Program
Participating Schools
Brooklyn, New York
Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School, a middle school in Brooklyn, N.Y., is one of the News Literacy Project’s educational partners. WCCS is a member of the Uncommon Schools consortium, a group of innovative charter schools in the northeastern United States that emphasize high standards, structured environments, college preparation, excellent teachers and talented administrators. WCCS’s teachers range in age from 24 to 42; its Harvard-educated principal helped write the school’s charter. Its student body, which numbers around 260, is accepted by lottery and is drawn from four of New York City’s five boroughs. More than half the students are Latino and nearly half are African-American; more than 80% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch programs. Students follow a strictly enforced dress code, commit to an extended day and school year and, if necessary, Saturday classes. The New York City Department of Education ranked WCCS as one of its two top-performing charter schools last year. More than 100 students in five sections of 7th and 8th grade history classes and two teachers participated in the project last spring. The school plans to embed the news literacy unit throughout its history classes during the current school year. News Literacy Project journalist fellows will also help start the first school newspaper or news video elective. “We appreciate the opportunity to work with the News Literacy Project,” said Principal Julie Kennedy. “The unique expertise and perspective of the journalists help us truly fulfill our mission of preparing students for college by teaching our students the skills necessary to become active and productive members of our intellectual community.”
Manhattan, New York
Our second New York City educational partner is the Facing History School, a small, innovative, non-charter public high school on Manhattan’s West Side. The school, which was founded in 2005 and graduated its first senior class last spring, focuses on understanding history through the lives of those who lived it, historical texts and community engagement. Its stated mission “is to graduate lifelong learners with the skills and knowledge for academic and professional success, and to shape responsible, active, thoughtful participants and leaders in a democratic society.’’ Facing History focuses an entire year on the Holocaust and a second on eugenics and race relations in the United States. It requires 400 hours of community service. A senior year research project further dovetails with the News Literacy Project. Facing History is also a New York Consortium School, which makes it less dependent than conventional programs on high-stakes testing for graduation requirements. This permits the school to focus on assessments based on such things as literary essays, original science experiments and research that demonstrates the use of evidence and argument. The student body is nearly 100% minority. Students come from four boroughs; about 80% qualify for free or reduced lunches. Facing History is part of the highly regarded New Visions New Century High School program, designed to revitalize under-performing New York City high schools. The project worked with more than 50 seniors and two English teachers last spring and will double the number of teachers in the current school year. Facing History Principal Gillian Smith says the News Literacy Project will help students “make connections” and see history-in-the-making “come alive.”
Bethesda, Maryland
Another partner is Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Md. Whitman is one of the top-ranked public high schools in America, with 15% to 20% of its seniors either receiving Letters of Commendation or being named semi-finalists in the National Merit Scholars program. This past year, 88% of the school’s seniors enrolled in four-year colleges or universities and 9% in two-year colleges. Its nearly 1,900 students come from more than 40 countries.More than 500 students in the school’s AP government and other government classes and six teachers participated in the project last spring. AP government classes and 12th grade English classes and seven teachers will participate this school year. “In the midst of an ever-changing, electronically driven information culture, the ability to discern fact from fiction—and to determine the reliability of a range of media, from newspapers to websites—is an increasing challenge,” said Principal Alan Goodwin. “We are excited about the News Literacy Project because we believe it will teach students to analyze information effectively and determine the reliability of various sources, thus helping them to make informed decisions in their personal and professional lives.”
Chicago, Illinois
A multicultural neighborhood school on Chicago’s Southwest side, Marquette enrolls about 1,500 children in 1st through 8th grades; 54% of the students are Hispanic and 46% African-American, and 98% qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches. It has joined with the Southwest Organizing Project in one of five school-community partnerships participating in ELEV8, an Atlantic Philanthropies-funded program to provide integrated services, including health care and after-school opportunities, to middle-school students. Marquette is an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme school, providing a rigorous interdisciplinary approach to learning that encourages critical thinking. The school plans to offer the News Literacy Project to about 150 6th-grade students in five sections this fall. “We are very excited to be a participant in the News Literacy Project,” said Marquette Principal Paul O’Toole, a faculty member since 1990. “Technology has made the world smaller and the amount of information that is readily available is unprecedented. We are looking forward to our students learning how to be critical analysts of the data they encounter and active participants in the dissemination of news, commentaries” and other forms of communication.
Chicago, Illinois
Opened in August 2007 with the help of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Perspectives Middle School serves almost 400 students from the surrounding Auburn Gresham community. More than 98% of the students are African-American; 96% qualify for free lunches and the remainder for reduced-price lunches. The school has partnered with LISC-Chicago and the Greater Auburn Gresham Support Corporation to become part of the Elev8 Program, an integrated services effort funded by Atlantic Philanthropies. Perspectives schools were founded on the idea that small school settings are essential to providing students with the personal attention, sense of individual importance and belonging, and increased one-on-one time with teachers and staff that are necessary to create a “college for certain” environment. Principal Tamara Davis said this makes the school a strong fit with the News Literacy Project. “Because it is student-centered,” she said, “students think on multiple levels to convey messages that are integral to not only our school, but their lives.” The project is supporting a news literacy curriculum in eighth grade social studies classes, as well as in an extended-day program that is also receiving guidance from professional journalists to improve and expand the student newspaper.
