The schools that serve Ohio’s poor, urban and minority youngsters overwhelmingly fall short when it comes to academic performance. But there are a small handful of schools that buck these bleak trends and show serious achievement for disadvantaged youngsters from depressed inner-city communities.
This study profiles eight of these high-performing outlier schools and distills their successes, in hopes that state policymakers and educators can learn from them and create the conditions necessary for more schools like them.
To study the schools, Fordham commissioned two reseachers, Theodore J. Wallace and Quentin Suffren, who spent 16 days and hundreds of hours in eight schools in five cities to observe what makes them successful.
See the news release here. View the PowerPoint, an overview of findings and policy recommendations that we shared with state lawmakers at a Statehouse news conference on May 25, here.
Profiles of the eight Needles schools
Citizens' Academy (video)
College Hill Fundamental Academy (video)
Duxberry Park Arts IMPACT Alternative Elementary School
Horizon Science Academy - Cleveland Middle School (video)
King Elementary School (video)
Louisa May Alcott Elementary School (video)
McGregor Elementary School (video)
Valleyview Elementary School (video)