City kids can make it in science
URBAN SCIENCE ACADEMY physics teacher Ann Chang girded for a bad day in school last year when a disruptive student shouted, "No one cares about this class! They're just afraid to tell you!" Chang recalled: "He was a big kid that no one challenges."
But another boy declared, "I care about this class." Yet another boy added, "I care about this class, too."
The students indeed did care. Of 81 ninth graders in this West Roxbury school who took the introductory physics portion of the new MCAS science tests, 74 passed. That 91 percent passing rate was far above the 59 percent for the city and above the state passing rate of 85 percent.
That is a promising, replicable dent in the achievement gap from the 325-student school, which is 84 percent African-American and Latino, 72 percent low income and 21 percent special ed. Junior Tracy Thibodeaux smiled about dissecting sheep brains in Tim DiMario's and Darcel Hunt's biology class. Junior Rolando Reyes showed off a photo of sheep brains on his cell phone. Junior Ranner Faugas hopes his advanced placement courses help him become a cardiothoracic surgeon. Junior Hakeem Yaya talked about using the football field to demarcate the history of life on earth. "The work is hard, but nothing's boring," said Yaya, who wants to go into neurobiology.
Headmaster Rasheed Meadows credits an all-students-can-learn philosophy, a co-teaching system and an 8-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio. The school tries to match course-certified teachers with those certified in special ed. After-school programs engage a third of students.
The physics class of Chang and Michael Conway recently had a fast-moving exchange on the best ratio of windows-to-walls to insulate a model home. "When someone's eyes glaze over, I call on them," Chang said. "I try to make them understand that the 60 minutes we have each day is urgent."
Algebra teacher Bill Baga (along with co-teacher Carmen Davis) tells boys to study because the chance of achieving the dream alternative - making the NBA - is "like calling heads on a coin 16 consecutive times." Humanities teacher Julie Wright tells students: "You can either exist to take up space or live and grab life."
The school knows more must be done. Despite the high passing rate, most students were still in the "needs improvement" category, short of the goal of "advanced" or "proficient." But it is important to see a regular Boston public high school inspire students to grab life in a global economy dependent on science - before it glazes over them. 