Chartering a new path toward education

Despite the recent economic down turns, the demand for dedicated and skilled teacher's remains. In fact the job hunting website careerbuilders.com has recently chosen education as its number one recession proof profession.

According to surveys performed by the National Center for Education Statistics within the next eight years at least 2.8 million teachers must join the existing 3.2 million teachers to handle the rise of enrollment and teacher retirement.

Thanks to programs like Rio Hondo's own Project Teach, new blood will be pumped into a system many may consider as flawed and failing. However the rigid standards of the public school system have given rise to an alternative, the charter school. While essentially a public school because of it's funding and the guidelines it must follow charter schools can pursue an alternative in education not usually allowed in regular public schools.

One example of this alternative is The New City School located in downtown Long Beach. Founded nearly a decade ago by Ted Wyatt Hamory and Stephanie Lee, two public school teachers, along with Brookes Marindin a local parent, New City has seen exponential growth and expansion.

New City's success has much to do with their modern approach to teaching which involves a dual-language - English and Spanish - immersion, community and arts-focused curriculum.

Which the faculty say help to open the kids up to a newer way of thinking and developing secondary views to their environment.

Originally founded as a Kindergarten to Eighth grade school thanks to grants like the Charter Growth Fund, New City has expanded their student population to include its first year of high school freshman. The grant has also allowed expansion of the campus itself from the original New City's campuses known as New City - Pine and New City - Long Beach Boulevard, the school has recently purchased and begun construction on a new site to house their growing high school population.

At their three campuses you will find smiling faces and children well versed in their studies all referring to their teachers by first name. According to Director of Operations Brenda Rivera, this helps the students to build a real connection with their teachers as well as showing a mutual respect for both teacher and student.

To help with each individual students learning growth the classes move in level of strengths and not just by grades and each year has an educational focus rather than forcing kids to learn several topics within a short amount of time.

In any given class you will find mixed ages K, 1, and 2 graders referred to as El Mar and 3, 4, 5 combo called La Tierra, and 6, 7, 8 combo called Las Montañas. Classes can include students from second and third grade or nine and seven year olds who share a level of educational strengths.
To ensure parent involvement New City will have student led conferences at the end of every trimester faculty encourages open communication among parents and teachers where parents can voice concerns about their children's respective growth and learning.

Like all charter and public schools New City School is required to perform the state's standardized testing but unlike public schools New City's approach is gradual immersion, rather than the usual aggressively mechanical rote test preparation.

Rivera, a teacher herself, says this helps to alleviate the stress that is often brought on by standardized testing.

While each year faculty and directors sit down and create an educational plan teachers are highly encouraged to teach from what they know which explains the diversity amongst the education that the children learn.

Unlike the K-8 program New City's high school program does not emphasize a bi-lingual development but college and graduation prep.

With 33 students in total, the first year of high school education has seen an encouraging start. Running on a two-semester system the high school includes a six-week intersession, which allows for students who have fallen behind to catch up. For students not in need of catch up New City allowed the students a Learning Fair. Like a science fair students chose a topic of interest ranging from subjects as diverse as science and business to entertainment and poetry which they would later present to their parents, faculty and fellow students.

For their first year of high school, New City was given a new challenge for their K-8. Many of the students are what is referred to as "homegrown," in essence they are familiar with the schools practices and requirements. However for the high school's first ninth grade year many of the students were first timers who found New City's approach different yet exciting. For ninth grader Ana Cristina Garcia the change to a smaller class size has helped, "it's smaller so I get more attention I feel important."

A feeling shared by homegrown freshman Elvin Grajales who has been with New City since the fourth grade and feels he has more of a connection with his fellow students, the faculty, and his education.

As for the teachers New City currently employs 31 teachers from diverse backgrounds and education and hopes to expand even beginning a new program called TA to Teacher Preparation.

This will allow for teachers assistants to gain experience in the field and then return to become full time faculty members.

Rivera encourages her TA's and any others with teaching aspirations to follow their own interests while still taking teaching credential classes as a way to help diversify their approaches to teaching.

For further information on The New City School you can visit their website www.newcityps.org, or email info@thenewcityschool.org.