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Community Partners
VUE Number 7, Spring 2005
| VUE Home | Archives | Order Print Copy |
It Takes a City to Build a School:
A Community Partnership in Brooklyn
By Elana Karopkin
Elana Karopkin is principal of the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice in Brooklyn, New York.
> Complete Biography
Audio Clips
Interview with Elana Karopkin. Transcripts included.
LISTEN [2 minute, 57 seconds]
What do you think the partnerships at your school bring to your students?
LISTEN [2 minute, 48 seconds]
What are the challenges you face as a principal in developing and sustaining partnerships?
LISTEN [54 seconds]
If another school were to start to look for partners, what would be the one thing you would tell them to do?
A partnership that includes a prestigious law firm, a law school, a community court complex, and a high school is creating a dynamic educational experience for students in Brooklyn.
Maria, a member of the first class of students at the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice (SLJ), had gotten off to a rocky start.1 Unlike most of her peers, she did not attend Accepted Students' Night in June or any of our orientation meetings over the summer because her mother did not intend to send her to the school. Maria had had a difficult time in middle school – frequently cutting school, getting into fights, and being, by her own description, generally disrespectful and disruptive. Her mother had reached her wit's end and had made plans for Maria to relocate to Puerto Rico, where she could start fresh with her strict grandmother.
When we finally met Maria in early September, she expressed a seemingly authentic interest in coming to SLJ. Maria felt that the school's structured atmosphere and focus on law would help her be more successful than she had been in her previous school. Because she had accumulated over thirty absences in eighth grade, Maria was significantly behind, particularly in math. Together, Maria, her mother, and the school made a commitment to Maria's success in high school. Six months into the school year, Maria is on the honor roll, has been in the school's productionof Antigone, participates in several school clubs, and has only been absent once. She says she loves high school and looks forward to being on the Mock Trial team next year.
Jessica is another one of the founding students at the SLJ. Before coming to SLJ, Jessica had been in self-contained special education schools with classes of no more than nine students. When she found out about a high school opening in Brooklyn with a focus on law and justice, Jessica was determined to attend. SLJ has no self-contained classes; our school is inclusive and all of our classes are completely heterogeneous.
After extensive conversations with Jessica and her family about the services SLJ could and could not provide, we all decided that we wanted to try it and give Jessica this opportunity. Six months into the school year, Jessica is achieving her goals in completely mainstreamed classes and has had perfect attendance this year. Jessica was selected by her peers to be on Student Council and was chosen by the staff to be a representative of the school when we were visited by Bill Gates, Sr., who came to New York to see small schools that are succeeding. Even though Jessica is entitled to an IEP diploma, she is well on her way to earning a regular New York State high school diploma.
Maria and Jessica are only 2 of the 108 students who entered the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice in September, each with an individual history and an individual story of accomplishment since arriving at SLJ.
SLJ is a college preparatory public high school with a focus on law.We provide our graduates with the tools essential to a legal professional – strong reading and writing skills and the ability to think critically, question, and work collaboratively. Graduates of SLJ must be able not only to get into the competitive college of their choice, but also to succeed once they get there.
SLJ opened in Brooklyn, New York, in September 2004, with a student body as diverse as the city itself. Almost 70 percent of our students live in homes that are at or below the poverty level, and most of our students are below or significantly below grade level in English (60 percent) and in math (75 percent).
Already we have had impressive levels of success. Though the student populations are identical, SLJ claims 93 percent attendance rates, compared to the citywide average of 83 percent, and course pass rates at SLJ are at 92 percent, far higher than the 68 percent across the rest of New York.
How has this happened? Certainly, there is no substitute for exemplary teaching, strong leadership, and systemic support. But SLJ's incredible network of partnerships is a major factor in the school's success. This network is the force that makes learning authentic and meaningful, while bringing resources and attention to a little school that is making a big difference in the lives of New York City's kids. We all know the famous proverb "It takes a village to raise a child." But there is an important corollary: Entire cities must unite to build a school.
Why Have Partners?
As Vito Perrone (1991) said in his bookA Letter to Teachers, and as we at SLJ
believe, school is not a rehearsal for
life – it is life. Students need to understand
the relevance of what they are
learning – either because they see its
value in their own lives, because they
understand its utility in the professional
world, or, most abstractly, because
they realize it is part of the process of
"becoming successful."
