Public Prep

Hundreds Apply for Girls Prep Schools

On April 7th, the Girls Prep auditorium filled with anxious families. Grandparents, caregivers, mothers and fathers waited quietly, with their eyes fixed on a golden raffle drum onstage. The drum held more than 400 index cards with their names on them. They had come that night hoping to find out that their daughter would obtain a spot at Girls Prep Lower East Side.

As names were drawn from the bin, squeals and shouts rose from the crowd. Families exclaimed "That's us! We're here!" Yohana De Los Santos, the Director of Student and Family Affairs and Miriam Raccah, the Executive Director, returned their enthusiasm with smiles and encouragement. "Congratulations! Welcome to Girls Prep!"

Over the phone the next day, accepted families screamed or laughed or hesitated in disbelief when they heard the good news. "She is a lucky girl," one mother said. "We're a very lucky family."

Girls Prep Bronx held its first lottery on April 6th. More than 700 families applied for the 132 spots available at Girls Prep Bronx and more than 400 for the 50 kindergarten seats and a handful of spots available in other grades at Girls Prep Lower East Side. Although the evening brought joy to many lucky families, it was also disappointing for many, many others. Girls Prep believes families should not feel lucky to receive an excellent education and raffle drums should not decide children’s futures. Every child deserves a seat at an extraordinary public school, which is why we hope to found more charter schools in the future.

"It was great to see the excitement on people's faces when they heard their daughter's name called, and it was hard to see so many sad faces when parents saw that their daughter's name was called far down on the waitlist," Ms. Raccah said. "We need more Girls Preps!"

Like many charter schools, Girls Prep holds public lotteries so that families can see a fair and open process — even if it is a difficult one. At Girls Prep, these lotteries are an imperative to open more great schools.

We are also doing our part to improve schools across New York through advocacy and sharing our best practices with other schools. This way, every family in the gym will find a school worth shouting about.

Finding a Voice: Meet the Girls Prep Choir

"At an early age, we want the girls to be comfortable making a sound. As they grow older, they learn to make that sound beautiful."

As the Girls Prep Choir teacher, Ms. Moffett helps Girls Prep students find their voices.

Girls Prep students begin music instruction in kindergarten. Every day, students alternate between Music and Art as part of a well-rounded curriculum. Professional musicians and teachers from Third Street Music lead the girls through songs, dances and instrument training.

The Fourth Grade Choir builds upon the foundation set by years of music instruction at Girls Prep. "The girls are already very gifted with pitch and rhythm because of their early exposure," says Ms. Moffett.

In fourth grade, students learn to harmonize, read music, and recognize intervals and progressions. Before singing, the fourth graders warm up with scales and arpeggios and run through breathing exercises. Students learn complex rounds to practice singing in harmony.

At the Winter Recital, the Fourth Grade Choir sang a song in unison. At a recent performance, they sang the same song with harmonies and layers.

Choir goes beyond music. The fourth graders are learning both how to listen and how to be heard.

"The choir gives me a chance to show people who I really am," says Taiya. "I love to dance. I love drama."

Her classmate Ashley agrees. "In the choir, you get to show your feelings by singing," she says.

Fourth grader Jada sums up the experience best: "I love to hear my friends' voices when they sing."

Teachers are Students at Teacher U

Teachers at Girls Prep learn alongside their students. Every day, coworkers and kids serve as models and motivators. Now, Girls Prep staff can also learn from the best professors and teachers in the charter school world.

Last year, Hunter College and three charter management organizations formed Teacher U. Teacher U provides expert training to teachers working full-time in New York charter schools. The two-year program meets during the summer and on Saturdays to accommodate teachers' busy working schedules. At the end of two years, teachers are fully certified and have a master's degree in education.

Four Girls Prep teachers are currently enrolled in Teacher U. Joanne Blackman, a Second Grade Lead Teacher, Becca Chase, the Third Grade Associate, Michelle George, a Kindergarten Lead Teacher and Raegan Reber, a First Grade Fellow.

Becca Chase speaks highly of her first year in the program. She appreciates the combination of Hunter professors and expert charter school teachers that lead her classes. The professors explain theories of child development and learning while the charter school teachers help her apply that knowledge in the classroom.

"The material I have will last me for years," Becca said. "But they also always answer the question, ‘What can I do with the girls on Monday?'"

Teaching is an art. It requires years of training and mentorship to achieve mastery. At Girls Prep, the two year Fellows program places new teachers with fully certified Lead Teachers. After two years, Fellows are prepared to lead their own classrooms. Now, with the addition of the Teacher U program, Girls Prep Fellows will also receive university coursework and certification.

In the fall, Becca will become a Lead Teacher. She is thrilled to have her own classroom, feels more prepared each time she attends Teacher U, and can't wait to meet her new Fellow.

Students + Parents + Teachers = An Amazing Math-A-Thon

Girls Prep students rushed to ask parent volunteers for extra work last month. They were racing against their sisters to complete the most problems correctly in a half hour in the Math-a-Thon, an event coordinated and run by the Parent Teacher Association.

This kind of fervor was exactly the reaction parents were looking for when they organized the event.

"Some parents say, 'I don't like math,' and some kids don't like it either," said Jennell Joseph, who coordinated the event, and whose daughter Nicole Nelson took first place for the second grade. "At the Math-a-Thon, some students were braggers. They were saying, 'Give me more! Give me more!' I was thinking, 'Enough already!'"

Prior to the event, Joseph organized a campaign to get parents and students excited about math, creating colorful posters with slogans like, "If you can count from 1 — 20 without using your toes, then you are ready for the Math-A-Thon" and "We are counting on you."

Joseph and her collaborator, Nicole Julius, partnered with teachers to make sure the packets they created were challenging but appropriate for each grade level. They also recruited 25 volunteers to help run the event and grade the packets afterwards. Students were hard at work prior to the Math-a-Thon as well, finding sponsors and studying math facts.

"Some people didn't realize how many problems these girls could do," Joseph said. "They got in trouble by sponsoring them per problem and then the girls got up to 255 correct."

Their hard work paid off. The event raised more than $4,000 for the PTA—much more than can be counted on toes and fingers!

Combining Scholarship and Sisterhood

Girls Prep students go beyond excellent school work. Teachers also help their students grow into supportive "sisters" and confident, compassionate young women. Girls Prep celebrates four core values — scholarship, merit, sisterhood and responsibility — that inform every action and choice.

Teachers combine academics and ethics in innovative ways. In the first grade Katherine Dunham class, a recent unit highlights the melding of school work and school culture that occurs in every Girls Prep classroom.

Students in the Katherine Dunham room are learning to revise their writing. At the same time, they are learning to work in teams. On a recent day, girls sat in pairs pouring over drafts of stories. Using blue pens, they talked through their work. Partners helped to add punctuation, fix spelling and add carrots to fit in new words and ideas. At the end of the lesson, the pages were covered in corrections.

"My partner helped me to spell a hard word. She told me to sound it out. I learned that the word had a 'th' at the end." Emily said.

Jarianna is editing a story about her birthday. Her partner helped her to add missing words and more details to her work.

The girls also learned that their partners could serve as models and guides to better habits. Sika-Joy admired her partner's quiet writing — "she helped me concentrate on my work by being silent."

In the Katherine Dunham class, a writing unit became a forum for another layer of learning. Their first grade partner work also offered lessons on collaboration and sisterhood. The girls learned how to give and receive constructive criticism, how to study others' writing, and when it is best to quietly work side by side.