You enter the Peabody Learning Academy through an entryway between two Macy’s stores in the sprawling Northshore Mall in Boston’s northern suburbs. It’s one of 23 alternative schools located in malls in 13 states and is supported by the Simon Youth Foundation (SYF), the philanthropic arm of the nation’s largest mall owner, which has put its real-estate muscle to work on behalf of students at risk of dropping out of high school.
Inside the school, students catch up on credits in a program that combines Pearson Education, Inc.’s NovaNET online courses with one-on-one teaching by educators determined to turn around their students’ unsuccessful experiences in high school.
The Learning Academy opened in 2010, and at the end of the first year, eight of nine students graduated and matriculated at nearby North Shore Community College. This year’s cohort of 20 students is on target for graduation, with every student committed to North Shore for September.
“It wasn’t a question of whether our students would drop, but when,” says Seith Bedard, the school’s director. “We take kids with limited success, give them structure, build their confidence, and make them leaders.”
The success here has been replicated at SYF schools across the country. The foundation was established 14 years ago by the Simon Property Group, a real estate investment trust that’s included in the Standard & Poor’s 100 index. Malls provide rent-free space for school districts and create opportunities for public-private partnerships unlikely to develop in traditional school projects.
In Peabody, merchants and local businesses have chipped in, with building trade unions and local business contributing more than $100,000 in labor and supplies to build the space, says Bedard. The academy is developing internships and after-school work opportunities. This spring, a restaurant in the mall sponsored a silent auction to help raise funds for the school.
Fears Addressed
Some critics worry about the presence of at-risk teens in a commercial environment. Others like Susan Linn, co-founder and director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood in Boston, say that learning inside the mall provides the wrong messages to the impressionable teens.
“The mere fact they are located in that environment means they are assaulted with advertising and highly sophisticated marketing message every day,” she says. “The purpose of marketing is to subvert reason to sell products. The purpose of school is to promote reason.”
But J. Michael Durnil, president and chief executive officer of SYF, says the location, removed from the conflicting demands of the traditional high school environment, can be life-changing. He also points out that traditional public schools have commercial messages, as well.
“Public schools have scoreboards sponsored by Pepsi, so how is that any different?” Durnil says.
A 2009 study by Center for Evaluation and Education Policy found “overwhelmingly positive results,” with a 93 percent graduation rate at SYF’s schools. In 2011, some 10 SYF schools had a 100 percent graduation rate, Durnil says.
Inside the school, students catch up on credits in a program that combines Pearson Education, Inc.’s NovaNET online courses with one-on-one teaching by educators determined to turn around their students’ unsuccessful experiences in high school.
The Learning Academy opened in 2010, and at the end of the first year, eight of nine students graduated and matriculated at nearby North Shore Community College. This year’s cohort of 20 students is on target for graduation, with every student committed to North Shore for September.
“It wasn’t a question of whether our students would drop, but when,” says Seith Bedard, the school’s director. “We take kids with limited success, give them structure, build their confidence, and make them leaders.”
The success here has been replicated at SYF schools across the country. The foundation was established 14 years ago by the Simon Property Group, a real estate investment trust that’s included in the Standard & Poor’s 100 index. Malls provide rent-free space for school districts and create opportunities for public-private partnerships unlikely to develop in traditional school projects.
In Peabody, merchants and local businesses have chipped in, with building trade unions and local business contributing more than $100,000 in labor and supplies to build the space, says Bedard. The academy is developing internships and after-school work opportunities. This spring, a restaurant in the mall sponsored a silent auction to help raise funds for the school.
Fears Addressed
Some critics worry about the presence of at-risk teens in a commercial environment. Others like Susan Linn, co-founder and director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood in Boston, say that learning inside the mall provides the wrong messages to the impressionable teens.
“The mere fact they are located in that environment means they are assaulted with advertising and highly sophisticated marketing message every day,” she says. “The purpose of marketing is to subvert reason to sell products. The purpose of school is to promote reason.”
But J. Michael Durnil, president and chief executive officer of SYF, says the location, removed from the conflicting demands of the traditional high school environment, can be life-changing. He also points out that traditional public schools have commercial messages, as well.