Through the partnerships our school has developed, our students interact with the professional world around a topic of interest, and all of those connections become clearer and more attainable. For example, both Maria and Jessica have mentors who help them to unpack their own desires and map out their own paths so that they have an explicit understanding from someone they have a relationship with about what they need to do in order to be successful. Simple conversations about college options and SATs raise expectations and consciousness.
People in the professional world can give students access and opportunities that simply would not be available to them at school. Our students, for example, have dozens of summer internship opportunities earmarked for them because of the relationships we have developed. These internships imbue our students with confidence and a sense of what is possible for them if they work hard. When students enter high school far below grade level, these two messages are equally important. Our partnerships allow us to say to our students: "You can do it. See, there are lots of important people who care about you and believe in you."
Our partnerships allow us to say to our students: "You can do it. See, there are lots of important people who care about you and believe in you."
Just walking into Cravath, Swaine & Moore, the law firm that is our partner, for example, is an experience. When the staff of SLJ went for the first time, we confessed to each other that we felt a bit intimidated and out of place. In the ninth grade, our students are learning how to navigate these feelings and they are finding their confidence and voice. SLJ students won't have to wait until a job interview to have a conversation with a partner in a law firm. When they go to Cravath or to Brooklyn Law School, there is a palpable sense that they can and will succeed.
Just as importantly, our partners help us show our students why it's worth it to work hard. Students sometimes don't have a vision of what the future can hold for them; they don't always have an awareness of the options available to them or the unawakened passions or interests they have. Partnerships can help give underserved students the tools of access and exposure more readily available to their middle– and upper-class peers.
Public schools need friends and advocates in order to stay committed to their mission. Partners can help schools raise capital – both financial and political – that can be a vital support in troubled times when budgets are cut or when schools are asked to accept more students than they can serve. Time after time, we have been in need of assistance and someone from our network of partners has come through. We knew that we had a network of friends who wouldn't let us down when we received a donation of eighty boxes of law books from a partner but didn't have a way to get them to the school. We broadcast an e-mail request for assistance and, for the next several days, responses poured in offering to lend a hand or a car or a dolly. This type of grassroots commitment is just as essential as the institutional support we have received.
Finding Our Partners
SLJ was founded by the Urban Assembly, a small nonprofit organization in New York City that starts and supports small, theme-based schools. It was loosely modeled after the Urban Assembly's first school, the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice, founded in 1997. The Urban Assembly understood the importance of connecting schools with outside organizations that could help infuse the theme into the daily life of the school. They also understood the importance of having someone at the school who would be responsible for developing and maintaining these partnerships once they were identified. Joseph Pinto, SLJ's partnership coordinator, is the direct liaison between the school and our partners.
Working closely with Richard Kahan, the founder and president of the Urban Assembly, and with Saskia Levy, its executive director, we identified SLJ's three main partners that would represent diverse segments of the legal professional world. Cravath, Swaine & Moore, one of the world's most prestigious law firms, introduces our students to the world of corporate law. Brooklyn Law School is a strong academic partner whose leaders have articulated a commitment to civic involvement. The Red Hook Community Justice Center, an innovative national court-complex model, melds the nonprofit and governmental sectors for the benefit of the community it serves. These important partners have come together to create a rich and layered educational experience for some of New York City's most historically underserved students.
The partners join us for various reasons. For some, it's about giving back. For some, the work we do directly coincides with their own articulated mission; partnering with SLJ just helps them to do it better. Red Hook's Youth Court, for example, functions especially well when many of their members are SLJ students, because we can support the work they're doing with our kids and vice versa. The Boys and Girls Club next door is another great example of a mutually beneficial relationship (though they're so good to us, we benefit most!). They get our great kids and we get their wonderful after-school programs, use of their gym, use of their camp in upstate New York for student field trips and retreats, and a great sum connection to the community. These partnerships also allow for clear and streamlined systems of communication in case a problem arises.
A Look at Partnership at SLJ
A visitor spending a day at SLJ would see dozens of examples of partnership in action. But because these partnership activities are so seamlessly woven into our school life, visitors might not even realize it. A visitor might see the Leadership and Government Advisory working with a member of the Red Hook Community Justice Center on the development of the school's Youth Court or watch a Brooklyn Law School professor mentor our students. Or, the visitor might wander into Lunch with Lawyers, where our students meet with lawyers from all sectors of the profession every two weeks for an informal lunch and discussion.
A visitor spending a day at SLJ would see dozens of examples of partnership in action. But because these partnership activities are so seamlessly woven into our school life, visitors might not even realize it.
