Two new innovative Baltimore City charter schools will
feature strong ties to Johns Hopkins
institutions.
The Baltimore Civitas School, which will have a
prominent public service theme, will open this
fall and be operated by the Center for Social
Organization of Schools. CSOS, established in 1966 as
an educational research and development center at the
university, will also design the curriculum and
help recruit the school's staff.
Set to open in fall 2009, The Reach! School will offer
a comprehensive academic program for
grades 6-12 and focus on preparing its students for a
postsecondary education and careers in health
and construction. The school will be operated by Civic
Works, a nonprofit urban service corps and
AmeriCorps program, in partnership with The Johns Hopkins
Hospital and the Associate Builders and
Contractors of Maryland. Founded in 1993, Civic Works
focuses on community service and skills
development for Baltimore youth.
The Baltimore school board approved the creation of
the two middle-high schools, and three
others, in early March. Baltimore Civitas and Reach! are
part of Andres Alonso's "transformation
schools" initiative that will create two dozen such small
and innovative schools — which combine grades
6 through 12 — over the next four years. The new CEO
of the Baltimore City Public School System said
that the initiative will transform secondary education in
the city by providing creative learning
alternatives and models for struggling high schools.
Both Reach! and Baltimore Civitas will feature
"looping" faculty rotations where students get to
know all the teachers in an intimate academic community.
Matt Wernsdorfer, a senior organizational facilitator
for CSOS, said that the Civitas School
seeks to produce "active and engaged citizens" who are
prepared for both college and careers in public
service. He said the school wants to graduate "independent
thinkers" with an articulate and informed
voice on issues of local, national and international
importance.
"There isn't anything currently like this in
Baltimore," Wernsdorfer said. "We will, of course,
meet all the standard Maryland high school graduate
requirements, but we're upping the ante by
focusing on the definition of a good citizen. Many of the
lessons the students will be taught will blend
in that idea of civic engagement."
Wernsdorfer, who will be Civitas' principal, said the
concept for the school had been worked on
by CSOS and planning staff for years, but the specific
design came in response to a request for
proposals published by the Baltimore City Public School
System in January. CSOS later partnered with
the Baltimore Urban Debate League and the Mayor's Office,
both of which Wernsdorfer said were
"essential voices" in the school's formation.
"For example, BUDL not only shares our vision for
articulate students engaged in our
communities; we see debate as a pedagogical tool that will
echo throughout every classroom," he said.
The Civitas School will open with grades 6-9 and
eventually expand up to grade 12. The school
will be located in Northwest Baltimore, but a specific
location has not yet been chosen.
In addition to learning basic skills in subjects like
math and English, the students will work on
self-generated projects, such as an urban renewal program
or an advocacy effort.
"They might want to focus on homelessness and help
design policy or generate a proposal," he
said. "We want students to leave us with a control of their
own lives so they can assume a productive
future. This doesn't necessarily involve postsecondary
education. They might want to be a state
trooper, for example, which is a wonderful public
service."
CSOS already operates a city charter school, the
Baltimore Talent Development High School,
which opened in fall 2004. Located in West Baltimore, the
citywide school draws on the center's
Talent Development model, a comprehensive reform archetype
for large high schools facing serious
problems with student attendance, discipline, achievement
scores and dropout rates. Talent
Development's faculty encourage and develop the individual
talents of each student, nurturing his or
her academic development in small classes with high
expectations.
The Reach! School — whose name is an acronym for
Research Educational Achievement:
Construction and Health Partnership — will serve 500
to 600 students once fully operational.
Reach! students will complete a program in either
health service or construction, with a one-
year apprenticeship in the trade. Students on the health
services track will take courses in such areas
as human body systems, medical terminology, and surgical
and pharmacy tech training.
The Johns Hopkins Hospital staff will help design the
school's health curriculum. The hospital
will also offer students workplace learning opportunities
such as field trips, job shadowing, mentoring,
tech support training and internships offered in the summer
and during the school year.
Civic Works began its effort to develop a charter
school three years ago and, in search of
partners, approached Deborah Knight-Kerr, then director of
the Office of Community Education
Projects at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, who spearheaded the
health services component of the
initiative. Civic Works and Johns Hopkins have a long
history of engagement, collaborating in the past
on several workforce development training projects.