Harlem Success Charter School Case Study

Even though James has his problems, he is also a very giving person. He never forgot where he came from. He continues to help the community in which he grew up, by donating during Thanksgiving and Christmas (Brenchley, 2003, DVD).

Springsteen Charter school located in Newark New Jersey opened in 1999 with forty Kindergarteners. Marc Jones joined the school as its founding principal. The Newark School District was one of the lowest performing districts in New Jersey on the four mandated state tests (assessments of Math and Literacy in grades 3, 4, 8, and 11). Springsteen Charter had 190 students in grades K-4. The school demographics were 85% African-American, 15% Latino (Latino contingent is growing; all 2nd/3rd generation) and 90% of the students received free/reduced lunch. The school was built on an academic focus of improving math instruction and greater parental involvement, all students participate in an 1½ hour math blocks every day. Teaching staff was young and eager to succeed. However, the youth of the staff also caused high turnover. The school did not believe in classifying children as ESL(English as a second language) or SPED ( special education) only under extreme situations. It is 2003, and Springsteen Charter Elementary School has now been open for five years. Jones’ original group of students had entered the 4th grade and were the first group to take the state test—New Jersey 3rd grade Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK3). The students performed moderately better than the District in Literacy (60% proficient

James grew up in a racist and segregated part of history. Often times racial slurs were used to describe people of African descent during the time James was growing up. Even during school James would be called these horrendous names: “...someone in the back of the class whispered, “James is ni**er!” followed by a ripple of tittering and giggling across the room” (McBride 89). The fact that small school children call blacks these names shows how racist the many people are and the hatred and discrimination that blacks face. These experience taught James how people treat those that appear to be different. Another experience that taught James this was when he and his family went to the Jewish store and were discriminated against. McBride had many experiences in which he and his family were discriminated against whether it was by the police or store owners: “Some of these Jews can’t stand you” (86). All in all, incidents with people who have a particular dislike for blacks shaped James into the way

Everything started going downhill from there and that's where the conflict of interest begins. James left the house in the mornings but didn't go to school and says himself that he was practically a dropout. "I spent as much time away from home as possible. I quit church and avoided my deeply religious godparents. I was the first kid on my block to smoke cigarettes and reefer" (McBride, 138) shows the ways he was acting out, also including stealing from freight cars with his friends. He was even caught by the police once. With James out of the house all the time, his mother suffered more because no one was there to help her with her young children. He was hurting but was too stubborn to admit it and "reefer and wine helped me to forget any pain, and as the pain and guilt increased, my problems with drugs worsened" (McBride, 142). All the while his mother knew nothing about it. Until one day when he gave her a forged report card with a grade unlike his usual ones and she called the school only to find out something way worse than what she expected. From then on, James spent the summers with his sister Jack in Kentucky who his mother thought could straighten him out. Jack's husband lets James run free with him and he finds himself often at a place called the

Moreover into his life he really began to gain momentum towards his life when he started school. He began Pre-k in a private catholic school St. Anthony. He would gain life experiences by the little things that happened to him. Expecting another classmate to be his friend and ultimately being told that they're not friends made James cry. However, he has learned not to cry when a person does not feel the same way but rather find someone that does. One of his closest friends during Pre-K was Phillip but their friendship would end like most would during such a young age, by going to different schools. James then went to finish most of his elementary classes in St. Joseph’s Catholic School, another private school. There he would go and become more sociable with his peers and had a level of comfortable around them. So much so that he would make a YouTube channel simply titled “James Craw”. Here he would record himself and friends performing skits and the interesting parts of his life he wanted to

One of the themes was the burden of secrets that were kept. As a young boy, James knew very little about his mother’s childhood background. James’s mother Ruth discouraged his curiosity about her past and her background. She really never wanted her kids to know the things that she went through as a child and as a young adult. She was ashamed of the things that she went through, so she kept everything inside.What I think is going to happen is that James is that he is gonna have to realize that he can not be out doing drugs and skipping school. also he is going to have to grow up really fast.

