Boston College Reaches Out to Students and Teachers in the City's Public Schools

A comprehensive program to boost academic achievement combines mentors, social services, and hope

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By ALVIN P. SANOFF

Boston

It is the last period of the day at Brighton High School, and the ninth-grade class is on edge. Today marks the culmination of a course in which students are expected to map out plans for their futures and consider any obstacles that could prevent them from achieving their goals.

The teacher, Walter Mitchell, tells the 19 students that they have an opportunity in this class to forget about other problems and think only of themselves. One after another, the youngsters, all of whom are black or Hispanic, come to the front of the room. Some talk about the pitfalls of peer pressure and of jealous friends who don't want them to succeed.

They are candid in discussing their weaknesses. One student says she is lazy. Another admits that he is easily distracted. All say that their short-term goals are to get good grades and finish high school, while their long-term goals are to earn college degrees. Some have quite specific career ambitions: One young woman aspires to be a pediatric surgeon, while a young man wants to play professional football.

The composition of the class reflects that of the high school, in which 87 percent of the students are black or Hispanic. Because students in Boston choose their high schools — a legacy of the city's controversial history of school segregation — Brighton High, located in a relatively safe neighborhood with a large immigrant population, draws young people from all over the city.

This particular class is taking part in a program called Tools for Tomorrow. It is designed to help urban youngsters see the connection between high school and their aspirations, so they will be motivated to remain in school and do well. Developed by faculty members at Boston College's Lynch School of Education, the program is just one example of the institutions's intensive engagement with the Boston public schools.

As part of that engagement, Boston College faculty members and Boston schoolteachers team teach undergraduate-education courses right at Brighton High. The college also offers incentive grants to faculty members who work with public-school teachers on research projects aimed at improving teaching. All of the university's teacher-education candidates do fieldwork in Boston public schools prior to their student teaching, which is often carried out in those same schools.

Most of BC's undergraduates come from suburban or private schools, so working in an urban school can be an eye-opening experience. "You see the differences in parental support and involvement, and in the resources available," says Elizabeth Ely, a senior from Trumbull, Conn.

The scope of Boston College's involvement is rare for a research university. Promotion and tenure at research institutions are based primarily on the quality of published research, not on service to the community. The tension between research and service is particularly acute within schools of education, which are often held in relatively low esteem by faculty members in the arts and sciences who may not view education as a true academic discipline. As a result, faculty members in education — and especially those in teacher education, who tend to have low status even within their schools — feel pressure to prove their research prowess.

"Schools of education struggle to this day with reconciling their search for status within the university with the obligation to work in a setting that does not have the highest social standing — the schools," says David W. Breneman, dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. But at Boston College, faculty members in education do not have to choose between research or service. "Here it is not either/or, it is both/and," says Mary E. Walsh, a professor at the Lynch School.

Boston College, a Jesuit institution, has had an easier time than most colleges in resolving the tension between research and practice because it has a longstanding commitment to social justice. "If faculty and students are not engaged in the real life of kids in the schools, what's the point of a school of education?" asks the Rev. Joseph M. O'Keefe, dean of the Lynch School.

Even with BC's philosophical commitment, it took an encounter between Ms. Walsh and a Boston principal to get the university deeply involved in city schools. In the early 1990s, Ms. Walsh, a counseling psychologist, was completing a research project at the Thomas B. Gardner Elementary School, in Boston's Allston-Brighton section. When Ms. Walsh went to the principal, Catalina B. Montes, to thank her for her cooperation, Ms. Montes said she wanted more than thanks. She wanted help. She recalls telling Ms. Walsh, "We have problems in the schools, and we cannot do the job alone."

Ms. Walsh asked for time to think about what the university could do. She began to bring other faculty members to Gardner, a school with a majority of low-income Hispanic students. Around that time, Boston University had taken over the troubled public-school system in the nearby city of Chelsea. But Boston University's struggles with the Chelsea system did not figure into BC's thinking, Ms. Walsh says. "We knew we were not going to have the same kind of engagement."

Conversations between Boston College and city school officials blossomed into a program called Boston Connects, in which the university works with the school system and community groups to identify students in nine elementary schools, including Gardner, who need social and health services. Each school has a full-time site coordinator and a part-time health coordinator who are affiliated with BC. Working with staff members at the school, they review every student and determine whether the school itself or a community agency could offer services to improve a youngster's academic performance. For example, if the group concludes that a youngster would benefit from counseling, the student's teacher would contact the family to explain the situation. The student might then receive counseling in a community health center. Boston College faculty members help coordinate the program and serve as advisers.

Research shows that students who receive such services do better in school. Ellen McCarthy, principal at one of the participating elementary schools, calls the program "extraordinary."

"Any school would love to have a partnership with BC," she says.

Boston college administrators estimate that more than 40 percent of the faculty members in the Lynch School and about 12 percent of those in the arts and sciences spend time working in public schools. Professors in nursing, social work, and management programs also take part in the Boston Connects program.

Professors in the arts and sciences regularly visit local high schools to observe student teachers in their academic disciplines and offer feedback on their classroom performances. Min Hyoung Song, an associate professor of English, says the experience also benefits professors. "We see the conditions our student teachers are working in, and it sensitizes us to the needs of our students who will become teachers," he says. As a result, he now discusses with his American-literature classes what he is trying to accomplish educationally, so that students are exposed to his educational thinking as well as to the content. "That's not something I would have done if I had not been with student teachers," he says.

There have been other tangible results of the partnership. At Brighton High, student scores on a statewide test taken by 10th graders have consistently improved, says Toby Romer, the headmaster. And fewer students have been assessed as needing special education since the Boston Connects program began.

Boston College's commitment to urban schools is a major reason why the Carnegie Corporation of New York chose it as one of 11 institutions to receive $5.5-million grants under its Teachers for a New Era program. Daniel Fallon, chair of Carnegie's education division, says one of the principal selection criteria was whether a university had productive relationships with public schools in its community. Under the Carnegie program, which is designed to strengthen K-12 teaching, the universities must match the grant money dollar for dollar. Among other things, BC is using its grant to develop mentor programs to help new teaching graduates make the transition from college to the classroom.

Research shows that not having a mentor is a major factor in the decision by many teachers, especially those in urban schools, to leave the profession within the first five years. Boston College's mentor program includes workshops at which new teachers discuss classroom challenges and receive advice and support from professors and veteran school teachers.

Because of their preparation, Boston College's graduates are highly sought after by the Boston school system. This year 52 of Boston's 480 new teachers came from BC, the highest number from any traditional education program. Barbara McGann, assistant superintendent for human resources for Boston's system, sees Boston College graduates as inspiring teachers who have a deep understanding of subject matter and are comfortable using data to help youngsters assess themselves. She says they also have the ability to relate to kids.

At a time when many education schools are under fire for failing to produce teachers who can meet the demands of urban schools, that endorsement tells Boston College that it is doing something right.