Ann Arbor Public Schools and University of Michigan team up to pilot Young People's Project
The Ann Arbor Public Schools will partner with the University of Michigan later this year to pilot a program to build leadership and math skills in high school and middle school students.
Brit Satchwell, president of the Ann Arbor Education Association, has been working to start a chapter of the Young People's Project in Ann Arbor for about two years. He said students from U-M will train Huron High School students in algebraic concepts and leadership skills. Those high school students will use that training to work with students at Scarlett Middle School to improve their math skills.
Brit Satchwell
“It’s going to be high school kids taking leadership positions and benefitting some of the more disadvantaged kids in the middle schools,” he said.
The Young People's Project is a branch of the Algebra Project, an organization started by civil rights leader Robert Moses in the 1980s to promote math literacy among young African-American males.
Satchwell said the after-school program will be another in the district's efforts to close the achievement gap between black and white students in Ann Arbor schools, while also providing leadership skills for high school students.
Each U-M student involved in the class at the U-M School of Social Work will train and mentor five Huron students, who will then individually work with five Scarlett students, Satchwell said. The goal for the program initially is to have 40 Scarlett students working with Huron students once or twice a week after school, he said.
“The best way to learn is to teach,” he said. “The kids will be taking a leadership position and taking the middle school kids through activities.”
Students at Scarlett will be recommended by counselors for inclusion in the project, Satchwell said. School officials are working on developing an open house night for parents to learn about the program, he said.
Ann Arbor schools spokeswoman Liz Margolis said the district is looking forward to getting the program started and measuring its effects.
"It's very much in its infancy stages and we're anxious to see what the data says when we get it," she said.
University officials were unable to be reached Friday to speak about the program.
The project is one of the latest among many initiatives coming from the partnership between AAPS and U-M. Among them are the Regional Alliance for Healthy Schools, the Ann Arbor Language Partnership and the Mitchell/Scarlett-U-M Partnership, which is still under development.
Satchwell said many Young People's Projects throughout the country are funded by grants and do not have a stable funding base. However, the Ann Arbor chapter will be funded through the school district and teachers union, which have combined to provide the $25,000 needed to run the program. AAPS paid $20,000 of the total, with the AAEA providing the other $5,000, Satchwell said.
Satchwell said he is particularly excited about the opportunities for high school students to step up and become leaders in the classroom.
He said the program will not necessarily look for the students with the best grades or students who always volunteer and show leadership initiative. Instead, the program will give students who show the potential to be leaders the opportunity to develop those skills.
“When we recruit at the high schools, we’re looking for a very diverse group from the high school kids,” he said. Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.
Comments
Brit Satchwell
Mon, Jan 31, 2011 : 5:05 p.m.
Mr. Feldscher's and Ms. Tracy's clarifications are correct and appreciated. I did indeed say that I thought that the College Math Literacy Workers (CMLWs) were from the UM School of Social Work. YPP promotes and achieves inclusion from as wide a swath of all student populations as possible... college, high school, middle school. I stand gratefully corrected, and apologize to YPP's CMLWs from EMU, WCC and UM's LSA for not having given them the specific mention they deserve. Brit Satchwell
Kyle Feldscher
Mon, Jan 31, 2011 : 3:44 p.m.
@abc Yes, I quoted Mr. Satchwell accurately and the entire context of the quote is that he was discussing ways the program would help high school students develop leadership skills, which I believe is accurately represented. I received information this morning from Alexandra Tracy, interim director of the YPP, informing me that the current staff of the program are from the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science and Arts, an Eastern Michigan graduate student and an undergrad student from Washtenaw Community College. Mr. Satchwell said in the story that staff from the college level would be coming from the UM School of Social Work.
abc
Mon, Jan 31, 2011 : 2:05 p.m.
For those of you who are lol. Some finish the phrase" The best way to learn is to teach…" with the words 'someone else'. Meaning that the act of teaching is a method for the teacher to learn. But what about that teacher's students? How do they fare? However the original quote from Mr. Oppenheimer did not carry those extra words. Nevertheless this quote is one-sided and begs a question, What about that teacher's students, how do they fare? Or maybe, what is the safety net for the younger student in the event that the older student's efforts are not working? This program is clearly about students teaching students in the attempt to set up a win win circumstance, not students teaching student setting up a win lose circumstance. It is a program used in the AA school district starting in 3rd or 4th grade where 3rd or 4th grades are paired with kindergarteners to read and study. It is a good program. And I have no doubt that the Young People's Project can also be a successful program despite using a one-sided adage to justify it.
ViSHa
Mon, Jan 31, 2011 : 2:05 p.m.
it sounds like a good idea. i just hope that, since it's purpose is concerning the achievement gap, that "diverse" isn't AAPS's codespeak for only helping one group of students.
DDOT1962
Mon, Jan 31, 2011 : 12:35 p.m.
I'm going to echo the support other commenters have given for this story - what a wonderful idea! - and go further and point out to all you haters that believe teachers are overpaid, self-interested sloths; look at where 20% of the budget for this program comes from - the teacher's union!
Patrick
Mon, Jan 31, 2011 : 4:57 a.m.
I think the corollary to this saying is "A lot of people can *learn* a thing, but only those who truly *understand* a thing can teach it." - in my personal experience I'd met many calculus teachers who'd obviously learned calculus but can say I only met one who actually understood it.
say it plain
Mon, Jan 31, 2011 : 2:46 a.m.
I can't believe anyone would knock this program or require 'clarification' for that adage lol. Of course this program isn't replacing 'regular' instruction for the middle school students--it's a great way to both bolster the skills of the highschool kids and to provide extra help--in that wonderful way that only peer-modeling and communication can do!--to the middleschoolers. It benefits *everyone*, and in ways not immediately related to just math skills, but to people skills for everyone involved, to feeling part of an educational enterprise, etc.
Tony Livingston
Mon, Jan 31, 2011 : 1:13 a.m.
This sounds like a great program. I don't understand why anyone would knock it. And yes, the best way to learn is to teach. That is a common saying in many eastern disciplines. The Huron students who are teaching will learn and grow as well as the Scarlett students who are learning the math. Teachers can't do everything. This will give an opportunity for students to get more individual or small group instruction.
Stephen Landes
Mon, Jan 31, 2011 : 12:38 a.m.
Sounds like "Back to the Future". My great aunt grew up in a one room school and on graduation became the next teacher. That kind of a school situation allowed older students to help younger ones every day.
abc
Sun, Jan 30, 2011 : 9:33 p.m.
"The best way to learn is to teach," Mr. Satchwell didn't really say that, did he? This has to be out of context. As presented it is an inane comment that even, if said, is certainly not worth quoting without further explanation. I am not knocking the program. I am just questioning what this means. Mr. Feldscher did you consider asking for a clarification before you printed this?
Kazia
Sun, Jan 30, 2011 : 7:40 p.m.
Students teaching students teaching students - guess there's no need for Ann Arbor Public School teachers.