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Takisha Claybrooks-Williams and her children Tayshawn, a senior, and Lataysha, a junior. Both children are honors students with college plans.

Story by Justin Glanville     Photos by Julie Van Wagenen

This story is part of a series about how families chose their schools.

When her son decided to attend Glenville High School,Takisha Claybrooks-Williams was not happy.

She’d grown up in Glenville and had fond memories of its leafy streets and bustling storefronts. But she believed the neighborhood had become unsafe, and that the school emphasized athletics over academics.

What’s more, the family lived in Collinwood, which meant he’d have to commute to school every morning.

By the end of her son’s first year, though, Takisha had a complete change of heart.

“It was so different than what I perceived it to be,” she says. “The school is really family-oriented, and they do such a great job communicating with parents — not just about bad stuff, but the successes as well.”

For example, Takisha recently received a call from a teacher who admired a paper her son wrote. Other times, she’s communicated with teachers when they believe he needs a push to try harder on his homework.

And while crime remains a concern, both the school and neighborhood feel far safer than she expected. She attributes that to the school’s emphasis on community outreach. It hosts events, job fairs and wor

kshops that anyone can attend—whether or not they have a direct connection to the school.

“When the adults know each other, there’s more trust, more neighbors pitching in to help with each other’s kids,” Takisha says. “You know, ‘Boy, what are you doing? I’m going to call your mama.’”

Her son, Tayshawn, chose Glenville because his neighborhood high school, New Tech Collinwood, has a technology-driven model that doesn’t appeal to him. He also likes the idea of attending the school that is the alma mater of many family members.

Now a senior, Tayshawn benefits not just from the school’s strong academics, but also its social-emotional learning programs. Takisha especially praises the Closing the Achievement Gap (CTAG) program, which pairs male high school students of color with mentors who help them steer clear of peer pressure and distractions to reach graduation.

Lataysha, Tayshawn’s sister, has followed in his footsteps. She was inspired by her brother’s academic success and her interest in the school’s cheerleading program, which supports the school’s famed Tarblooders athletic teams.

Latyasha is now thriving, achieving a 4.0 GPA and induction into the National Honor Society.

Takisha recently attended Lataysha’s cheerleading competition with a host of relatives who’d graduated from Glenville.

“It’s nice to have the whole family come together after all these years and enjoy being Tarblooders,” she says.

Story and photos by Justin Glanville     

For kids starting kindergarten, readiness is key to future success

The last time Dawn Syroney had a kid entering kindergarten, it was 21 years ago.

Back then, she says, she didn’t think much about what skills or knowledge her son needed to start school.

“I thought those first few years were his time to be a baby,” she remembers. “Then when he got to school, that’s when he’d be the big boy.”

But with her second son, Mason, now 4, her thinking has changed. That’s due in large part to the Cleveland Public Library’s Kindergarten Clubs, a workshop series that helps families and their toddlers prepare for kindergarten — through activities like games, shared meals, and learning circles.

“Kids need to know so much more than I thought,” she says. “They should be able to recognize letters, count, even be able to get along well with other kids.”

Syroney and Mason have been attending their local Club together since sessions started at the beginning of summer.

Letters and numbers are only part of the curriculum, which also teaches fine motor skills and social skills — especially important for kids who haven’t attended day care or preschool.

At a recent workshop at a branch library in Brooklyn Centre, Syroney and other parents ate a picnic-style meal with their kids. Then, the adults broke off into a discussion group where they talked with an instructor about easy ways to help kids learn numbers at home — by singing songs, for example, or counting the number of carrots or candy pieces in a bag.

Meanwhile, the kids worked with a different instructor to play a counting game with fuzzy yellow dice.

The fact that the program works with both kids and parents is central to its impact, says Rhonda Pai, early childhood and literacy coordinator for Cleveland Public Library, which runs eight Kindergarten Clubs across the city. The Clubs start in summer but run through October, to help families make the transition to school.

“Sometimes parents don’t see themselves as influencers in their child’s life,” Pai says. “This program tells them, ‘You as a parent can help ease your child’s anxiety about going into kindergarten by teaching them simple skills to help them succeed.’”

Kindergarten readiness is vitally important because when kids start school prepared, they stand a much better chance of keeping pace with their peers through grade school and beyond, Pai says.