Cravath, Swaine & Moore is one of the school's most committed partners. Their involvement shows how our partners have dramatically contributed to our students' success. From the school's inception, two Cravath partners, Jeffrey Smith and Katherine Forrest, have committed themselves to involving the full firm in all aspects of SLJ. I knew that Cravath had incredible resources at its disposal and that our students were bound to benefit from a firm of Cravath's stature. What I didn't know was how quickly and completely the entire firm would become invested in SLJ. Our challenge then became making sure that all of those who were willing to give had ways to contribute.
Some of our needs and their talents were an obvious match. Cravath was able to help us, as a new school in a new facility, to establish our school's identity and professional culture. We share a building with an elementary school, for example, and Cravath's staff helped us make our space distinct by working with us to create a school logo and branding our school with it. Cravath's staff also worked to make sure that the school was technologically equipped by not only donating and setting up dozens of computers and printers, but also by bringing in electricians at their own expense to make sure the building had enough power to support these gifts. On June 30,members of the firm from every department headed to Brooklyn with logo-decorated balloons, welcome banners, and an ice cream truck to help throw a literal gala for incoming students. From the beginning, Cravath gave SLJ's students a sense of community, identity, excitement, and hope for the future.
It became clear, however, that
there were others who wanted to get
involved with curriculum development
and with direct interactions with SLJ
students. This enthusiasm and dedication
were too good to pass up. But how
could we design programs and activities
that would meet the needs of the school
and use the talents of our partner?
This is a question that we continue to return to as we seek new ways to work together, but our first collaboration helped set the tone. Over the summer, SLJ's teachers and planning team members worked closely with Cravath's associates to create a fictitious trial, affectionately known as "The Dog Bite Trial," about a pit bull in Brooklyn. During the first two days of school, our first graduating class opened the school and began working on the trial as part of their acclimatization to their new high school. Instead of attending regular classes, students met in their advisory groups of fifteen to eighteen students each and, in addition to learning the policies and procedures of the school, students tackled the Dog Bite Trial. Our six advisories took the side of either the prosecution or defense. Their charge was to prepare an opening statement that they would present at the law offices of Cravath, Swaine & Moore on the third day of school.
For the first two days of school, students worked vigorously and cooperatively to study the genre of the opening statement, deconstruct the witness statements they were given, analyze videos for qualities of strong public speakers, and create their own persuasive statements based on the textual evidence they had been given (witness testimony and stipulated facts). On their third day of high school, every SLJ student traveled to the forty-eighth floor of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where they collaboratively presented their opening statements to a panel of professional lawyers.
The students were incredible. Though most had barely met one another, the students stood up in a large wood paneled room packed with their peers, teachers, parents, and lawyers and presented statements that were at once logical, clever, funny, bold, and persuasive. When each group finished, they received feedback from the panel of lawyers – specific comments that helped them to understand what they had done especially well. The day ended with students observing a professional lawyer deliver both opening statements – and being rewarded when she incorporated some of the students' concepts into her own arguments.
This experience set the tone for the year. Students felt impressed by what they had accomplished in such a short period of time. Teachers experienced the power of authentic, high-stakes instruction and the planning needed to produce high-quality outcomes. Teachers and partners had worked together to design the documents and lessons that led to these incredible products and students worked together to produce and perfect their arguments. The power of community and collaboration was clear to all; we were ready for our inaugural year.
Lesson Learned
SLJ is not even a year old, but we have already learned a number of lessons about partnerships that will help us work more effectively in the future.
Less is more.
Developing and nurturing partnerships takes time and energy – the most valuable commodities of any organization. Looking for depth, rather than breadth, in partners helps create long-term commitment to the school and makes the management of partnerships more feasible. A challenge to schools is to find partners that have significant capacity and then to mine for the various levels of connection and compatibility.
Capacity means that there are both institutional, high-level support for the partnership and many potential layers of partnership and exchange. In our work with the Red Hook Community Justice Center, for example, the partnership is endorsed and supported by everyone from Adam Mansky, the director of operations of their parent organization, the Center for Court Innovation, to their presiding judge, Alex Calabrese, to their own project director James Brodick.
This extensive commitment has meant that the school can benefit from all the services of the Red Hook Community Justice Center, not only the ones we originally articulated in our partnership agreement. Not only have students benefited from their involvement in Red Hook's Youth Court program, but they have also had Red Hook's team of conflict resolution specialists at the school, been able to apply for special summer internships, have full access to the resources at Red Hook, and take advantage of other opportunities that we discover every day.
