Full citation and abstract? Hanson, Danielle, “Assessing the Harlem Children’s Zone,” Center for Policy Innovation Discussion Paper #08 on Education.
Abstract: The Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) is an education and service organization with an aim to change Harlem for the better through educational and support services for the children and families that live there. HCZ also wants to find a way to lift these families out of poverty and unemployment. However, an issue lies in the high costs of the programs and the validity in the reported success of the organization. This article investigates this organization, as well as whether or not aspects of the HCZ program can be replicated outside of Harlem.
Where do the authors work, and what are their areas of expertise? Note any other publications by the authors with relevance to the 6Cities project. Publications by Danielle Hanson are, Assessing the Harlem Children’s Zoneand National Standards: Costly in Dollars and Liberty Lost.(The National Standards publication is about the common core and education; I thought this could possibly be of use to the 6Cities education portion of the project; maybe it could show not only what it being taught, but just as importantly, what is not being taught in schools. It would interesting to learn whether or not asthma is in anyway of a part of their education system).
What are the main findings or arguments presented in the article or report? The main findings of the article are greatly based on the The Fryer-Dobbie Study, which questions the success of HCZ. Though the Fryer-Dobbie study found that the Promise Academy, which is a part of the “pipeline” idea of HCZ that looks to provide continuous support from a child’s birth until their graduation from college, was shown to effectively reverse the black-white achievement gap in mathematics and ELA through the program’s early involvement in the children’s’ lives, critics such as Helen Zelon do not see the results of the Fryer-Dobbie Study as accurate. Zelon questions the study due to the fact that Fryer and Dobbie based their findings on gains from just a single class on a single test from a single year, when in other years, results on state-exams were not as impressive. In addition, there is controversy with the amount of money that the HCZ program requires for its existence.
The article speaks of other cities across the country wanting to replicate the HCZ program, as well as why this may not work very well. The article argues that the methods that worked in Harlem may not work in other cities. The Zone’s relatively large size allows for the continuous daily reinforcement of a culture of improvement, which could be more difficult to achieve in smaller neighborhoods. Additionally, the HCZ focuses on not only improving education, but on making sure that each child’s social and academic health is in a good place. Therefore, there must be a better understanding of the relationship between HCZ’s way of building the community and the success of the schools before other cities can determine whether or not they can replicate this program.
The article also talks about the HCZ’s community programs. Though academics seem to be the main focus of the HCZ, they provide educational programs about asthma. (It would be interesting to find out what this asthma education entails, if it was provided to both the parents and children, and what impact this education had on children with asthma, especially since Harlem was declared to have an Asthma Crisis).
Describe at least three ways that the argument is supported. The argument of the article is supported by the fact that the Fryer-Dobbie Study, which was conducted to question the success of the HCZ Program, based their findings on gains from just a single class on a single test from a single year, when in other years, results on state-exams were not as impressive; the study found that the HCZ program was successful, however, due to the small data used, there was no accurate depiction of the success of the program.
The fact that most of the collected data for external reviews have been conducted on students from the Promise Academics, the two HCZ charter schools, makes the recorded success of the HCZ program questionable. The academics give researches quantitative data at regular interviews, which makes the data easier to evaluate. Even though this data is a convenient way to measure the success of the HCZ program, they provide a very limited basis for evaluating the Zone’s full impact. The article argues that the proper way to properly measure the success of the HCZ program would be to measure the cumulative social impact of the organization on the Harlem community, not merely the results of the Zone schools.
With regards to the article’s doubts as to whether or not the HCZ program can successfully by replicated in other cities in the country, the fact that not enough data has been collected on the relationship between HCZ’s way of building the community and the success of the schools helps to support the presence of doubt in the idea that this program could be a success if it were replicated elsewhere.
What three (or more) quotes capture the message of the article or report? “The Harlem Children’s Zone has been credited with improving educational outcomes for students as well as providing needed support and services for the central Harlem community. Because of their apparent success, there have been calls to replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone in other cities.”
“Moreover, HCZ is not just about education. Zone leaders see their strategy as fully developing each child’s social and academic health—indeed, the child’s character—and this may be crucial to obtaining similar results elsewhere.”