Those who fall behind, meanwhile, are at risk of entering what some educators call the “preschool-to-prison pipeline,” in which poor academic performance leads to frustration, which in turn leads to acting out and disciplinary action. A recent study found that Ohio kids who start kindergarten underprepared are more likely than their peers to struggle to pass reading and math tests even years later.

Bags of ‘goodies’

Making sure kindergartners and their parents are well-prepared is also the goal of KinderKits, a program founded in 2016 by Cleveland kindergarten teacher Ben Colas.

When Colas started teaching at his current school, he was shocked to discover only about one out of six of his students recognized numbers. Only a single student recognized letters.

“It took us until Thanksgiving to get where I would’ve wanted to start the year,” he says.

The situation made him realize that the learning opportunities he’d had during his own relatively affluent childhood — being quizzed by his parents about the shapes of traffic signs, for example — weren’t necessarily available to his own students, who were mostly low-income and of color.

“A lot of systemic factors go into that — lack of resources in the home, not having the same economic opportunities,” he says.

He started talking to parents about helping kids learn to count and recognize letters, but he quickly realized they needed tools and help to do so. Thus was born the idea of KinderKits — brightly colored bags filled with Skittles, Play-Doh, and other goodies.

“The idea is, you can teach your kids with stuff you already have in the house,” he says. “We want parents to say, ‘The next time before we eat the pack of Skittles, let’s practice counting and sorting the colors.’”

More than 6,500 kits have been distributed so far, mostly through community centers and schools. In a state like Ohio, where 40 percent of students enter kindergarten underprepared, Colas would like to see the program expand even further — along with more structured outreach to families.

“We have a big issue, but there’s also a tremendous opportunity to leverage parents and view them as our partners in this,” he says.

Do you have a child entering kindergarten? Learn how to support them at home with this guide! 

And, if you haven’t already chosen a school for your kindergartener, the Transformation Alliance is here to help! Read school descriptions and community reviews for all schools in Cleveland on our new interactive website.

On March 12, 2018, the Transformation Alliance Board of Directors approved a letter of concern to the Ohio Department of Education regarding the opening of S.M.A.R.T. Academy, a new charter school proposed to open in Cleveland for the 2018-19 school year.

Transformation Alliance Letter regarding SMART Academy

Photo: Barbara Galaszewski and her students share ways to calm down when they are upset.

Improved learning starts with heart — Luis Muñoz Marín Dual Language Academy

by Justin Glanville, photos by Julia van Wagenen

Teacher Barbara Galaszewski marshals a dozen or so second-grade students into a rough circle of desks in her classroom at Luis Muñoz Marín Dual Language Academy.

Then she holds up a glittery, pink stuffed fish.

“Remember,” she says. “Talk only when you’re holding the fish.”

She hands it to the first student.

“Hello,” the student says. “I’m at a 4.”

“Hola, I’m a 4 too,” says the next student.

The fish continues around the circle, reaching a dark-haired girl who tilts her head downward.

“I’m at a 2,” she says, softly.

Galaszewski nods. “OK, let’s talk about that later,” she says, making eye contact with the girl. “We’ll see if we can make it better.”

A check-in like this happens daily in every K-4 classroom at Muñoz Marín and at schools throughout the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. It’s one of a suite of practices designed to foster students’ social and emotional well-being in addition to their academic success.

In the check-in practice, the numbers correspond to their mood that morning, with 4 being highest and 1 lowest.

If a student is a 1 or 2, the teacher will reach out later in the day for a private conversation to see if there are ways the school can help — anything from dealing with a bully to providing a meal or a winter coat if a student in is need.

“The idea is that if a child is having problems, either at home or at school, we want to reach them early, before they act out in a negative way like getting in a fight or skipping class,” says Noriliz Santiago, the school’s assistant principal.

Methods for dealing with anger and conflict are also taught during regular class time. Students learn to stop, take a deep breath, and even give themselves a hug before either talking to a teacher or calmly expressing their feelings to the student antagonizing them. Older students, in grades 5 to 8, learn more age-appropriate steps: Stop, Make a Plan, and Go.

For students who do misbehave, or just need a reset, the in-school suspension room has been replaced with a Planning Center. There, students can talk through their problems with a trained faculty member, complete classwork, or play educational games.