During his life, James experienced a great deal of racism. At school, when he was bothered by his classmates, he sat quietly and did nothing. James was a shy and passive as a child. He says that later, anger would come to him, fiery and powerful. He was surprised by it and wondered where it came from.

This is fueled by, not only the changing emotions that teenagers typically endure, but also by the death of his stepfather, whom he saw as his own father. After his death, James cannot bear to see his mother suffer, for she no longer knows how to control the dynamics of the family and "wandered in an emotional stupor for nearly a year." James instead turns to alcohol and drugs, dropping out of school to play music and go around with his friends, which James refers to as "my own process of running, emotionally disconnecting myself from her, as if by doing to I could keep her suffering from touching me." Instead of turning to his family and becoming "the king in the house, the oldest kid," James "spent as much time away from home as possible… absolve[ing] [himself] of all responsibility…" As a result, Ruth sends James to live with his older half sister and her husband, in an attempt to straighten her out her son's life. James distracts himself with the life he found there, spending the summers on a street corner with his half sister's husband, Big Richard, whom he adores, and the unique men that frequented the area. During these summers, James discovers "[He] could hide. No one knew [him]. No one knew [his] past, [his] white mother, [his] dead father, nothing. It was perfect. [His] problems seemed far, far away." Instead of facing the realities of loss and anger in his family, James seeks distractions

A. Case: James had a very difficult time in Kindergarten. He could not perform simple functions such as cutting, drawing, and writing. His teacher said that he had trouble staying in his seat and paying attention. Instead, he often spent his 4 hours a day in class laying on the floor under the table or wandering aimlessly through the classroom touching everything. James was unable to stay on task no matter what he chose to do.

I set up an interview with his parents to discuss his progress and find out some information about David. A translator will be needed due to his parents not speaking English. I’ve asked the parents how David’s behavior is at home and how his attitude is towards his school work. I also asked his parents how he reacts when asked about his classmates and school in general. Is he excited to go to school? Does he like learning? Does he have any friends he talks to? After this, I discussed how David is in class including his behavior. He tries to participate sometimes in school and just sits quietly at times. I have noticed him trying to work harder and understand certain material. He will try to reply when spoken to in his best ability. When he is in a group whether it’s playing or working on a project he will attempt to converse with the others.

James is confused and does not know how to choose between writing and music and also whether to identify himself as black or white. An example of him overcoming this situation is when he says “there are two worlds bursting inside me trying to get out. I had to find out who I was and in order to find out who I was, I had to find out who my mother was” (266). This is important because James wants to know what the right decision to make is. He wants to make the decision that will make him find his path in life and make him happy and successful. At the end James chooses both careers and identifies himself as biracial, which makes him feel

To begin with, James was doing great in school and made his parents proud by maintaining decent grades but everything changed once the tragedy of Hunter Jordan’s death occurred. James saw Jordan as a father role model and was so hurt with his death. In the book Mcbride says, “ I always thought of him as Daddy,” (Mcbride 6). James focus on school change drastically. He was doing so horrible in school that he dropped out. “ I virtually dropped out of high school after he died, failing every class,” ( 6). Hunter

The first reason why James is a irresponsible guy is because, he nevers do anything in his math class because the only thing he listens to is the bell to ring (page. 5). This shows that he doesn't listen to nothing that Mr. Collins is saying. James saying that Mr. Collins is a super boring and that he is one of the worst teachers class were no one puts attention they only copy what even Mr. collin

Eva Moskowitz, founder of the Success Academy Education Institute, wants to show the nation how her Success Academy Charter Schools teaches students, proving that any New York school can turn out students who score well on standardized tests. Lesson plans and teaching methods that the highly successful charter schools use is spelled out in videos posted to YouTube.

James appears to be using limited cross-checking behaviours. Self-correction behaviour is nil, at least in this instance. Evidence shows he is using mostly meaning and visual cues and not drawing on structural cues. As a result of not utilising all the sources of information afforded by the text his understanding and comprehension of the text is quite limited and there is no evidence he has really connected with the text. In recent years there has been much research on reading