As Brown expands its outreach to Providence public schools as part of its slavery and justice response, the University - with 52 existing programs in schools - is "not starting from ground zero," Lamont Gordon '93, director of education outreach, told the Brown University Community Council Tuesday.
Currently, 52 K-12 education programs based in 16 University departments reach out to Providence schools in several capacities, Gordon said. Nineteen are based in the Swearer Center for Public Service.
Thirty-seven programs aid public school students - through enrichment, mentoring and college counseling programs, among others - while 17 provide teachers with professional and curricular development and eight support district administrators.
Of 44 programs working directly with schools, 18 operate at the high school level, seven at the elementary school level, four at the middle school level and 15 cover K-12 generally. Thirty-seven of the 52 programs are academic, with 19 of those related to science, technology, engineering or math. Eight are literacy programs, another eight are general enrichment programs and three are arts programs.
Though some may assume that the University works mainly with nearby Hope High School, with which it signed a partnership agreement last fall, Gordon said the University is strongly involved in several other schools, including Central High School and the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center - known as the Met - as well as others.
Gordon collected data for his report from department chairs, faculty and students as well as the Swearer Center, he said. Hired last year to facilitate the University's outreach to public schools, Gordon said documenting the University's current involvement in schools was an important step. But, he added later, "We do want to move in the direction of evaluating outcomes" of those programs.
President Ruth Simmons told the BUCC, "It's very important that we focus on what we can do that is measurable." The University should "focus on a set of things we know we can deliver to the schools," she added.
Simmons mentioned a Hope High student telling her several years ago that he couldn't study what he wanted at Brown because his high school education did not prepare him adequately. "That's a powerful thing for us to begin to try to deal with," she said.
Emphasizing the programs the University already has in place, Gordon said, "The challenge is how do we build on that work."
Gordon said he hopes to set up a comprehensive Web site that would provide information about all outreach programs at Brown "in the next couple of months." The Web site would provide students and teachers with information about existing outreach programs, Gordon said.