“We want to move from a punitive approach to a restorative one,” says Santiago. “We don’t want any kid getting the message they’re ‘bad’ or in exile.”

The practices are based in part on national models developed by the American Institutes for Research, which conducts behavioral and social science research. Implementation in Cleveland schools is overseen by the district’s Office of HumanWare and Social-Emotional Learning, headed by Denine Goolsby.

“Students are under so much pressure now, not only in Cleveland but everywhere,” Goolsby says. “We have to make sure we’re addressing what they’re actually experiencing.”

For example, she says, there are downsides to the rapid advancement of technology that gives students easier access to information.

“It used to be that if someone is bullying you at school, you could go home and it was over,” Goolsby says. “Now, that bully might continue their brutality on social media.”

Creating school environments that address both academic and social-emotional needs is a component of Cleveland’s Plan for Transforming Schools, the comprehensive strategy to provide a high-quality education for all Cleveland students.

At Muñoz Marín, Santiago says HumanWare practices are yielding results. Last school year, the first full year of implementation, there were 119 out-of-school suspensions. This year, there have been 33.

The Planning Center itself has become less busy. Last year, the room was usually full of students, most of whom were sent there against their will. Now, Santiago says, the Center is often completely empty. Students who do go often make the decision themselves.

The attendance rate, seen as an indicator of students’ happiness and engagement at school, rose to 90 percent this year, compared with 88 percent for the 2016-17 school year.

Conflict still happens at Muñoz Marín, Santiago says. But having productive ways to deal with strife has made everyone happier — not just students, but also teachers and staff.

“The school feels more like a community now, more like a family,” Santiago says. “I’m so proud of that.”

Power of the Plan: Two years in, Stonebrook Montessori receives community embrace, learns lessons
Story by Justin Glanville    Photos by Julia Van Wagenen
Two years ago, the first story in the Power of the Plan series featured Stonebrook Montessori, a public charter school that had recently opened under principal Jacqui Miller. Opening new, innovative schools is a key component of Cleveland’s Plan for Transforming Schools, the public-private partnership to ensure every child in Cleveland receives a high-quality education. In this installment, we revisit Stonebrook Montessori to see how the school has evolved in its first two years.

Stonebrook Montessori’s marketing plan for the 2017-18 school year is unorthodox yet devastatingly simple: Give every student a T-shirt.

“That’ll be about all we need to do,” says Erica Adams, community engagement and admissions coordinator, with a laugh. “Whenever we ask people how they hear about us, we hear, ‘Oh, my cousin goes here,’ or ‘I know a friend.’ It’s all word of mouth.”

The school, now in its third year of operation, has an enrollment of 180 students — nearly double its starting number.

Some of that growth is by design: Stonebrook expands annually to include another year of students. But Adams believes booming enrollment is also a sign that Cleveland families are hearing good things about the school and that community trust is building. There is currently a wait list for each age level, with demand especially strong at the primary level (ages 3-6; see sidebar).

“I think there’s been a lot of learning and understanding on all sides,” Adams says. “Families are understanding the Montessori philosophy better, students are becoming more settled, and we’re learning how to meet the needs of this particular community.”

New school, proven model

When Stonebrook opened for the 2015-16 school year, it embodied several of the ideals of Cleveland’s Plan for Transforming Schools — the public-private effort to ensure every child in Cleveland receives a quality education.

It was a new charter school, but operating under a proven educational model — an important consideration in a city where new schools have opened with big promises but failed to deliver.

Stonebrook is also sponsored by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, meaning it shares a portion of the district’s operating funds and collaborates with the district to share enrollment data and best practices.

Still, despite families’ apparent embrace of the school, Stonebrook has also experienced challenges.

Last year, only 40 percent of students passed the test the school uses for the state-mandated Third Grade Reading Guarantee. Adams believes that partly reflects a clash between standardized tests and the Montessori philosophy, which emphasizes individual learning and exploration. But she says the school must also reassess its methods.
“We’re going to go back and look at what we’re giving kids at the primary level before they reach third grade,” she says. “At the other end, we’ll ask if we’re preparing students enough for the tests.”

Many Stonebrook students also appear to prefer learning in small peer groups rather than through individual teacher-to-student interactions, which are more traditional in Montessori classrooms. That may reflect students’ cultural backgrounds in a neighborhood where many households are multigenerational or include extended family members.

