Article #12

           This is a wonderful article about two strategies for helping students and families in low income communities. I have broken the article down into two papers because there were two very distinct procedures undertaken to help the students and families in the particular study.

            The first study was about the “Partnership for the Educational Village” which took place in Lynn, MA. The partnership was a strategic alliance between Salem State College and the Robert L. Ford Elementary School in Lynn Ma. The Ford School is a public school; Salem State is a MA state college. Salem State is located about eight miles north of Lynn.

Lynn MA is a very poor industrial city north of Boston. It once boasted shoe factories, textile mills and other early 20^th century industries. Currently there is a GE manufacturing plant in Lynn. For the most part Lynn is made up of immigrant families from Latin America, South America, Cape Verde etc… At the turn of the 20^th century Irish, Poles and Italians made up much of the Lynn labor force. Historically, Lynn has always welcomed and embraced immigrants. The economic problems in Lynn are extensive; there are not many jobs in Lynn. The social problems are just as extensive; poverty, ill health, illiteracy, substance abuse, violence and trauma plague Lynn.

The first half of the study focuses on the Ford school, the Lynn Family Support Coalition and Salem State. Dr. Claire Crane is the principal at the Ford school. The Ford school is located in a tough neighborhood of Lynn. Hungry, poor students represent the majority of the student population. Students’ needs are off the charts. Poverty is the biggest inhibitor to a proper education. The family structures cannot offer the support the adolescents need to be successful. Dr Crane took an unusual approach to this issue. She reached out to Salem State’s Education Dept as well as their Nursing Dept. to enlist the help of higher education with her local problems. Dr. Crane recognized the value in using a village to rear a child properly. By enlisting the help of higher education, Dr. Crane began the process of helping the entire family unit. The Ford School became the hub of the education, health, and opportunity not just for the students themselves, but for the family unit as well. By reaching out into the community, and enlisting help from various businesses, foundations, as well as federal and state grants, Dr Crane began helping her students, their families and the local community. Suddenly, an elementary school became the hub for social, academic and health help. With Dr Crane’s help families were getting help they needed begin helping themselves. This evolution continued to move out into the community itself.

Salem State offered all types of programs free of charge to the parents and siblings of the families of the Ford School. Life skills, intergenerational math skills, family science and family literacy programs were all sponsored weekly. The Ford project offered Salem State the opportunity to have its’ students participate in real life situations. The Salem students benefitted both academically and socially from the exposure and the experience of working with immigrant families in difficult situations.

The value of Dr. Crane’s mission was invaluable. She took education single handedly to a new height. Recognizing that the State and our Government were failing the people of Lynn, Dr Crane used a grass roots approach to improving the quality of lives of not only her students but their families. Realizing that education starts first and foremost amongst family members, Dr Crane reached into the families to make sure the proper tools were there in order for her students to succeed.

Ethically Dr Crane did all that one could do in her position. She went far beyond the call of duty by educating whole families. She built a school into a community center, a place where people could find answers too many problems faced by immigrant families. She provided a safe environment where students, families and all parts of the community were welcome.

Breitborde, M., & Swiniarski, L. (2002). Family Education and Community Power: new structures for new visions in the educational village. Educational Studies (03055698), 28(3), 305-318. doi:10.1080/0305569022000003744