Jorge Werthein

YORK, March 5, 2010

Ten-Hour School Day in Harlem? Sign Me Up!

Deborah Kenny, of Harlem Village Academies, Believes "Education is the Issue that Solves all Other Issues"

By Michelle Miller

• Play CBS Video Video Harlem School Aces Education

  Harlem Village Academies, a charter school, was found in 2003 and has had amazing success rates in one of New York's toughest neighborhoods. Michelle Miller reports.

• 

  For two years in a row, 100 percent of the students at Harlem Village Academies passed state required tests. (CBS)

• Stories
• Chartering School Change
• Harlem's Education Experiment Gone Right

(CBS) At a charter school in one of New York's toughest neighborhoods, the day begins with a pep rally - loud and proud.

But the rest of the day? Self expression is way more subtle. CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reports a simple hand gesture keeps kids in line.

Deborah Kenny founded Harlem Village Academies in 2003, after the sudden death of her husband. It was her wake-up call.

"I decided that education would be it," Kenny said. "I feel that education is the issue that solves all other issues."

So Kenny searched for the best teachers.

"We hire really smart passionate driven people and then give them the freedom and the respect to run the classroom as they see fit," Kenny said.

Chartering School Change
Deborah Kenny Interview

Students are fitting right in. Fifth grader Shyan Freeman used to be afraid to go to class. But after being here six months? She now says, "I'm doing so much better. They really care about me."

The school is strict. Students are required to remain silent in hallways. They can be in school up to 10 hours a day.

They're mandated to read a minimum of 50 books a year.

If students score lower than 80 percent on an exam they're sent to a tutor after school.

When students enter Harlem Village Academies in the 5th grade, the majority are reading at a second grade level. By the time they leave for high school, 92 percent are reading at grade level.

In math and science, students achieved a first. For two years in a row 100 percent of them passed state required tests across the board.

"This school is trying to set the example to other schools to put the discipline on the students," said one student. "If we can do it then every other 8th grader 6th grader can do it just like us.

That's something worth believing in.