But Jacqui Miller, Stonebrook’s principal, says understanding the reason is less important than accommodating it.

“We’re still observing a lot and being cautious not to assign causality to anything,” Miller says. “We want to be responsive to real needs and meet the children where they are, which is what Montessori is all about.”

Hope v. optimism

A tour of the school, which has recently expanded to include the building’s second floor, bears out her words.

One primary classroom buzzes with an assortment of group of individual activities. A boy in a blue smock fills a bowl with water, preparing to learn to wash his hands. A girl works with an assistant teacher to identify pictures of vegetables from a deck of flashcards: broccoli, cucumber, carrot.

The air of freedom is also tinged with discipline. One boy drops his crayon and complains he can’t reach it.

“You have to get up out of your chair, then,” teacher Jen Cerny tells him.

The boy stands.

“There, now you can get it,” she says.

Adams believes Stonebrook’s mix of latitude and structure, and its responsiveness to individual students’ needs, may be the main reason families are embracing the school.

“When we were new on the block, we saw there wasn’t a lot of trust in institutions or schools because people felt they’d been let down in the past,” Adams says.

Now, she and Miller routinely receive words of gratitude and thankful greeting cards from even the most skeptical parents.

Gestures such as those make Miller feel the school is on the right track.

“We’re doing the work now, seeing the results,” she says. “We’re establishing something and paying attention to the feedback. We’re saying, ‘Please give us help us do better. We’ll hear that and follow through.’”

She pauses.

“Two years ago, I was hopeful,” she says. “Today, that hope is more optimism.”

Many people know that Montessori schools are “different” from traditional schools, but the specifics may be unclear. Here are some of the distinctions most visible from a casual visit to Stonebrook Montessori:

Classrooms are organized into age groups rather than grades. Montessori schools combine students into three-year age groups, in part so that younger children can learn from older peers. The most common groupings combine students ages 0-3, 3-6, 6-12, 12-15, and 15-18. Because Stonebrook is still adding years, it currently has two types of classroom: Primary (ages 3-6), Elementary (ages 6-9), and Upper Elementary (currently ages 9-10, will grow to ages 9-12).

Instruction is oriented to individuals or small groups. Teachers typically interact with one student or several students at a time, rather than addressing a full class simultaneously. The idea is to give students individualized attention, foster creativity, and accommodate various learning styles.

Students move about freely. Rather than sitting in assigned chairs, students move around the classroom, interacting with peers and teachers and choosing from a range of learning tools set up around the room. For example, in an elementary classroom (ages 6-9), one student may have an individual conference with a teacher to review homework while a small group knits geometric patterns using multicolored yarn.

Power of the Plan story and photos by Justin Glanville

Across the city this summer, principals, teachers and administrators have been hustling to open new schools, both district and charter, in time for the 2017-18 school year. They were finalizing curricula, talking to parents and teachers, and overseeing construction crews right up until the doors opened, students arrived and the first bell chimed.

Opening new schools to serve Cleveland’s diverse population of students is a central component of Cleveland’s Plan for Transforming Schools, the comprehensive plan to reinvent public education in our city. The idea is that a variety of schools, taking different approaches, can better serve the diverse needs of today’s students than the one-size-fits-all approach of the past.

Below, leaders of two new schools — Citizens Leadership Academy East, part of Breakthrough Schools, the largest charter partner working with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and CMSD’s Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School share what it takes to launch a school, and what they’re hoping to achieve once classes start.

What are your basic goals?

John Zitzner, co-founder of Breakthrough Schools: This is actually the second location of Citizens Leadership Academy, serving grades 6 through 8. The school uses an “expeditionary learning” approach, which means students get hands-on, guided experiences outside the school building. They do activities built around answering a central question for their school year — for example, ‘What makes an engaged citizen?’

Angee Shaker, Executive Director of Portfolio Engagement, CMSD: Davis is a partnership with a nonprofit organization called PHASTAR, which connects students with careers in the aerospace and maritime industries. For this particular school, we’ve been working with PHASTAR to organize experiences we can give kids so they’ll either be ready for jobs in those fields, or just inspired by the experiences themselves — flying in aircraft, riding in boats, learning to swim.

Why start a new school?

