Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School New York, New York
Adults and children of the Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School (TMALS) in Harlem share a friendly, open manner that belies an intense focus on the task at hand. High expectations for children’s success are communicated not just in the way teachers query children on the subject matter, but also in the ubiquitous portraits of AfricanAmerican icons past and present and the exemplars of student academic work and art projects carefully chosen for the walls of the hallways and classrooms.
New York City Public Schools in 1993. TMALSC now enrolls 550 students in grades 6-12 in a state-of-the-art building completed by ADC and its partners in 2004 as the first high school built in Harlem in more than 50 years. The high school boasted an 88 percent cohort graduation rate for the class of 2009, versus a 63 percent cohort graduation rate in New York City overall. Since 1989, ADC has been a driving force for the revitalization of Central Harlem, leveraging $600 million in resources to support its housing, economic revitalization, civic engagement, social services, and education initiatives. Under the leadership of founder Dr. Calvin O. Butts III, pastor of the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church, ADC’s community development strategy is driven by the conviction that education is the central element in long-term community revitalization.
“Focusing on science through expanded time has opened the door for us to be a better school.” Sean Davenport, Principal (2004 – 2011) Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School, New York, New York TMALS was founded in 2005 by the Abyssinian Development Corporation (ADC) in partnership with the New York City Public Schools and New Visions for Public Schools. The elementary school is part of the preK-12th grade education pipeline shepherded by ADC in Central Harlem. The pipeline begins with Head Start and culminates with the Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change (TMALSC), a middle/high school created by ADC, New Visions, and the
Both the middle/high school and TMALS share the motto “It takes a village to raise a child,” and although the phrase is almost cliché, a visit to TMALS is a lesson in how powerful this notion can be when it is lived and breathed every day. TMALS has been led by Principal Sean Davenport, whose confident, distributive leadership style aligns well with the school’s partnership model. His goal is to ensure that every teacher is equipped with the confidence and skills
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| Strengthening Science Education