Partnerships can't be add-ons; they must be integrated into the existing structure of school.
If school partnerships are to be successful, they must serve a necessary function of the school and must be seamlessly woven into the fabric of life at the school. In addition to our three main partners, for example, SLJ has six collaborating partners.Working with an additional six organizations would be a lot to manage if it were not for the way they are built into the structure of our school.
Each of these partners is linked with one of our six themed advisories. The partner and the advisor work together to define and execute a Cornerstone Project, which has the multiple purposes of bringing the advisory together around a theme of common interest and exposing students to an area of interest through their interactions with an expert in this area.
Our Media Advisory, for example,
is working closely with DC-TV, an organization
that believes that expanding
public access to the electronic media
arts invigorates our nation's democracy.
Together, the advisor, the members of
the advisory, and DC-TV's professional
filmmakers have selected foster care as
a topic of interest and importance and
are working on the development of a
documentary that will eventually be
shared with the entire school community.
The expertise that DC-TV brings to
this endeavor is essential to its success.
In addition, working with public school
students is an articulated part of DC–TV's
mission. The goals, therefore, of both
organizations are interdependent. As a
result, doing the things that make a partnership
work – working collaboratively
and communicating frequently – are in
the best interests of everyone involved.
Take it slow, define clear goals, and build from year to year.
When passionate people who are invested in improving the lives of New York City's most underserved kids get together, ideas can flow quickly and idea after idea for projects can emerge. Areas of intersection and opportunities to collaborate can seem limitless, and they probably are. But it is important for the school leader to make sure that the initial purposes of the partnership are fulfilled before moving on to other projects. Clearly and collaboratively defining the parameters of the partnership is a good way to start. Clear benchmarks for success should also be developed to help avoid misunderstandings and false expectations on all sides.
When passionate people who are invested in improving the lives of New York City's most underserved kids get together, ideas can flow quickly and idea after idea for projects can emerge.
Once the school and the outside organization have developed a strong relationship based on a limited, but successful, project or event, other opportunities can be explored. As both organizations have successful experiences with one another, trust will be built and people on both sides will be willing to invest more time and energy in the collaboration. People in outside organizations who have had positive experiences with school administrators and students will become champions for the partnership, pulling in the organization's resources and doing much of the legwork that might have otherwise fallen, less effectively, to school personnel. In addition, having a slew of small but positive interactions means that both sides can have a bit of a cushion with the confidence they have developed should there be a miscommunication or slip-up.
Honest and frequent communication is essential for continued partner commitment and investment.
Though our partners are incredibly committed to our school and to our students, we must maintain their investment and enthusiasm so that the work we've done bears fruit for years. One of the most effective ways that we are able to connect and expand our network is by the newsletter that the partnership coordinator puts out every month or so. This newsletter highlights the triumphs of our students and of the school and reminds people how important it is to get involved and how simple it can be. The newsletter includes updates and all kinds of ways that interested people can get involved – from curriculum development teams to ushering at the school play.
Another thing we did that was extremely important was that we had midyear conversations with each of our main partners and, together, we took stock of the partnership. These conversations and our partnership surveys have helped us to engage in a dialogue with our partners. From the outset, the school's planning team was clear that we were not interested in having partners for partnership's sake; these relationships would have to directly benefit our students and our school.
Making sure that the partnership has concrete benefits to the school requires everyone's vigilance and honesty. Organizations need to develop systems of communication so that the administrators of the partnerships have a great deal of information about how the people in their organization feel about the way the work is going. It can be difficult for people on both sides to bring concerns to the table. But unless schools and partners are honest, problems cannot be fixed and people will opt out of participation in these programs rather than address the issues at hand. Once issues are identified, both parties need to have enough information, or must bring the right people around the table (students, teachers,volunteers) so that solutions can be developed collaboratively.
Our partnership at SLJ has worked well because the goal is clear: the mission of all of us is the success of our students. For this reason, we do not see the need to "manage" the partnership. Our partners have never clashed, nor do I expect they ever will. The three partner organizations complement each other rather than compete: one is corporate, one is academic, and one is nonprofit and governmental. They all have their own clearly marked areas of expertise within the school community, so we are able to manage these varied partnerships well. No one steps on anyone's toes.
And, most of all, our partners understand what the partnership is really about. Each partner knows its contributions are invaluable. But our partners are prepared, in the event of a disagreement, to defer to the school's vision and mission. They know that, ultimately, what unites us is the hard and rewarding work we do together of making a difference in the lives of our city's young people.
