What lessons can educators working in low-income countries draw from school reform efforts in the US? Oftentimes, the answer to that question is “none” or “few” because of what we perceive as vast differences in the quality of schools in low- and high-income countries. This past year, however, I discovered an American school that I believe holds a number of important lessons about school reform—for educators everywhere. The relationship between this small school and local institutions demonstrates the important role that community institutions can and should play in making schools good places for teachers, kids, families and the community. That relationship is the focus of this month’s post.

In the working-class immigrant community of Brighton, Massachusetts, where I grew up, Saint Columbkille’s School was the academic and social anchor of our community. The school was built in 1901 by Irish immigrants, and for generations, Saint Columbkille’s educated the children of the (mainly) Irish and Italian immigrant families of Brighton. Like many parents across the globe, these recent arrivals felt excluded by traditional public schools and wanted their children to have access to a quality education. And like many parents across the globe who sacrifice and save to send their children to pesantren or low-cost private schools, these parents were able and willing to pay the modest school tuition that they believed could give their children some advantage in a new place. 

Failing gradually then suddenly

After decades away, I moved back to Brighton in 2004. Saint Columbkille’s and my neighborhood seemed diminished. The homes that once held families of 16 still housed immigrants but were also home to a large number of university students looking for cheap rents. Families seemed to be scarcer, and for a new wave of immigrants from Brazil, Guatemala, and Colombia, a parochial-school tuition (previously kept quite low by the free teaching labor of nuns) was simply too expensive.  In 2005, Saint Columbkille’s, with only 140 students in grades 1- 8, and its finances in disarray, was targeted to close.

Emerging from the ashes

Nine years later, the school is thriving. Enrollment has tripled to 360 students and is projected to increase to close to 500 students within the next two years. The school has become a community anchor again—offering a pre-kindergarten and a full-day program with after-school sports, clubs (knitting is huge), homework help, and tutoring for students. Medical staff from nearby St. Elizabeth’s Hospital provides school-based medical, dental, nutrition, vision, and mental health services to students and families.  A local bank contributes to a student tuition fund and local foundations and businesses are helping the school develop and enhance its athletic facilities.  Consistent with its original mission, the school still primarily serves the sons and daughters of working-class immigrants—Haitian taxi drivers, Brazilian housecleaners, Guatemalan restaurant workers, and (still) Irish carpenters, as well as children who have recently arrived in the United States. More than 15 languages are spoken in students’ homes, one third of families speak a language other than English at home, and 40% of students receive tuition assistance.

Extreme makeover: The Saint Columbkille’s School Partnership

This renaissance is the result of the Boston College-Saint Columbkille’s School Partnership, formed in response to requests from Brighton community leaders to Boston College to “save” the school. Together, Saint Columbkille’s and the Boston College (BC) Lynch School of Education embarked on a program of comprehensive school reform centered on improved teaching and learning

Content and instructional standards were introduced, a whole-school instructional philosophy developed, and teachers required to have.  A Master’s Degree became a prerequisite for employment and Boston College offered this degree program free to existing teachers.

School management was professionalized and teachers were cultivated as leaders, in part through classes offered in the Lynch School’s educational leadership program. Finally, the university and school instituted a “whole child” approach to education. Like the Escuela Cerro Grande in Honduras, about which I wrote in September, 2013, and programs like the Boston Promise Initiative, Saint Columbkille’s initiated an array of medical and mental-health services while Boston College’s City Connects program connects families, especially those new to the United States, to social services.

Saint Columbkille’s is not the only beneficiary of this relationship—Boston College also benefits. Because Saint Columbkille’s serves as a professional development school, Boston College’s pre-service teachers get valuable practical experience volunteering with students in after-school programs, interning at the school, and conducting their pre-service teaching practicum at the school. BC’s teacher-education faculty and researchers use the school as an important “lab” site to test and research new innovations.  

A local partnership offers global lessons​

To me, the differences between Saint Columbkille’s and many of the schools (especially low-cost private schools) where I’ve spent time—in places like Jamaica, Ecuador, Mexico, Indonesia, India, Guinea or Brazil—are those of degree not kind. Indeed, this university-school partnership holds valuable lessons for school reform that transcend sectarian distinctions or national boundaries.

First, if it takes a village to raise a child, it may take a community to nurture a successful school.

Not every country has the capacity of a Boston College or the financial resources of a small US business—but many countries, and many areas within very poor countries, do have comparable teacher education institutions that could build the capacity of local schools and they have businesses that could provide schools with resources. Since many international education projects attempt to forge closer university (or teacher training college)-school relationships, the BC-St. Columbkille’s partnership outlines some of the ingredients for a successful union—the importance of establishing relationships with a trusted external partner, creating a context and culture conductive to change, developing a common vision, investing in a long-term commitment, building capacity among all school personnel, and collaboration that is mutual, deep and reciprocal.

Second, and connected to this first point— schools are often seen as separate and independent entities within a community. This partnership between Boston College, Saint Columbkille’s, and local institutions has helped to re-anchor the school in the Allston-Brighton community.

Third, Saint Columbkille’s shows the importance of providing support services to immigrant children and families. Low-income immigrant students, in particular, often feel marginalized, face unique educational challenges, and find the adjustment to a host country- or city-school difficult. Whether it is Syrian students in Stockholm, Rajasthani kids in Karnataka, or rural Kenyan children in Kibera, when low-income immigrant children, or children of low-income immigrant families, receive academic supports and services, they often perform as well academically as native-born children. Without such support, they often flounder (UNESCO, 2013).

Finally, the partnership once again demonstrates that educational improvement is a long process, not a short intervention, which must address, not just one factor, but a multitude of intersecting factors simultaneously—changing a culture, building instructional coherence, cultivating leadership, and supporting teacher development over the long term. These efforts are not cheap, quick nor easy. Nor do they easily conform to overly-simplistic notions of “scale.”  But the results of such long-term and integrated efforts are often fruitful, sustainable, and measurably improve the lives of children and families. They are worthy of emulation.

---

Thanks to William Gartside, Head of School, Saint Columbkille’s; Peter McLaughlin, Chairman of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Saint Columbkille Partnership; Kathrine Cecere, Director for Institutional Advancement; Mary Battles, former principal of Saint Columbkille’s (and my sixth-grade teacher); and the teachers and students of Saint Columbkille’s who have allowed me to visit on several occasions, as well as bring a group of Indonesian educators in September, 2013 as part of a US study tour.

I attended Saint Columbkille’s School from grades 1-8 and have given money to their Partnership Fund. I also have my B.A. from Boston College.

Reference

UNESCO (2013). Teaching and learning: Achieving quality for all.