'A' for achievement Central Park East is educating the children of Harlem Archived article from Feb 16, 2001 By Pam Orel   In the 1999 movie "Music of the Heart," Roberta Guaspari, a violin teacher played by Meryl Streep, goes to work at Central Park East Elementary School in East Harlem. The movie, based on actual events, tells the story of an inspired teacher instilling discipline and pride, along with a love of music, in her inner-city students. David Bensman has been studying the growth of Central Park East, an experimental public school in New York City, since it was established in 1974. Photo by Roy Groething/Jersey Pictures, Inc. In Hollywood fashion, the film portrays Guaspari as a heroic individual overcoming daunting obstacles. But, says David Bensman, an associate professor at the School of Management and Labor Relations, the success of Guaspari's program was, in fact, a collective effort of teachers, administrators, parents and students at an extraordinary New York City public school. Bensman has followed the growth of Central Park East (CPE), an experimental elementary school, since its beginnings in 1974. His earlier study, "Quality Education in the Inner City,"published in 1987 as a report to the New York Community Trust and revised and reissued in 1993, covered the school's first 10 years and was widely circulated among school-reform advocates. The school's first decade was a time of major transition. As the number of families applying for admission multiplied in the late 1970s, CPE spawned two additional K-6 schools, each limited to 200 students, in accordance with a principle of the small-school movement. In 1985, Central Park East Secondary School was established so that graduates of the three elementary schools could continue their education in a learner-centered environment. Curious about the fate of the school's graduates, Bensman revisited CPE in 1991 for a project that included telephone surveys of 118 former students, teachers and parents, as well as personal interviews with more than 40 former pupils. The result is his latest book, "Central Park East and Its Graduates: Learning by Heart" (Teachers College Press). The school is remarkable because, against all odds, it is effectively educating inner city children from low-income minority neighborhoods, says Bensman. "There were really good things happening at Central Park East when everywhere there was total despair over public education in the inner city," he says. Bensman's latest study found that more than nine in 10 students interviewed for the book graduated from high school; many went on to some form of postsecondary education and then to a wide range of technical and professional careers, ranging from teaching to air-conditioning service and repair. Bensman became interested in the school through his friendship with Central Park East's founding director, Deborah Meier, who received a MacArthur Foundation "genius" award in 1986. Meier left the district in 1996 to become principal of the Mission Hill School, a pilot elementary school in the Roxbury section of Boston. "Strong leadership by Deborah Meier facilitated the school's development of openness to the outside world, teacher professionalism and commitment to continuous improvement," Bensman writes. The initial study identified two other keys to the school's notable success. First, the curriculum is designed around students' own interests, rather than based on a predetermined list of skills that students "should" be taught. Second, despite occasional problems, the school has enjoyed staunch support from parents and from the city's school administration. Central Park East is located at the crossroads of African-American and Latino neighborhoods in East Harlem. But it is modeled after some of the nation's best private schools, with a grassroots approach to creating a new educational environment that emphasizes personal relationships between teachers and students, respect for children's thinking and interests, and support for teacher professionalism. It offers individualized instruction and a supportive environment for achievers and underachievers alike. Teachers are given great autonomy in curricular design and development, and the school tends to attract dedicated, motivated faculty and staff. Grades are largely replaced by detailed, frequent written reports to parents. Admission to the school is by a lottery system. The new book gives equal time to critics and debunks some myths. For example, Bensman's statistical analysis found that the school's track record couldn't be explained by what critics call "creaming" -- attracting only top public school students who would have beaten the odds anyway. "I found several students who came to Central Park East who had problems in their former schools," Bensman says. Central Park East also has a higher percentage of students from poor and minority backgrounds than the New York City school system as a whole. Most students and parents praised the institution. "If something was really bothering you, Alice (my teacher) was your mother, she was your big sister, she was your best friend," said one former student interviewed for Bensman's book. Other graduates, including those who went on to college and those who graduated from technical programs, felt the institution had helped them sharpen their intellectual curiosity, artistic expression, self-reliance and sense of social concern, Bensman found. "Last year, I had a physics class where the professor solely went on your challenges," recalled Lola Johnson of her classes at SUNY-Oswego. "He always said, 'What do you think the answer is and why do you think that is the answer?' Kids in the class couldn't deal with that way of learning. ... I ended up getting an 'A' in that class, and it was because of CPE." Graduates frequently point to the difference between their own lives and the lives of contemporaries who attended other schools. "The other (women) are all out of high school, and they are all mothers. They just stopped. They didn't know what they wanted. They didn't have that concern about what they were going to do," said Mary Law, a college student and CPE graduate who grew up in a public housing project seven blocks from the school. In contrast, her friends from CPE "are all in college. They know what they want out of life." While the gift that Central Park East gave to its students, parents and employees is profound, Bensman says it has inspired many people who never entered the building. "Hundreds of educators and administrators have looked to Central Park East as an example -- that children from poor and minority communities can succeed," he says. "It's given hope and determination to thousands of students, teachers and families." Bensman's research, which was funded by the Exxon, Andrew Mellon and Spencer foundations, has helped him become a better mentor to his students in the department of labor studies and employment relations, where he teaches "Labor and Employment History," "The Work/Education Connection" and a senior seminar, "Connecting the Labor Studies Major to Your Future Career." "I encourage students to work together in small groups, and I supervise more internships to connect students' classroom learning to the world around them," he says. "I also assign projects that will have meaning beyond the classroom, like designing a Web page that will help a student who is searching for a job." More information on the book may be obtained from the Teacher's College Press Web site, www.teacherscollegepress.com.

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