----------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE
1
REFERENCES
Archives
Community Partners
VUE Number 7, Spring 2005
| VUE Home | Archives | Order Print Copy |
It Takes a City to Build a School:A Community Partnership in Brooklyn
By Elana Karopkin
Elana Karopkin is principal of the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice in Brooklyn, New York.
> Complete Biography
Audio Clips
Interview with Elana Karopkin. Transcripts included.
LISTEN [2 minute, 57 seconds]
What do you think the partnerships at your school bring to your students?
LISTEN [2 minute, 48 seconds]
What are the challenges you face as a principal in developing and sustaining partnerships?
LISTEN [54 seconds]
If another school were to start to look for partners, what would be the one thing you would tell them to do?
A partnership that includes a prestigious law firm, a law school, a community court complex, and a high school is creating a dynamic educational experience for students in Brooklyn.
Maria, a member of the first class of students at the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice (SLJ), had gotten off to a rocky start.1 Unlike most of her peers, she did not attend Accepted Students' Night in June or any of our orientation meetings over the summer because her mother did not intend to send her to the school. Maria had had a difficult time in middle school – frequently cutting school, getting into fights, and being, by her own description, generally disrespectful and disruptive. Her mother had reached her wit's end and had made plans for Maria to relocate to Puerto Rico, where she could start fresh with her strict grandmother.
When we finally met Maria in early September, she expressed a seemingly authentic interest in coming to SLJ. Maria felt that the school's structured atmosphere and focus on law would help her be more successful than she had been in her previous school. Because she had accumulated over thirty absences in eighth grade, Maria was significantly behind, particularly in math. Together, Maria, her mother, and the school made a commitment to Maria's success in high school. Six months into the school year, Maria is on the honor roll, has been in the school's productionof Antigone, participates in several school clubs, and has only been absent once. She says she loves high school and looks forward to being on the Mock Trial team next year.
Jessica is another one of the founding students at the SLJ. Before coming to SLJ, Jessica had been in self-contained special education schools with classes of no more than nine students. When she found out about a high school opening in Brooklyn with a focus on law and justice, Jessica was determined to attend. SLJ has no self-contained classes; our school is inclusive and all of our classes are completely heterogeneous.
After extensive conversations with Jessica and her family about the services SLJ could and could not provide, we all decided that we wanted to try it and give Jessica this opportunity. Six months into the school year, Jessica is achieving her goals in completely mainstreamed classes and has had perfect attendance this year. Jessica was selected by her peers to be on Student Council and was chosen by the staff to be a representative of the school when we were visited by Bill Gates, Sr., who came to New York to see small schools that are succeeding. Even though Jessica is entitled to an IEP diploma, she is well on her way to earning a regular New York State high school diploma.
Maria and Jessica are only 2 of the 108 students who entered the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice in September, each with an individual history and an individual story of accomplishment since arriving at SLJ.
SLJ is a college preparatory public high school with a focus on law.We provide our graduates with the tools essential to a legal professional – strong reading and writing skills and the ability to think critically, question, and work collaboratively. Graduates of SLJ must be able not only to get into the competitive college of their choice, but also to succeed once they get there.
SLJ opened in Brooklyn, New York, in September 2004, with a student body as diverse as the city itself. Almost 70 percent of our students live in homes that are at or below the poverty level, and most of our students are below or significantly below grade level in English (60 percent) and in math (75 percent).
Already we have had impressive levels of success. Though the student populations are identical, SLJ claims 93 percent attendance rates, compared to the citywide average of 83 percent, and course pass rates at SLJ are at 92 percent, far higher than the 68 percent across the rest of New York.
How has this happened? Certainly, there is no substitute for exemplary teaching, strong leadership, and systemic support. But SLJ's incredible network of partnerships is a major factor in the school's success. This network is the force that makes learning authentic and meaningful, while bringing resources and attention to a little school that is making a big difference in the lives of New York City's kids. We all know the famous proverb "It takes a village to raise a child." But there is an important corollary: Entire cities must unite to build a school.
Why Have Partners?
As Vito Perrone (1991) said in his book
Through the partnerships our school has developed, our students interact with the professional world around a topic of interest, and all of those connections become clearer and more attainable. For example, both Maria and Jessica have mentors who help them to unpack their own desires and map out their own paths so that they have an explicit understanding from someone they have a relationship with about what they need to do in order to be successful. Simple conversations about college options and SATs raise expectations and consciousness.
