Funny how information comes full circle. Last year I read a great essay written by educator maverick Geoffrey Canada on "This I Believe". The other day I casually asked my dad who lives in NYC if he knew of any innovative secondary programs in town. Immediately he mentioned Canada and the Nobel Prize worthy Harlem Children's Zone. In 1970 HCZ set out to service one block in Harlem. Now they work over 25 blocks. The service "casts a net" on the community so no child can slip through the cracks. The idea is to start a bottom up approach to education from parenting classes, early childhood education, strong mentor-ship through to college. The best practices that HCZ schools (Promise Academy) practice which are similar to that of BPHS are mentor-ship, small classes, project based learning, and a positive supportive atmosphere where children "know they're cared for."
Canada firmly believes that if a kid fails it's because the teacher failed him.
Here are some sites of interest http://www.hcz.org/
http://thisibelieve.org/essay/52984/
http://www.hczpromiseacademy.org/group_profile_view.aspx?id=21e60fb5-ff40-419f-845f-066dcc786082
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