“Furthermore, the HCZ approach carries a large price tag, which has raised some debate about the efficiency of HCZ’s charter schools.”
What were the methods, tools and/or data used to produce the claims or arguments made in the article or report? The report uses the findings of the Fryer-Dobbie study, Helen Zelon’s (a writer for the City Limits Magazine) criticsm of the Fryer-Dobbie Study, as well as The Brooking Study of Wraparound Services to produce its arguments.
How (if at all) are health disparities or other equity issues addressed in the article or report? The health disparities are not discussed in depth in the article. However, financial issues, brought up by the high price of the HCZ program, are discussed. The Zone spends roughly $16,000 per student per year at the Promise Academies, and an average of $5,000 per child for the other programs that are provided by the HCZ outside of the charter schools. NYC spends $14,452 per student every year.
Where has this article or report been referenced or discussed? (In some journals, you can see this in a sidebar.) [1] Harlem Children’s Zone, “The HCZ Project,” http://hcz.org/about-us/the-hcz-project(accessed August 25, 2012).
Can you learn anything from the article or report’s bibliography that tells us something about how the article or report was produced? Based on the way in which the article was produced, one can learn that even though the article was written in 2013 and the program started in 1997, there was still not a lot of available data on the success of the HCZ program and its impact on Harlem. Also, though Danielle Hanson, the writer of the article, did a good job of providing both views as to whether or not the program has been successful, it seems that she may be skeptical of its success and chance of success if it were to be replicated in other cities in the country.
What three points, details or references from the text did you follow up on to advance your understanding of how air pollution science has been produced and used in governance and education in different settings? This article introduced me to HCZ and made me look further into their education system, which made me wonder whether or not asthma education is a part of their learning curriculum. This also made me look into the Asthma Crisis in Harlem and whether or not the Harlem Children’s Zone got involved with this Crisis.
Full citation and abstract?
Hanson, Danielle, “Assessing the Harlem Children’s Zone,” Center for Policy Innovation Discussion Paper #08 on Education.
Abstract: The Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) is an education and service organization with an aim to change Harlem for the better through educational and support services for the children and families that live there. HCZ also wants to find a way to lift these families out of poverty and unemployment. However, an issue lies in the high costs of the programs and the validity in the reported success of the organization. This article investigates this organization, as well as whether or not aspects of the HCZ program can be replicated outside of Harlem.
Where do the authors work, and what are their areas of expertise? Note any other publications by the authors with relevance to the 6Cities project.
Publications by Danielle Hanson are, Assessing the Harlem Children’s Zone and National Standards: Costly in Dollars and Liberty Lost. (The National Standards publication is about the common core and education; I thought this could possibly be of use to the 6Cities education portion of the project; maybe it could show not only what it being taught, but just as importantly, what is not being taught in schools. It would interesting to learn whether or not asthma is in anyway of a part of their education system).
What are the main findings or arguments presented in the article or report?
The main findings of the article are greatly based on the The Fryer-Dobbie Study, which questions the success of HCZ. Though the Fryer-Dobbie study found that the Promise Academy, which is a part of the “pipeline” idea of HCZ that looks to provide continuous support from a child’s birth until their graduation from college, was shown to effectively reverse the black-white achievement gap in mathematics and ELA through the program’s early involvement in the children’s’ lives, critics such as Helen Zelon do not see the results of the Fryer-Dobbie Study as accurate. Zelon questions the study due to the fact that Fryer and Dobbie based their findings on gains from just a single class on a single test from a single year, when in other years, results on state-exams were not as impressive. In addition, there is controversy with the amount of money that the HCZ program requires for its existence.
The article speaks of other cities across the country wanting to replicate the HCZ program, as well as why this may not work very well. The article argues that the methods that worked in Harlem may not work in other cities. The Zone’s relatively large size allows for the continuous daily reinforcement of a culture of improvement, which could be more difficult to achieve in smaller neighborhoods. Additionally, the HCZ focuses on not only improving education, but on making sure that each child’s social and academic health is in a good place. Therefore, there must be a better understanding of the relationship between HCZ’s way of building the community and the success of the schools before other cities can determine whether or not they can replicate this program.