People in the professional world can give students access and opportunities that simply would not be available to them at school. Our students, for example, have dozens of summer internship opportunities earmarked for them because of the relationships we have developed. These internships imbue our students with confidence and a sense of what is possible for them if they work hard. When students enter high school far below grade level, these two messages are equally important. Our partnerships allow us to say to our students: "You can do it. See, there are lots of important people who care about you and believe in you."
Our partnerships allow us to say to our students: "You can do it. See, there are lots of important people who care about you and believe in you."
Just walking into Cravath, Swaine & Moore, the law firm that is our partner, for example, is an experience. When the staff of SLJ went for the first time, we confessed to each other that we felt a bit intimidated and out of place. In the ninth grade, our students are learning how to navigate these feelings and they are finding their confidence and voice. SLJ students won't have to wait until a job interview to have a conversation with a partner in a law firm. When they go to Cravath or to Brooklyn Law School, there is a palpable sense that they can and will succeed.
Just as importantly, our partners help us show our students why it's worth it to work hard. Students sometimes don't have a vision of what the future can hold for them; they don't always have an awareness of the options available to them or the unawakened passions or interests they have. Partnerships can help give underserved students the tools of access and exposure more readily available to their middle– and upper-class peers.
Public schools need friends and advocates in order to stay committed to their mission. Partners can help schools raise capital – both financial and political – that can be a vital support in troubled times when budgets are cut or when schools are asked to accept more students than they can serve. Time after time, we have been in need of assistance and someone from our network of partners has come through. We knew that we had a network of friends who wouldn't let us down when we received a donation of eighty boxes of law books from a partner but didn't have a way to get them to the school. We broadcast an e-mail request for assistance and, for the next several days, responses poured in offering to lend a hand or a car or a dolly. This type of grassroots commitment is just as essential as the institutional support we have received.
Finding Our Partners
SLJ was founded by the Urban Assembly, a small nonprofit organization in New York City that starts and supports small, theme-based schools. It was loosely modeled after the Urban Assembly's first school, the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice, founded in 1997. The Urban Assembly understood the importance of connecting schools with outside organizations that could help infuse the theme into the daily life of the school. They also understood the importance of having someone at the school who would be responsible for developing and maintaining these partnerships once they were identified. Joseph Pinto, SLJ's partnership coordinator, is the direct liaison between the school and our partners.
Working closely with Richard Kahan, the founder and president of the Urban Assembly, and with Saskia Levy, its executive director, we identified SLJ's three main partners that would represent diverse segments of the legal professional world. Cravath, Swaine & Moore, one of the world's most prestigious law firms, introduces our students to the world of corporate law. Brooklyn Law School is a strong academic partner whose leaders have articulated a commitment to civic involvement. The Red Hook Community Justice Center, an innovative national court-complex model, melds the nonprofit and governmental sectors for the benefit of the community it serves. These important partners have come together to create a rich and layered educational experience for some of New York City's most historically underserved students.
The partners join us for various reasons. For some, it's about giving back. For some, the work we do directly coincides with their own articulated mission; partnering with SLJ just helps them to do it better. Red Hook's Youth Court, for example, functions especially well when many of their members are SLJ students, because we can support the work they're doing with our kids and vice versa. The Boys and Girls Club next door is another great example of a mutually beneficial relationship (though they're so good to us, we benefit most!). They get our great kids and we get their wonderful after-school programs, use of their gym, use of their camp in upstate New York for student field trips and retreats, and a great sum connection to the community. These partnerships also allow for clear and streamlined systems of communication in case a problem arises.
A Look at Partnership at SLJ
A visitor spending a day at SLJ would see dozens of examples of partnership in action. But because these partnership activities are so seamlessly woven into our school life, visitors might not even realize it. A visitor might see the Leadership and Government Advisory working with a member of the Red Hook Community Justice Center on the development of the school's Youth Court or watch a Brooklyn Law School professor mentor our students. Or, the visitor might wander into Lunch with Lawyers, where our students meet with lawyers from all sectors of the profession every two weeks for an informal lunch and discussion.
A visitor spending a day at SLJ would see dozens of examples of partnership in action. But because these partnership activities are so seamlessly woven into our school life, visitors might not even realize it.
