Harlem Children's Zone

On the Talk of the Nation today the program focused on "What Works." This whole week they have been focusing on seemingly "intractable" problems that have been solved in certain places.

Their guest today was CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone, Geoffrey Canada. I heard about Canada sometime last summer and I have a ton of respect for his dedication to poor students in Harlem.

Earlier this year Paul Tough put out a book called "Whatever It Takes," that chronicles Canada's nearly 20 years of working with the Harlem Children's Zone. I recommend it but if all you have is 1/2 an hour consider downloading the talk of the nation program from today. It will be 1/2 an hour well spent.

Some big points about the Harlem Children's Zone and Canada:

• They do everything at once--it isn't just about being poor. They have partnerships with hospitals, obesity clinics, diabetes clinics, drug and alcohol treatment places, block watchtes, etc. They knew the research and the science and they just did it all at once.
• The first kids to go through the program are currently in 5th grade. They began the program before they were even born. There is currently no gap between their achievement and the achievement of their peers.
• A second group who were behind in grade 6 are now in college. There is no gap for math and a slight gap for English Language Arts.
• Baby College is for 0-3 education. There is nothing special about this. Canada himself explains that 0-3 eduction has been done for decades--in the middle class. He is just taking what works there and educating poor parents about the methods.
• Why is 0-3 important. By age three, with no intervention, children who are poor know 800 fewer words than middle and upper class children. The gap continues from there.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has launched a plan to replicate the HCZ approach in 20 big cities. The funding is big upfront but if you can break the cycle of poverty--poor parents raising poor children who don't finish school and then raise more poor children--the payoff will be great in the end.

Canada uses himself as an example. He was the first person in his family to go to college. But for his kids it was obvious that they would go to college--and they have. For his grandkids there won't even be the slightest question of whether they will go on to college. Like middle class families all over the country--the choice of not going to college won't be a choice anymore.

So why am I so excited about a program that works in Harlem--where poverty rates were in the 90 percents? If Canada and his team can turn it around for thousands of students in Harlem then districts with smaller numbers of students who are poor certainly have something to learn from him.