The article also talks about the HCZ’s community programs. Though academics seem to be the main focus of the HCZ, they provide educational programs about asthma. (It would be interesting to find out what this asthma education entails, if it was provided to both the parents and children, and what impact this education had on children with asthma, especially since Harlem was declared to have an Asthma Crisis).
Describe at least three ways that the argument is supported.
The argument of the article is supported by the fact that the Fryer-Dobbie Study, which was conducted to question the success of the HCZ Program, based their findings on gains from just a single class on a single test from a single year, when in other years, results on state-exams were not as impressive; the study found that the HCZ program was successful, however, due to the small data used, there was no accurate depiction of the success of the program.
The fact that most of the collected data for external reviews have been conducted on students from the Promise Academics, the two HCZ charter schools, makes the recorded success of the HCZ program questionable. The academics give researches quantitative data at regular interviews, which makes the data easier to evaluate. Even though this data is a convenient way to measure the success of the HCZ program, they provide a very limited basis for evaluating the Zone’s full impact. The article argues that the proper way to properly measure the success of the HCZ program would be to measure the cumulative social impact of the organization on the Harlem community, not merely the results of the Zone schools.
With regards to the article’s doubts as to whether or not the HCZ program can successfully by replicated in other cities in the country, the fact that not enough data has been collected on the relationship between HCZ’s way of building the community and the success of the schools helps to support the presence of doubt in the idea that this program could be a success if it were replicated elsewhere.
What three (or more) quotes capture the message of the article or report?
“The Harlem Children’s Zone has been credited with improving educational outcomes for students as well as providing needed support and services for the central Harlem community. Because of their apparent success, there have been calls to replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone in other cities.”
“Moreover, HCZ is not just about education. Zone leaders see their strategy as fully developing each child’s social and academic health—indeed, the child’s character—and this may be crucial to obtaining similar results elsewhere.”
“Furthermore, the HCZ approach carries a large price tag, which has raised some debate about the efficiency of HCZ’s charter schools.”
What were the methods, tools and/or data used to produce the claims or arguments made in the article or report?
The report uses the findings of the Fryer-Dobbie study, Helen Zelon’s (a writer for the City Limits Magazine) criticsm of the Fryer-Dobbie Study, as well as The Brooking Study of Wraparound Services to produce its arguments.
How (if at all) are health disparities or other equity issues addressed in the article or report?
The health disparities are not discussed in depth in the article. However, financial issues, brought up by the high price of the HCZ program, are discussed. The Zone spends roughly $16,000 per student per year at the Promise Academies, and an average of $5,000 per child for the other programs that are provided by the HCZ outside of the charter schools. NYC spends $14,452 per student every year.
Where has this article or report been referenced or discussed? (In some journals, you can see this in a sidebar.)
[1] Harlem Children’s Zone, “The HCZ Project,” http://hcz.org/about-us/the-hcz-project (accessed August 25, 2012).
[2] Harlem Children’s Zone, “Our Principles—HCZ’s Five Principles of Success,”https://hczcareers.silkroad.com/hczext/Our_Values.html (accessed January 24, 2013).
[3] Harlem Children’s Zone, “A Look Inside,” Summer/Fall 2002, p. 2,http://www.hcz.org/images/stories/pdfs/ali_summerfall2002.pdf (accessed April 11, 2012).
Can you learn anything from the article or report’s bibliography that tells us something about how the article or report was produced?
Based on the way in which the article was produced, one can learn that even though the article was written in 2013 and the program started in 1997, there was still not a lot of available data on the success of the HCZ program and its impact on Harlem. Also, though Danielle Hanson, the writer of the article, did a good job of providing both views as to whether or not the program has been successful, it seems that she may be skeptical of its success and chance of success if it were to be replicated in other cities in the country.
What three points, details or references from the text did you follow up on to advance your understanding of how air pollution science has been produced and used in governance and education in different settings?
This article introduced me to HCZ and made me look further into their education system, which made me wonder whether or not asthma education is a part of their learning curriculum. This also made me look into the Asthma Crisis in Harlem and whether or not the Harlem Children’s Zone got involved with this Crisis.