Cravath, Swaine & Moore is one of the school's most committed partners. Their involvement shows how our partners have dramatically contributed to our students' success. From the school's inception, two Cravath partners, Jeffrey Smith and Katherine Forrest, have committed themselves to involving the full firm in all aspects of SLJ. I knew that Cravath had incredible resources at its disposal and that our students were bound to benefit from a firm of Cravath's stature. What I didn't know was how quickly and completely the entire firm would become invested in SLJ. Our challenge then became making sure that all of those who were willing to give had ways to contribute.
Some of our needs and their talents were an obvious match. Cravath was able to help us, as a new school in a new facility, to establish our school's identity and professional culture. We share a building with an elementary school, for example, and Cravath's staff helped us make our space distinct by working with us to create a school logo and branding our school with it. Cravath's staff also worked to make sure that the school was technologically equipped by not only donating and setting up dozens of computers and printers, but also by bringing in electricians at their own expense to make sure the building had enough power to support these gifts. On June 30,members of the firm from every department headed to Brooklyn with logo-decorated balloons, welcome banners, and an ice cream truck to help throw a literal gala for incoming students. From the beginning, Cravath gave SLJ's students a sense of community, identity, excitement, and hope for the future.
It became clear, however, that
there were others who wanted to get
involved with curriculum development
and with direct interactions with SLJ
students. This enthusiasm and dedication
were too good to pass up. But how
could we design programs and activities
that would meet the needs of the school
and use the talents of our partner?
This is a question that we continue to return to as we seek new ways to work together, but our first collaboration helped set the tone. Over the summer, SLJ's teachers and planning team members worked closely with Cravath's associates to create a fictitious trial, affectionately known as "The Dog Bite Trial," about a pit bull in Brooklyn. During the first two days of school, our first graduating class opened the school and began working on the trial as part of their acclimatization to their new high school. Instead of attending regular classes, students met in their advisory groups of fifteen to eighteen students each and, in addition to learning the policies and procedures of the school, students tackled the Dog Bite Trial. Our six advisories took the side of either the prosecution or defense. Their charge was to prepare an opening statement that they would present at the law offices of Cravath, Swaine & Moore on the third day of school.
For the first two days of school, students worked vigorously and cooperatively to study the genre of the opening statement, deconstruct the witness statements they were given, analyze videos for qualities of strong public speakers, and create their own persuasive statements based on the textual evidence they had been given (witness testimony and stipulated facts). On their third day of high school, every SLJ student traveled to the forty-eighth floor of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where they collaboratively presented their opening statements to a panel of professional lawyers.
The students were incredible. Though most had barely met one another, the students stood up in a large wood paneled room packed with their peers, teachers, parents, and lawyers and presented statements that were at once logical, clever, funny, bold, and persuasive. When each group finished, they received feedback from the panel of lawyers – specific comments that helped them to understand what they had done especially well. The day ended with students observing a professional lawyer deliver both opening statements – and being rewarded when she incorporated some of the students' concepts into her own arguments.
This experience set the tone for the year. Students felt impressed by what they had accomplished in such a short period of time. Teachers experienced the power of authentic, high-stakes instruction and the planning needed to produce high-quality outcomes. Teachers and partners had worked together to design the documents and lessons that led to these incredible products and students worked together to produce and perfect their arguments. The power of community and collaboration was clear to all; we were ready for our inaugural year.
Lesson Learned
SLJ is not even a year old, but we have already learned a number of lessons about partnerships that will help us work more effectively in the future.
Less is more.
Developing and nurturing partnerships takes time and energy – the most valuable commodities of any organization. Looking for depth, rather than breadth, in partners helps create long-term commitment to the school and makes the management of partnerships more feasible. A challenge to schools is to find partners that have significant capacity and then to mine for the various levels of connection and compatibility.
Capacity means that there are both institutional, high-level support for the partnership and many potential layers of partnership and exchange. In our work with the Red Hook Community Justice Center, for example, the partnership is endorsed and supported by everyone from Adam Mansky, the director of operations of their parent organization, the Center for Court Innovation, to their presiding judge, Alex Calabrese, to their own project director James Brodick.
This extensive commitment has meant that the school can benefit from all the services of the Red Hook Community Justice Center, not only the ones we originally articulated in our partnership agreement. Not only have students benefited from their involvement in Red Hook's Youth Court program, but they have also had Red Hook's team of conflict resolution specialists at the school, been able to apply for special summer internships, have full access to the resources at Red Hook, and take advantage of other opportunities that we discover every day.
Partnerships can't be add-ons; they must be integrated into the existing structure of school.