Zitzner: Breakthrough has a growth plan where we start new schools every year in one of our various models. For this location, the idea was to locate the middle school on the same campus of Citizens Academy East, which serves grades K through 5. That way, kids can make a smooth transition from 5th grade to middle school.

Shaker: It’s part of the Cleveland Plan for CMSD to phase out underperforming schools and open new ones that will better engage students. We usually go with smaller models for new schools, so we can offer families more choices in more neighborhoods.

What are the first steps?

Shelly Saltzman, founder and head of school at Citizens Leadership Academy: We’ve been refining our curriculum and approach since the original CLA opened in 2010-11. For this second location, after completing the necessary paperwork, one of our first steps has been to work closely with the K-5 school so that all the logistics will work in terms of co-locating with them in their building. We want the flow of classes and the daily schedule to be smooth.

Shaker: For any new school, CMSD starts with an advisory committee. We try to understand who are our students and families, and we make the new school responsive to their needs. We ask, ‘What will a graduate of this school look like? What will they have learned and what will they be ready for?’ Then we move into curriculum design, hiring staff and recruiting students. In the case of Davis, we’ve been working closely with PHASTAR to establish the maritime and aerospace contacts we’ll need to build the field trips and curriculum.

How do you find the right principal?

Saltzman: Hiring a principal is the key job for any new school. The first principal of CLA East will be Ricardo Franklin (see Meet the Principals), the original CLA’s dean of students. I am so confident in him. He knows the vision of the school and what it will take to start a new location. People ask all the time, ‘Aren’t you nervous to start a new school?’ Of course, I am. But having him as our leader puts my mind at ease. I know he’s going to be a superstar in Cleveland.

Shaker: We recruited Tim Jones (see Meet the Principals), who was assistant principal at a small, innovative public school in New York City. We liked that he had experience working in a similar environment with similar goals. He’s highly driven and creative. He’s been in Cleveland a few weeks and he’s interviewing teachers all day, making contacts and arranging field trips, meeting parents.

What’s one challenge of opening a new school?

Saltzman: We’re located in a building with K-5 students. That’s nice because those students will be able to go right to middle school in the same location, but we also need to make sure we’re meeting the needs of our middle school students. They’re in a very distinct and challenging time in their lives, and facing a lot of changes within themselves. So we need to make sure we have a staff who appreciates them.

Shaker: It’s all the details. Opening a new school is very complex, between hiring and communicating with parents and figuring out what technology we’re going to use. But it’s always amazing how much comes together. When Davis opens in the fall, you will not be able to wipe the smile off anyone’s face — teachers, administrators, parents, students. After all the work we’ve done, we just feel like giving each other and the school a big collective hug.

Meet the Principals

Tim Jones, incoming principal, Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School

Coming from New York, there are a lot of things that feel similar to Cleveland. Both cities are embracing the idea of smaller schools that can become part of their communities and offer diverse experiences. There’s a lot of innovation and untraditional collaboration.

I think about Davis every second I’m awake. It’s difficult to turn it off. But it’s also a total blast, because I’m envisioning all the opportunities for the kids. To get students out in boats and planes as part of their learning experience — that’s something you can’t find anywhere else, to my knowledge. The parents are excited, the kids are excited, CMSD is excited.

Imagine being a kid coming out of high school, and for the past four years not only did you learn to graph parabolas but you were also experiencing first-hand how parabolas apply to objects moving through the air by being up in an airplane. You learned to swim, you went out on a boat, you logged hours in the cockpit of a plane. That’s a pretty amazing high school experience for any kid, one that puts them on a path where they feel inspired and empowered.

Ricardo Franklin, incoming principal, Citizens Leadership Academy East

I grew up on the East Side, going to city schools. To be able to come back and provide a great middle school right in my neighborhood is truly an honor. There’s a lot of work that goes along with it but we have a great team of people, so it’s not like I’m doing anything by myself.

Expeditionary learning is all about hands-on work. So when we look at our classroom setups, we try to make it conducive to  group projects. We call ourselves a tabletop school. We have tables our students sit around so they can share their ideas more easily than if they were sitting at individual desks. We also have outdoor learning, so we make sure our outdoor spaces are conducive to that — with community gardens and natural areas.

We shoot for a family atmosphere among staff. Once the students get here, that becomes infectious. They see what we’re trying to accomplish, and it brings everyone together.