formative and summative program evaluation
- intense professional development and coaching for teachers and administrators, including classroom coaching, through a team of instructional support coaches
- full operational alignment through a continuous quality improvement process aimed at raising student achievement
- a safety net program to provide individualized coaching in literacy and math to students who have fallen behind grade level
- strong community and stakeholder involvement and participation
Target Schools and Need
The university-school team has met monthly since May 2000 and has chosen to collaborate with the following three low performing, interconnected schools. Bladensburg High School (average combined SAT score of 763), William Wirt Middle School (Maryland School Performance Assessment Program [MSPAP] composite score of 17.0 [satisfactory = 70]), and Rogers Heights Elementary School (MSPAP composite score of 36.1).
Replication and Dissemination
School district professionals and college faculty will work together to develop, implement, and evaluate the model. It is expected that once improvement has been demonstrated, the district will be able to replicate the model in other schools. In addition, the lessons learned through this demonstration will be shared with other interested school districts through presentations and publications by the school district in partnership with the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland Institute for Minority Achievement and Urban Education.
Outcome of the Project
Results of a survey given to participants indicate that the program has a positive impact on its students. For example, the majority of the students indicated that they are interested in attending college and will seek out necessary information or support to help them in the application process. In addition, students were thankful to the University of Maryland staff for bringing the project to their school. They have indicated that this program has helped them with financial aid issues and college selection (i.e. size, distance, money).
"It has helped me to see that nothing is impossible and that I can attend any college I want with hard work and dedication, I can accomplish anything I put my mind in".
"It helped me in getting over my fear that I will not succeed in college and that I will have a hard time adapting. They made me see that it might be hard at first but it will be fine in the long run".