If school partnerships are to be successful, they must serve a necessary function of the school and must be seamlessly woven into the fabric of life at the school. In addition to our three main partners, for example, SLJ has six collaborating partners.Working with an additional six organizations would be a lot to manage if it were not for the way they are built into the structure of our school.
Each of these partners is linked with one of our six themed advisories. The partner and the advisor work together to define and execute a Cornerstone Project, which has the multiple purposes of bringing the advisory together around a theme of common interest and exposing students to an area of interest through their interactions with an expert in this area.
Our Media Advisory, for example,
is working closely with DC-TV, an organization
that believes that expanding
public access to the electronic media
arts invigorates our nation's democracy.
Together, the advisor, the members of
the advisory, and DC-TV's professional
filmmakers have selected foster care as
a topic of interest and importance and
are working on the development of a
documentary that will eventually be
shared with the entire school community.
The expertise that DC-TV brings to
this endeavor is essential to its success.
In addition, working with public school
students is an articulated part of DC–TV's
mission. The goals, therefore, of both
organizations are interdependent. As a
result, doing the things that make a partnership
work – working collaboratively
and communicating frequently – are in
the best interests of everyone involved.
Take it slow, define clear goals, and build from year to year.
When passionate people who are invested in improving the lives of New York City's most underserved kids get together, ideas can flow quickly and idea after idea for projects can emerge. Areas of intersection and opportunities to collaborate can seem limitless, and they probably are. But it is important for the school leader to make sure that the initial purposes of the partnership are fulfilled before moving on to other projects. Clearly and collaboratively defining the parameters of the partnership is a good way to start. Clear benchmarks for success should also be developed to help avoid misunderstandings and false expectations on all sides.
When passionate people who are invested in improving the lives of New York City's most underserved kids get together, ideas can flow quickly and idea after idea for projects can emerge.
Once the school and the outside organization have developed a strong relationship based on a limited, but successful, project or event, other opportunities can be explored. As both organizations have successful experiences with one another, trust will be built and people on both sides will be willing to invest more time and energy in the collaboration. People in outside organizations who have had positive experiences with school administrators and students will become champions for the partnership, pulling in the organization's resources and doing much of the legwork that might have otherwise fallen, less effectively, to school personnel. In addition, having a slew of small but positive interactions means that both sides can have a bit of a cushion with the confidence they have developed should there be a miscommunication or slip-up.
Honest and frequent communication is essential for continued partner commitment and investment.
Though our partners are incredibly committed to our school and to our students, we must maintain their investment and enthusiasm so that the work we've done bears fruit for years. One of the most effective ways that we are able to connect and expand our network is by the newsletter that the partnership coordinator puts out every month or so. This newsletter highlights the triumphs of our students and of the school and reminds people how important it is to get involved and how simple it can be. The newsletter includes updates and all kinds of ways that interested people can get involved – from curriculum development teams to ushering at the school play.
Another thing we did that was extremely important was that we had midyear conversations with each of our main partners and, together, we took stock of the partnership. These conversations and our partnership surveys have helped us to engage in a dialogue with our partners. From the outset, the school's planning team was clear that we were not interested in having partners for partnership's sake; these relationships would have to directly benefit our students and our school.
Making sure that the partnership has concrete benefits to the school requires everyone's vigilance and honesty. Organizations need to develop systems of communication so that the administrators of the partnerships have a great deal of information about how the people in their organization feel about the way the work is going. It can be difficult for people on both sides to bring concerns to the table. But unless schools and partners are honest, problems cannot be fixed and people will opt out of participation in these programs rather than address the issues at hand. Once issues are identified, both parties need to have enough information, or must bring the right people around the table (students, teachers,volunteers) so that solutions can be developed collaboratively.
Our partnership at SLJ has worked well because the goal is clear: the mission of all of us is the success of our students. For this reason, we do not see the need to "manage" the partnership. Our partners have never clashed, nor do I expect they ever will. The three partner organizations complement each other rather than compete: one is corporate, one is academic, and one is nonprofit and governmental. They all have their own clearly marked areas of expertise within the school community, so we are able to manage these varied partnerships well. No one steps on anyone's toes.
And, most of all, our partners understand what the partnership is really about. Each partner knows its contributions are invaluable. But our partners are prepared, in the event of a disagreement, to defer to the school's vision and mission. They know that, ultimately, what unites us is the hard and rewarding work we do together of making a difference in the lives of our city's young people.
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FOOTNOTE
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REFERENCES
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Annenberg Institute for School Reform Brown University, Box 1985 Providence, RI 02912 |
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AISR_info@brown.edu
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