Considering all the bad news and negative comments you sometimes hear about charter schools, you wonder why anyone would ever choose them for their child. Xavier Williams provides an answer.
This spring, Williams, an 8th grader at the Omega School of Excellence, a charter middle school in Dayton, Ohio (which has received grants from the Fordham Foundation and which I head), won offers of admission from ten prestigious U.S. boarding schools, accompanied by scholarships totaling over $1 million for four years of high school work. Now he and his family have the happy task of deciding where he will spend the next four years studying.
Xavier was one of the first students to enroll in the Omega School when it opened its doors to 93 5th and 6th graders four years ago. Omega was started by a group of community leaders who wanted to create a school that helped urban youth from tough neighborhoods develop the academic skills necessary to attend top high schools and, ultimately, the college of their choice. Today, the school serves more than 200 young people in grades 5 through 8.
Xavier and his parents chose Omega because they shared the school's creed that high school preparation starts as early as the 5th grade and that effective preparation involves more time in the classroom. Like his fellow students, Xavier had to get accustomed to being in school from 7:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday; and until 3:30 p.m. on Friday. He was also in school most Saturdays throughout his first year. Why? Because there are no shortcuts to learning. Hard work is the only path to success.
For Xavier, that perseverance has paid off in the form of acceptance letters from all ten of the schools to which he applied, including Cate in California, Phillips Exeter in New Hampshire, Phillips Andover and Deerfield in Massachusetts, Hotchkiss in Connecticut, and St. George's Academy in Rhode Island.
Xavier's tale is a wonderful contrast to recent reports (see http://www.freetimes.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1400) that 60 percent of African-American Ohioans drop out of high school. But his is not the only success story. Of 40 8th graders graduating from Omega last year, one-quarter were accepted to private and boarding schools with four year scholarships totaling over $330,000. All report great success in these competitive high schools. Besides Xavier's astonishing accomplishments, 40 percent of this year's 63 graduating students have completed the "A Better Chance" process, which tests middle school students for placement in the nation's leading private and boarding schools, and 10 percent have already been accepted at Culver Academy in Indiana.
Charter schools can work by setting high standards, and they do provide poor and minority youths opportunities that are missing in other settings. Of course, success can happen anywhere you mix hard work and high expectations - even in schools that serve the toughest populations. Xavier's offers of admission and financial aid are all the proof we need.
Vanessa Oliver Ward is director of the Omega School of Excellence in Dayton, Ohio.
