Across the Hudson River, a short drive away from midtown Manhattan, fourth-grade
students file into classrooms and head for their seats, five to a table. As they settle
down, their teacher calls up the first group of students for a social history multimedia
presentation. The students' computer screens light up with a variety of windows containing
directories of students' work and of the library's central catalog, with toolboxes for
graphics and multimedia production. One team presents information on heroes of the 1960s,
while another group has chosen science and technology of the 1960s.
The well-produced multimedia presentations contain original research; news footage,
clips from documentaries, still pictures, excerpts of interviews, and speeches given by
civil rights leaders, all from the Internet; and graphics representing demographic and
other statistical data. The teacher has also encouraged students to include interviews
with their parents and relatives about the '60s. Although the students have widely varying
viewpoints, their collaboration encouraged revisions which made their work more
sophisticated and discerning.
Welcome to Union City, N.J.
Union City is one of our most densely populated cities - predominantly Cuban but with
residents originating from the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Italy. Of the
9,000 students in the 11 public schools, 75 percent do not speak English at home, and 14
percent have been in the country for less than three years. In 1989, Union City was the
third-worst-performing district in New Jersey - it failed 44 of 52 performance indicators
and was threatened with a state takeover unless a radical and successful restructuring was
implemented within five years.
In the next eight years, however, the district was transformed into the state's
top-scoring special-needs district by a new superintendent, Tom Highton, and the director
of academic programming, Fred Carrigg. New technology was the innovation that made the
biggest impact, and other bureaucratic changes made the reform comprehensive. For example,
district leaders made literacy the foundation of the reform efforts. They also provided
time for teachers to plan and collaborate during the year and throughout the summer and
made a clear commitment to high standards for both students and teachers.
In 1992, through a partnership with Bell Atlantic, computers with telecommunications
capabilities were distributed to all 135 seventh-graders and their families in the
Christopher Columbus Middle School. "Project Explore" students and families
immediately took to these tools - they became a hub of family and school activity.
Students' writing skills improved with the heavy use of word processors and e-mail
exchanges with friends and teachers. These exchanges also allowed teachers to gain a
deeper understanding of the lives and cultures of their students. They became more
committed to building upon students' prior knowledge and to engaging students with
creative, inquiry-based curriculum. Project Explore students quickly showed signs of
radical academic improvement, including large gains on standardized tests for reading (87
percent passed in 1995, up from 54 percent in 1992), math (79 percent in 1995, up from 29
percent in 1992), and writing (85 percent in 1995, up from 43 percent in 1992).
As they moved into high school, Project Explore students emerged as classroom leaders.
Honors classes were added to accommodate the growing number of high-achieving students.
Given the success of Project Explore, in 1995, the National Science Foundation (NSF),
helped extend the telecommunications infrastructure throughout the district.
The following summer, the district instituted a Computer Applications Mentoring Project
with the idea of teaching high school students to develop web sites for local
community-based agencies (including the Mayor's office and the Department of Housing). As
part of the program, a group of Project Explore students taught teachers about new
technology while teachers helped students research and synthesize the information.
Students gained a sense of civic responsibility while learning new skills. City officials,
meanwhile, gained awareness of a new kind of student coming out of the local schools - a
more critical and articulate student than they had known in the past.
To encourage the students' further achievement, district administrators, with funding
from the NSF, began a Road to College program, which introduced students to college life
and education through visits to universities around the Northeast. This fall, 21 seniors,
including a number of Project Explore participants, will be attending top-tier schools,
including Brown, MIT, Yale, and Berkeley. The top 40 students graduating this year
received a total of 63 acceptance letters from schools such as Rutgers, Purdue, and
Villanova.
As a researcher and observer of the Union City and other reform efforts, the overriding
lesson I've learned is that while technology, in isolation, never creates substantial
changes in schools, it can be a powerful learning tool when coupled with systemic reform.
The achievements of the Union City students re resent a model of success the whole country
can appreciate.
