Hope Stirs in the Ghetto

By Guy D. Garcia

Improving big-city high schools get Ford Foundation awards

Of all the problems that beset the nation's educational system, one of the most intractable has been the plight of the inner-city high school. Crippled by crime, underfunding and racial strife, the schools have been unable to motivate students who play hooky and mark time. Academic performance has been abysmal. But now there are signs that some ghetto high schools, despite their appalling problems, are making substantial progress. Last week the Ford Foundation singled out 92 schools in 20 large cities for praise and gifts of $1,000 each, which were far more important for their symbolic value than for their monetary worth. In June about half of the schools will receive $20,000 grants to help their climb.

"We found kids wanting to learn and teachers wanting to teach to a greater degree than we had expected," says Edward J. Meade Jr., who directs the foundation's precollege educational programs. What made the schools fight to improve? The basic reason was pride, which was evoked by strong leadership. The resurgence was often crystallized around an outspoken and energetic principal who galvanized students, parents and community. Reports Meade: "In some cases the motivation was as simple as, 'We were known as the lousiest school in town, and we don't want to be the lousiest school.' "

Three award winners: > Morris High, the South Bronx, New York. When Frances Vazquez, 35, became the principal of Morris in 1979, the school was racked by violence. Located in one of the most depressed neighborhoods in the nation, Morris had an enrollment of 1,700 pupils that was 35% black and 65% Hispanic, many of them recent immigrants from the Caribbean and Latin America. "When I first arrived, I would not have used the staircase," recalls Vazquez. "Groups of kids were hanging around the halls and simply not attending classes."

Vazquez is in her office by 6:15 a.m. to run a program that now balances hard work and discipline with understanding and support. Students and their parents must sign contracts with the teacher to certify that they understand course requirements. Half an hour's homework is demanded in every subject every night.

The results are impressive by any standard. Last year the number of suspensions was down to 32, from 200 in 1978. Reading and achievement scores have risen, and there is a new sense of optimism and confidence in the halls. Of this year's 300-plus seniors, 85% will go on to attend college (acceptance letters are plastered on one wall). The students have received offers of some $1.3 million in financial aid, compared with less than $1 million in 1978. Luis Nunez, 17, who has seven brothers and sisters and whose mother is on welfare, has already been accepted by eight colleges, including Carleton and Oberlin, and has received a commitment from New York's Union College for $11,650 in financial aid, enough to cover the whole year. "I want to be a doctor," says Luis.

> Albert Sidney Johnston High, Austin. Three years ago, the school had a largely vocational curriculum with a student body almost entirely composed of minority students. It lagged behind all other Austin schools academically. Recalls Principal Adan Salgado: "We were the doormat of the district."

Then Johnston had to deal with a new problem that turned out to be its inspiration: a 1980 court-ordered desegregation plan resulted in busing half of its students from white sections of town. When white parents began protesting against the new plan, Johnston's faculty became determined to improve the school. Led by Salgado, who can call most of his 1,700 students by their first names, the administration began beefing up the academic program, installing the school system's first computer center and adding advanced courses in French, Latin, math, biology and chemistry. White enrollment has grown from 44% during the first year of busing to 50% this year. A total of 29 white students have left private schools to ride a bus 45 minutes each morning to Johnston. In 1980, 90% of the students were below grade level in math; by 1982, the figure had improved to 54%. Although no racial incidents have occurred, full integration in campus activities does not yet exist. But Salgado is confident that this problem will also eventually be solved. "You aren't going to see it right away," says he. "But it is going to happen--because these kids want to make it happen."

> George Washington Preparatory High, Los Angeles. Only four years ago, Washington High would have matched most people's Hollywood image of the blackboard jungle. "Morale here was terrible," recalls Margaret Wright, a leader of the parents' group. "The rooms were dirty, and 90% of the teachers were rotten."

Then, in 1979, George McKenna, a tough-minded former civil rights activist, became principal at the age of 37, which made him the youngest administrator ever appointed to the office in a Los Angeles high school. He moved quickly to upgrade expectations; this year he added the word preparatory to the school's name, underlining its new, no-nonsense commitment to high academic standards. He also replaced 85% of the teachers, banned radios and Walkmans, and imposed a dress code (no hats or earrings for the men, no curlers for the women). Says he: "I tell kids what to eat, what to wear, how to study."

McKenna's hard-line approach to learning is paying off. Violence and absenteeism have dropped dramatically, and seniors' test scores for basic skills, while still below the city level, increased by an average of four points this year in every subject. Honor students get their pictures on the wall and receive discounts for student activities. Some 700 students help tutor and do community service work. Parents volunteer to help out wherever needed. Next year 90% of the graduating class will go on to a college or vocational school.

For the first time, Washington will host the citywide Annual High School Shakespeare Festival this month. "Other kids are scared to death to come down here to the inner city," chuckles Shakespeare Coach Aura Kruger. "They should all be scared to death of the competition." --By Guy D. Garcia. Reported by John E. Yang/Austin and Adam Zagorin/ New York

With reporting by John E. Yang/Austin and Adam Zagorin/ New York This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.