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Uncommon Schools
E-Newsletter |
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Issue 01
September 2007 |
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Kings Collegiate and North Star Elementary Welcome First Students
Uncommon Schools welcomed two new schools in August 2007: Kings Collegiate Charter School in the Brownsville/East Flatbush section of Brooklyn and North Star Elementary Charter
School, located in Newark, New Jersey. Both schools, headed by passionate and experienced leaders, use practices and approaches that have proven effective in producing significant academic gains at the highest performing urban public schools in the country.
On August 22nd, Kings Collegiate opened its doors to 81 fifth graders at its permanent home in district school building, IS 252. Its co-directors, Lauren Harris and Laura Lee, will ensure that the school promotes the core values of Tenacity, High Expectations, Integrity, No Excuses, and Kindness as it fulfills its mission to prepare each student...
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100
That's the percentage of Excellence 3rd graders and Williamsburg Collegiate 6th graders who scored advanced or proficient on the New York State math test. And that's also the percentage of North Star Academy 11th graders who passed the New Jersey State English exam.
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Norman Atkins: Founder's Notes
Ten years ago this month, James Verrilli and I stood in the parking lot of a recently converted bank building in downtown Newark and shook hands with the 72 children - fifth and sixth graders - who became, that day, New Jersey's very first charter school students and the inaugural class at North Star Academy, the school we founded together. Now, this decade later, those students have graduated from high school and many are in college. I recently had breakfast at the University of Chicago with one of those students, Jay Martinez (North Star '05), who studies the Great Books and majors in Psychology there. Now a college junior, Jay announced that he thinks of himself as an "uncommon" student and shared with me the story of how, by dint of sheer perseverance - by the "gambatte" or grit he developed, perhaps in his years at North Star - he nightly conquers the mountains of reading, writing, and research assignments that come with each course. Now all these years later, Jay was advising me that we should continuously ratchet up the rigor of our high school program to be more like...
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Build Great Schools.
Get Results. Change History.
Uncommon Schools is a nonprofit charter management organization that starts and manages among the most outstanding urban college preparatory charter schools working to close the achievvement gap in the Northeast. Uncommon builds uncommonly great schools by developing and managing regional networks that are philosophically aligned and highly accountable.
Uncommon Schools is always looking for talented teachers, leaders, and builders to help us close the achievement gap. To learn more, visit www.uncommonschools.org or contact our Recruitment team at recruitment@uncommonschools.org. |
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Julie Jackson: Profile of an Educator
"I can outwait you, scholars. Until you all can stand still in your squares and show me that you're respectful, we're just going to wait. And you know I'll win. I can do it."
Pause.
"You're only five."
Contemplation.
No dice.
This particular group of five-year-olds, standing in the brightly lit room at three o'clock on a Tuesday on their sixth day of school, seems unaccustomed to this directness. It's true. Julie Jackson, the principal, is older than they are. One boy looks up, grinning, and starts to swivel his arms.
"That's fine, Stephen. Keep it up! The snapping, the fidgeting. I'll just wait here, sitting on my chair, until you're done. When you're ready to use your brains, give me the signal and I can set you up with your counting bears."
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