Curriculum Harriet Tubman Learning Center

Curriculum

Harriet Tubman Learning Center is an inner-city school serving pre-K-5 students. There are nearly 700 students; more than 80% are African-American and approximately 17% are Hispanic. More than 10% are from different cultures and come to the school with little or no knowledge of English. The school is comprised of around 60% females and 40% males. All children are from economically disadvantaged families, but, despite this obstacle, many still strive to be exceptional performers and have the capacity to do so. For this reason, Harriet Tubman created a teacher mentoring program and reached out to the family and the community.

One of Harriet Tubman's major issues has been the lack of experience among new teachers. One study by Doctor Arthur Levine described that education programs are handing out certification too quickly due to the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act (Levine, 2002).

The majority of teachers working in the poorest schools are unfamiliar with the environment. Teachers learn best by teaching. If they are guided through the process, they are more likely to adjust and become better teachers. The administration developed a plan to train novice teachers through a mentoring program. "It works, leaders say, because it gives top-notch teachers a stake in improving standards and holding colleagues accountable." (Dell'Angela, 2000) the mentor teacher has to spend twenty hours per semester with new teachers to help them improve their skills. This helps new teachers adjust to the profession as well as weeds out those out who do not belong. If teachers fail to meet the standards of their mentor teacher, they can be fired. Consequentially, this has encouraged teachers to work harder to improve their class and gives an honest assessment of their teaching performance.

Parent and community involvement has also been an important part of reform with monthly workshops to explain the curriculum, student activities and state testing requirements. Staff has also made it clear to parents that they are welcome at the school anytime.

Studies have demonstrated that parents have a significant impact on the child's learning process (National Center for Family Literacy, 1995) and this has definitely proven to be the case at Harriet Tubman. However, initial efforts to include the family and the community once again raised questions about teacher training, this time in the area of teamwork where the teacher would have to engage in a three-way partnership with the principal, other teachers and parents. This concern was addressed in the mentor teacher training program.