Progress being made at Banneker Charter

Dave Hadden

Last fall the Benjamin Banneker Charter School received a renewal of their charter to continue serving students of color from the Boston and Cambridge area. The occasion was one that most schools rarely get to celebrate — the opportunity to applaud the hard work that kept their school alive.

A year ago, there was no certainty as to whether this renewal was guaranteed. Technically, the situation looked bleak. Failure to meet math standards set in the No Child Left Behind Act has kept the school on a probationary period set by the Department of Education. Furthermore, the non-renewal of charters for the Fredrick Douglass and Roxbury Charter schools added to the school’s concerns.

The Banneker School’s first charter was signed in 1996. The school was conceived by community members and educators who wanted to serve the needs of students of color falling through the cracks in Cambridge and Boston public schools.

One hundred percent of the students are of color and about 40 percent come from Cambridge and Boston. The rest come from neighboring communities. More than 75 percent are eligible for free lunches and about half do not speak English at home.

For the past three years, Banneker’s story has played like a Hollywood tale of a triumphant school overcoming adversity, and with the process taking over two years opposed to two hours, the story is infinitely more inspiring. Two of the main architects of the school’s restructuring, Lenora Jennings, executive director, and Lori Likis, director of school improvement, guided Banneker from near tragedy to triumph.

In 2002, Jennings arrived at Banneker with what she considered “a lot of work to be done.” In 2003, with more than half of the students tested in the “warning” group in math, Banneker was placed under “corrective action”, which meant it had two years to get its scores up to “adequate” in the yearly progress standards.

With the school clearly in trouble, Jennings and Likis organized teachers and parents to address “what we thought were critical needs.” They launched a campaign called Math Everywhere, aimed to demonstrate the relevance of math outside the classroom. Students began applying math to music, art and sports. The class times were extended, extra tutors were hired and teachers were offered more professional development opportunities. Parents were also brought into the process through parent teacher liaisons and participated in family math nights as well as monthly take-home math contests.

These efforts brought results. From the 2002-2003 academic year to 2003-2004, students scoring at the “proficient” or “advanced” level increased. Eleven percent of fourth graders, 6 percent of sixth graders, and 9 percent of eight graders increased their scores. Students with failing scores decreased by 28 percent for fourth graders and 4 percent for sixth graders, with only the eighth grade remaining about the same.

Despite these figures, Banneker’s standing fell through the cracks of NCLB rankings. Because the scores for two years had been averaged together, they failed to meet the requirements and in 2005 Banneker was placed under “restructuring”, which can lead to a complete reorganization of the school.

Ironically, as Banneker was given this stigma, Jennings and Likis were being applauded for their achievements by both local and national media. In fact, the New Jersey Board of Education was so inspired by their story, that they asked Jennings and Likis to lead a workshop sharing their findings. Meanwhile, it was the only school in the state restructuring for mathematics.

The precarious scenario brought pressure from detractors as well as misplaced sympathy from supporters.

“A label is damaging, especially when it’s one that is misapplied,” said Likis.

Those labels eventually caught up with the reality of progress being made and lead to the renewal of their charter.

Banneker’s scores are not perfect; they still lag behind the Cambridge Public Schools in many areas. However, it is a story of progress. More importantly, with the exception of 8th grade math, Banneker’s recent passing rates are higher than the Boston and Cambridge districts for both African American and free and reduced-lunch students.

“We are serving the community we set out to serve, and we are doing it well,” said Jennings.