Carnegie Reporter, Vol. 1, No. 2 | Turnaround High School: Urban Academy As a Student Views it (low bandwidth)

Stephanie Perez is a senior at Urban Academy, one of the high schools that is part of the Julia Richman Education Complex in New York City. Before Stephanie arrived at Urban Academy—or simply “Urban” as the students refer to it—Julia Richman had been transformed into a group of small schools remodeled from a large, impersonal school that was seriously being considered for closure, a school described in the press as “known . . . more for its shoplifting than for its scholars.”

Today, Stephanie can’t say enough positive things about her experience at Urban. And she should know. Before coming to this school, Stephanie attended a “traditional” high school where she felt she was “wasting my time, just memorizing things, taking a test and not really retaining anything.” Then Stephanie attended a small alternative school that she describes as “not challenging.” She says, “I just would sit in class and talk with friends, and no one noticed.”

At Urban, People Notice.
“The most critically important factor [about Urban] is its size—it’s small and personal, and I get the attention I need from teachers,” says Stephanie. “Since the school is small, the curriculum is both personalized and challenging. Before I came to Urban, I attended a large traditional high school. The work I do here is more rigorous, demanding, and definitely more interesting.”

Stephanie also cites the multicultural aspects of Urban as important to her learning. “I have the opportunity to get to know other students from different backgrounds very well,” she explains. “This gives students the chance to see different issues from different perspectives.” She says learning in a culturally diverse atmosphere “helps you with social interaction, it teaches you how to deal with people that you’ve never dealt with before and it helps with the class discussions, too.”

At Urban, classes are about an hour long, allowing sufficient time for students to read an assignment and then discuss it or, in science classes, to get involved in laboratory work. On Wednesdays, students are in class only half the day and spend the rest of the day in field work. The school’s success is reflected in the fact that, in 2000, 100 percent of Urban’s graduates were accepted to college.

“One of the things Urban taught me was how to use the city as a resource for my research,” says Stephanie. “I’ve learned how to use city libraries, museums and other cultural institutions more to my advantage. While most of my assignments and projects are started at school, a lot of my work and research are done outside of the traditional classroom setting and my education feels more hands on.”

Students who attended Julia Richman before it was revamped probably wouldn’t recognize their school as the one Stephanie describes. But for Stephanie and other students like her, the school is the best.

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