New York City’s Osmond A. Church School won a three-year, $784,000 reform grant ten years ago. Many students’ parents are immigrants; nearly all of the school’s students qualify for free lunch.
Despite these obstacles, student performance is skyrocketing. Why?
Well, rather than chase the latest fads, administrators decided to implement the rigorous, content-rich Core Knowledge curriculum as the centerpiece of the school’s reform efforts. Students have responded to the challenges of the CK curriculum by outperforming their peers in NYC.
Stacy Teicher Khadaroo of the Christian Science Monitor suggests that school administrators expecting stimulus money might want to take a look at what Osmond A. Church School has done. We heartily agree.