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The Common Bridge's avatar

Marva Collins is one of the few who won't accept the status quo. We have had great success with Champions of Wayne (www.ChampionsofWayne.org) , where high school students are paired with an adult mentor. Goals are individual based on the student. If the student, guided by the mentor, reaches their semester goal, they get a banquet, trophy acknowledgement, and a check for $200.

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Rick Abrams's avatar

Good students make good schools. If good students do not show up at school, then the school's first priority is to make the students into good students. After my wife and I devised program to do that and she had the greatest increases in reading and math scores in the school, she was transferred out of East LA to Los Feliz where she had Asian and Jewish students who send good students to school. Low test scores means more money for the schools, while high test scores in Black and Brown areas means less money for the school. The worse the Blacks and Browns do, the more money is spent on them.

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The Common Bridge's avatar

Rick. This is an insight that few are aware of. I can see the logic, i.e., "We need more resources for these failing schools". But the catch is what happens when the school succeeds? In so many other areas more resources go to successful places and the failing ones shut down. Thank you for commenting and providing this education.

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Rick Abrams's avatar

Look at Marva Collins. She took any kid from Chicago schools who wanted to learn and the rest is history. Personal aside: I had a small hand in the made-for-TV movie about Marva Collins)

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