It’s been months since elementary school principal David Silver visited his local barber, but he’s hoping to get a haircut soon. In fact, Silver’s hoping the bald look is in his future. If the 280 students at Think College Now, Silver’s seven year-old K-5 college preparatory school in Oakland, CA meet their big goal of reading one million words by the end of the school year, he’ll shave his head…
Investing the entire school community in an ambitious goal like reading a million words – and giving kids an incentive like head shaving – is nothing new at TCN. In a city where only 1 in 20 students have the grades to get into the University of California, TCN, where 99% of students are children of color and 95% come from low-income homes, is now the 11th highest performing elementary in Oakland. TCN’s results are so stellar; it’s earned a California Distinguished School Award, the Title I Academic Achievement Award and the Oakland Unified School District Academic Excellence Award.
TCN’s impoverished Fruitvale District neighborhood didn’t get the magic wand treatment. TCN’s success is the result of high expectations coupled with effective leadership, data driven teaching and strong family involvement. “We’re proof that it’s not impossible to put low-income children of color solidly on the college track,” says Silver.
Silver knew through his teaching experience in Compton, CA in the late 1990s that he wanted to devote his life to ensuring that all kids have a strong education and can pursue their dreams. He subsequently earned a master’s in education from Harvard and did a Rotary scholarship in Mexico.
His fascination with California’s burgeoning small school movement led to fleeting thoughts about starting a non-profit, but when the space to start a community school in Oakland became available in 2002, Silver jumped at the chance to make college a reality for the city’s kids.
Success didn’t come easy. “When we first started, we weren’t closing the achievement gap,” he says. Indeed, at the end of its first year, only 8% of TCN’s students scored proficient or advanced in reading. Math results were similarly uninspiring, with only 23% hitting the proficiency bar.
TCN’s team turned things around by learning from existing models of high academic achievement in low-income communities of color. Silver took a trip down to Los Angeles and, “observed schools with black and brown kids just like mine achieving. Until I saw it, I don’t know if I really believed it was possible on an entire school level,” he says. Believing it’s possible is essential.
Silver says the quality of teaching staff at TCN also makes a difference. “Our teachers are some of the best in the state,” he says. Silver specifically recruits teachers with a strong track-record of achieving top-notch results with low-income children.
He says another big shift at the school was that teachers stopped focusing on just covering the curriculum in textbooks, shifting to standards-based instruction, tracking assessment data, and focusing on uniting the entire school community around the college focus. A typical day at TCN is full of families actively participating in the school’s academic life, and the involvement starts from day one. “When you come in the kindergarten, you’ll see over half the families in the class reading with their kids for the first 10-15 minutes of school,” says Silver. “College kids are readers, so you have to be a reader to go to college.”
Sixty-six year-old Jean Higgins became a founding grandparent at TCN after meeting Silver in 2002. She says his energy and desire to create a true partnership between the school and the community was a refreshing change. “He’d actually come to our homes to get parents involved and get the community involved,” she says. “We have a voice in the curriculum, I’ve even sat in on the hiring of teachers, and there’s never been any put-downs about whether my grammar was correct.”
Higgins’ grandson Joshua, now a 6th grader at an Oakland middle school, began kindergarten at TCN. Thanks to that foundation, she says he’ll be the first one in the family to go to college. Higgens’ commitment to TCN is so strong that even though Joshua’s no longer a student, she still regularly volunteers her time at the school.
Founding first grade teacher Ruben Olivares, now TCN’s Dean of Discipline, believes TCN’s results can be replicated. “It’s all about believing it can be done,” he says. “Put together strong administrative leadership, strong teachers and the parent component, everybody coming around the same vision of getting kids to college, and our success can happen at every single low income school.”
In 2009, 66% of TCN’s students scored proficient or advanced in reading and 81% did in math, and the accolades poured in. Silver says he’s fully willing to shave his head if his students keep getting those results. “Does it sound like a crazy stunt? Sure, but with the way things are right now for kids like ours, are things fair? Is that educational equity?” he asks. “Yeah, it’s a lot of work and it’s hard, but if this is what it takes to put these kids on a college path, whatever it takes, I’ll do it.”
It’s been months since elementary school principal David Silver visited his local barber, but he’s hoping to get a haircut soon. In fact, Silver’s hoping the bald look is in his future. If the 280 students at Think College Now, Silver’s seven year-old K-5 college preparatory school in Oakland, CA meet their big goal of reading one million words by the end of the school year, he’ll shave his head… Read & Discuss
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