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Green Dot Public
Schools Uses Animo to
Empower Teachers, Reach Students
Although most of
the students in his class speak Spanish, the
class is diverse with students from many Spanish-speaking
countries. The teacher, Jose Urias,
considers the heritage of his students and
decides to revolve his "History of the Americas” class around
projects where students take turns describing
the problems in their respective native countries
as “ambassadors to the Organization of
American States.” This teacher has the
freedom to produce such a creative unit, because
he teaches in the Green Dot Public School System
of charter schools.
Green Dot began
in 1999 under the leadership of Steve Barr,
a reformer who, in 1990, co-founded Rock the
Vote, a national campaign that markedly increased
the number of young voters. With community
responsibility in mind, he created the Green
Dot Public School System to transform secondary
education in economically depressed, primarily
minority areas of Los
Angeles.
Green Dot is based
on “teacher empowerment,” and offers
a college preparatory program for all students.
So far, the Green Dot system consists of three
small, community-oriented campuses that operate
in collaboration with Loyola Marymount University and the Lennox School District.
The
schools are Animo (Spanish
for "spirit" or "vigor") Leadership High School, Animo Inglewood High School, and Oscar De
La Hoya High School. All three cater primarily
to Hispanic populations.
Teacher empowerment
allows instructors to directly develop classes
and programs to meet the needs of students.
Without a classic, top-down management structure,
where critical decisions tend to be left to
administrators and school boards, Green Dot
has attracted enthusiastic teachers in droves.
To ensure teacher satisfaction, Barr, as CEO,
interacts directly with the teachers’ union
in Los Angeles,
since Green Dot has its own collective bargaining
unit that is affiliated with the California
Teachers Association (CTA).
Students benefit
from this personal school environment as well.
In five years, all Green Dot schools have seen
major improvements in student performance on
state-mandated examinations. At Animo Inglewood High School, standardized
test scores were double the scores of area
high schools. Additionally, this year, Green
Dot retained and graduated 93 percent of its
first high school class (in a neighborhood
where the dropout rate usually hovers somewhere
between 70 and 80 percent). Since Green Dot
also reinforces college preparation, many students
are going on to postsecondary education. Almost
60 percent of this year’s graduating
class will attend four-year schools, including
UC Berkeley, UCLA, Wellesley College, and the
University of Southern California—many
on full scholarships.
With the goal of
significantly raising the number of Hispanic,
inner-city students receiving a postsecondary
education, students are required to apply to
at least three colleges or universities before
they graduate. Since many of the students come
from families where they will be the first
to graduate from high school in the United States, teachers are
expected to serve as role models to show students,
and their families, that a college education
is achievable. Families are also expected to
become deeply involved with their children’s
education, and the faculty serves as the bridge
between school and home.
Green Dot is partially
funded by a grant from OII to New Schools Venture
Fund that supports organizations affecting
change in public education. Green Dot
also received a $2.8 million grant from the
Broad Foundation to help build additional charter
schools in Los
Angeles.
Resources
Note: The program
described is innovative, but does not necessarily
have evidence of general effectiveness
from a rigorous evaluation. The success
of the program may not be replicable, depending
on unique conditions in differing locations. |
The Education Innovator
