This week marks the start of a new school year, and with it a year of new opportunities and high academic expectations for the 10,000 students in the Urban Assembly family of schools. It’s been a busy summer of new and continuing programs, and we wanted to share a few stories with you.
New York Times Article: The Urban Assembly School for Applied Math & Science
First, I encourage you to read the New York Times article about the wonderful summer outreach work by Principal Ken Baum and his teachers at the Urban Assembly School for Applied Math & Science who visited the homes of each incoming student. Their dedication is an inspiration and reminder of the exceptional efforts put forth by great teachers and school leaders every day.
New Career/Technical Education School Opening
We welcome a new school to the UA family opening this week: The Urban Assembly Gateway School. A Career/Technical Education school led by principal April McKoy, Gateway will engage our students through inventive problem-solving that integrates exciting technological innovations and rigorous academics. Supported by our founding partners WNET Channel 13, Hospital for Special Surgery, Goldman Sachs, NYU Poly-Tech Brooklyn Media Center and Iridescent Learning, we’re excited for Gateway’s inaugural class of 2015 to take advantage of opportunities that will lead them to career success in fields that include digital animation, web design, computer information technology and health information technology. This is the third CTE school in the Urban Assembly network.
Bridge to College, Addressing the “Summer Melt”
30% of high school graduates don’t go on to college, and research suggests that this rate is higher among low-income populations. For the third year in a row, The Urban Assembly has addressed this national issue at the local level. UA alumni worked tirelessly this summer providing support services to recent UA grads through the Bridge to College program. The program was designed to target the “summer melt” students face between high school graduation and their first semester of college. Under the guidance of our Director of College Readiness, three UA College Advisors, and one seasoned BTC alumnus, 12 UA alumni Coaches currently in college supported 2011 graduates from 12 Urban Assembly high schools to ensure students were able to matriculate in the fall. The replication of the Bridge to College model began this summer through a NYC expansion in collaboration with schools connected to CUNY's At Home in College program and Homebase's program, reaching thousands of low-income, college-bound graduates throughout the city.
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| The Urban Assembly Bridge to College Summer ’11 team: Back Row, from left to right: Janet Mendez (SUNY Albany), Treston Rudder (SUNY Albany), Yoscar Ogando (Stony Brook University), Raymond Duran (SUNY Buffalo), Yenisse Hernandez (Utica College), Ashanti Pratt (St. John’s University), Shana Taylor (Rutgers University), Yabielis Guerrero (Skidmore College), La Jaun Barry (St. Lawrence University); Front Row, from left to right: Bianca Vidal (BMCC), Najah Magloire (Colby College), Danzel Blash (St. Lawrence University), Ernessa Derose [not pictured] (Baruch College) |
Program Launch with VOLS: “A Dream Not Deferred”
After years of struggling to find ways to address challenges in supporting undocumented students as they pursue their college dreams, our Student Opportunities and College Readiness teams are delighted to announce a new partnership with Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS) that allows us to offer our first comprehensive programmatic response to this issue. VOLS will coordinate a pool of volunteer lawyers to work with students in our schools whose immigration status threatens to derail their plans. Called A Dream Not Deferred, the program is designed to: 1) Identify high school students who need legal assistance to obtain or retain lawful immigration status to pursue a college degree or employment opportunities; and 2) to provide “know your rights” information to students currently unable to regularize their immigration status. VOLS is just one new groundbreaking initiative among many essential student opportunities programs running this year.
Instructional Leadership & A New Literacy Initiative
The UA Instructional Team spent the summer facilitating working groups with our network’s principals, teachers and school leaders, placing our teachers at the forefront of professional development and assessments to further cultivate exceptional instruction for our students. In addition to network-wide supports, a new team will be launching a literacy initiative with three middle schools this year called “Genre Practice.” Genre Practice is a student-centered program that has been proven to increase reading comprehension and writing at the elementary and middle school levels. We are thrilled to launch this innovative instructional approach for our middle schools and consider implications not only within our network but among struggling middle schools across the city.
I look forward to sharing more news and stories of success this school year from the Urban Assembly. Thank you for your support. Here’s to a great year for our students.
Best,
Richard Kahan
CEO & Founder
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