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Macduffie School in the local news!

2008-06-10 15:44:32

In the local Springfield newspaper, a great article was written about the MacDuffie School.

In a report published in 2006, the National Commission on Education and the Economy predicted that for Americans to continue to enjoy their high standard of living, we need to educate our children according to new standards.

"Tough Choices or Tough Times" describes the skills needed by our youth as "a very high level of preparation in reading, writing, speaking, mathematics, science, literature, history, and the arts." Students will need to be comfortable "with ideas and abstractions; mathematical reasoning will be no less important than math facts," and "line workers who cannot contribute to the design of the products they are fabricating may be as obsolete as the last model of that product."

They will also need to function well in groups, to be "good at both analysis and synthesis, creative and innovative, self-disciplined and well organized, able to learn very quickly and have the flexibility to adapt quickly to frequent changes in the labor market."

The educational statistics for Springfield and Holyoke, unfortunately, seem to support the predictions of "tough times" ahead. What will it take to reverse the trends of ever higher teen pregnancy and high school drop out rates, of high school students who do not read and write at grade level, and of increasing rates of poverty, especially for minority families, which affect students' ability to learn?

My answer is small, rigorous schools.

As the head of the MacDuffie School, I see hundreds of young people every day who aspire to the highest academic and personal standards so they can enjoy the benefits of the American Dream that so many of them have come to believe in.

At MacDuffie, the only secular private school in Springfield for grades six through 12, the drop-out rate is zero, and 100 percent of our students are accepted into four-year colleges every year.

What is not well-known, however, is that nearly half of MacDuffie's students are young men. Nearly half of the student body receives some form of financial aid. And nearly half of the student body are students of color. Though the faces and pocketbooks of our student body have changed, the school now better reflects the face of the city of Springfield and the nation.

Why do students succeed at MacDuffie? Small class sizes and extremely dedicated teachers are part of the answer.

No students, however, come to us with a silver spoon in their mouths; nor do all come with highly honed academic or social skills. Yet a transformation takes place in all our students by the end of their tenures at our small school. Every teacher knows every student and vice versa - a powerful factor in their success.

At MacDuffie, students are taught to write and think critically, to tackle rigorous college-level courses, to explore arts and athletics, to extend themselves intellectually and socially, and are encouraged to find their personal passion. Because hard work is the norm, peer pressure may be to do homework for up to three or four hours daily, to help younger students or peers who may be struggling with a subject, or to join or start a club or activity as an outlet for energy and self-expression. Together, these positive influences help students succeed in a small community of learners, where they gain the confidence to succeed in the larger world of college and work.

My vision for Springfield is that more of our schools - and the charter schools seem to be a step in the right direction - will follow the small school model, will help students to excel and to overcome whatever obstacles they find in their lives.

And the fact is, there are thousands of jobs available right now in Springfield - especially in medical and technical fields - and thousands more jobs will become available as the baby boomers retire and as new technologies and new paradigms for work evolve in the coming decades. Worldwide there will be hundreds of thousands of jobs for skilled workers all over the globe.

My vision is that Springfield will make the tough choices now that will help our children avoid the otherwise inevitable tough times ahead. Kathryn P. Gibson is head of school at the MacDuffie School, Springfield.

Click here to read the article.

To learn more about the MacDuffie School click here.

Posted by lina