“Public schools have scoreboards sponsored by Pepsi, so how is that any different?” Durnil says.
A 2009 study by Center for Evaluation and Education Policy found “overwhelmingly positive results,” with a 93 percent graduation rate at SYF’s schools. In 2011, some 10 SYF schools had a 100 percent graduation rate, Durnil says.
Finding the Right Fit
James Wigo, superintendent of the Rose Tree Media School District in suburban Philadelphia, says the school in the Granite Run Mall has worked for students who haven’t thrived in the nearby comprehensive high school. But he says the schools are not merely alternatives to expulsion.
“We simply have kids who are square pegs trying to fit into round holes,” he says. “We have applied every intervention, and it hasn’t worked. So rather than cut them loose, we provide the scaffolding to help them hang in.”
At the Huntington Beach Union High School District in southern California, Andrew Quinones, 16, botched his freshman year, earning just 22 of 60 possible credits. He didn’t pay attention in class. He blew off his homework. He gave up.
The SYF program in Westminster Mall, now in its ninth year, enabled him to turn his academic career around. By the spring of 2012, he had As in four subjects and a B-plus in a fifth.
“I really like the smaller classroom,” says Quinones. “The teachers were there to give me more attention. Now I know when to ask for help, and then I can do it myself.”
A visit to the Peabody school provides a glimpse at how the blended program works. In each classroom, 15 computer terminals are on desks facing three walls. Above each terminal, students have decorated their space with posters and examples of their best work. The teacher’s desk stands in the center of the room, with a chair for students to receive personal tutoring.
The school day is divided into five 90-minute classes. Students learn at their own pace, which allows many to earn up to two years of credit in one year. Bedard says it takes students from 44 to 107 days to complete English 10 using Pearson’s software. If a student fails to progress, the software’s metrics allow Bedard to analyze where he or she is stuck and to provide personal instruction to get the youngster back on track.
Bedard requires students at the Learning Academy to pass four years of mathematics in order to graduate. Some of his students flunked freshman math three times. Now they pass. Now they graduate.
“The structure magnifies their weak spots, which helps us root out the problem,” he says. “They get caught up. They get to move on.”
David McKay Wilson, a columnist at The Journal News in White Plains, NY, writes regularly for Harvard Education Letter.
James Wigo, superintendent of the Rose Tree Media School District in suburban Philadelphia, says the school in the Granite Run Mall has worked for students who haven’t thrived in the nearby comprehensive high school. But he says the schools are not merely alternatives to expulsion.
“We simply have kids who are square pegs trying to fit into round holes,” he says. “We have applied every intervention, and it hasn’t worked. So rather than cut them loose, we provide the scaffolding to help them hang in.”
At the Huntington Beach Union High School District in southern California, Andrew Quinones, 16, botched his freshman year, earning just 22 of 60 possible credits. He didn’t pay attention in class. He blew off his homework. He gave up.
The SYF program in Westminster Mall, now in its ninth year, enabled him to turn his academic career around. By the spring of 2012, he had As in four subjects and a B-plus in a fifth.
“I really like the smaller classroom,” says Quinones. “The teachers were there to give me more attention. Now I know when to ask for help, and then I can do it myself.”
A visit to the Peabody school provides a glimpse at how the blended program works. In each classroom, 15 computer terminals are on desks facing three walls. Above each terminal, students have decorated their space with posters and examples of their best work. The teacher’s desk stands in the center of the room, with a chair for students to receive personal tutoring.
The school day is divided into five 90-minute classes. Students learn at their own pace, which allows many to earn up to two years of credit in one year. Bedard says it takes students from 44 to 107 days to complete English 10 using Pearson’s software. If a student fails to progress, the software’s metrics allow Bedard to analyze where he or she is stuck and to provide personal instruction to get the youngster back on track.
Bedard requires students at the Learning Academy to pass four years of mathematics in order to graduate. Some of his students flunked freshman math three times. Now they pass. Now they graduate.
“The structure magnifies their weak spots, which helps us root out the problem,” he says. “They get caught up. They get to move on.”
David McKay Wilson, a columnist at The Journal News in White Plains, NY, writes regularly for Harvard Education Letter.
