The Academy Times: Spring Edition
Posted on March 19, 2018 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
Enjoy our latest edition of The Academy Times!
- The Difference Between Education and Schooling
- Student Profile: Kyle Fields
- Special Feature HEZ/Social Impact Projects
- Build-A-Bed 2018
[gview file=”http://youthbuildprov.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/YB-2018-Spring-Newsletter-FINAL.pdf”]
The Rise Of The Urban Prep | YouthBuild Preparatory Academy
Posted on March 8, 2018 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
Today’s world is constantly changing. The development of technology and industry has changed everything – even compared to just a few decades ago.
So why do we remain stuck accepting centuries-old definitions of schools, and schooling? Preparatory schools are a great example of this.
Traditionally, preparatory schools were created to prepare young students for college. Usually, prep schools focused on preparing children for an Ivy League education – and traditionally, this is still their association.
We may think of prep schools as “stuffy”, or reserved only for the wealthy, and the upper class. But at YouthBuild Prep, we don’t believe in preserving these old definitions of preparatory school.
We’re part of a new “urban prep” revolution that’s spreading across the country. Learn more now. By focusing on useful, day-to-day skills as well as traditional schooling, we’re preparing a new kind of student for our modern world.
Celebrating 20 Years of YouthBuild
Posted on September 28, 2017 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
From Student to Trainer
Posted on March 29, 2017 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
By Cesar Ramirez, Construction Trainer
When I came to YouthBuild Providence as a student, it was because I felt it was my last chance to get my GED. I was tired of working warehouse jobs and wanted something better for myself. Joining YouthBuild, I realized that it was more than just a school, we’re a family.
Resilience and Dedication
Posted on March 29, 2017 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
When most students look at the clock hoping the bell would ring so they can run out into the world – Raul Lanzo stays back and take full advantage of teachers, tutors, and interns who are ready and willing to offer additional assistance with projects, homework, and online classes.
Mr. Lanzo is 18 years old and a native of Syracuse, New York and dreams of becoming forensic specialist where he can help solve unsolved murders. He also plans to open a small barbershop while working on his dream.
Raul has a 4.0 GPA and a 98% attendance after making a promise to the Executive Director if he would be allowed to attend YouthBuild he would come to school every day and on time. Mr. Lanzo lived up to his end of the promise., he has only missed a day due to illness with permission for Mr. Hubbard. Raul is an obvious example of resilience and dedication.
Meet Lucia Cipriano
Posted on March 29, 2017 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
Lucia Cipriano, a Student and Vice President of the Student Council at YouthBuild Providence pursuing her high school diploma with the hopes of becoming a police officer.
After graduation, Lucia plans to join the police Academy in hopes of working in narcotics. Currently, she works full-time at Memorial Hospital as a security officer while attending YouthBuild but maintains a 95% attendance record and a 3.85-grade point average.
Lucia recently went to Washington DC to represent YouthBuild Providence at the COYL. Because of her experience, she plans to join 1000 leaders network to be part of the conference of young leaders.
Embracing Conversations about Race in Schools.
Posted on March 13, 2017 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
By Anthony Hubbard
Discourse about race dominates American life
‘Race’ is the ugly word that dominates American life in a near complete negative manner despite the fact that large portions of the country voted twice to elect an African American president. The term race forces us to confront horrid factors such as institutionalized discrimination, widespread poverty and paranoia, distrust and despair, criminal justice failings, police brutality, and widespread racial discrimination.
In the current scenario, conversations about race extend well beyond the plight of millions of blacks. It covers Latinos, Asians, Muslims, and several persecuted minorities. Open up a prominent national newspaper or switch on cable news, and you’ll find several horrific news stories that ensure that racism remains an omnipresent conversational topic and with good reason. At most schools and colleges, we fail to sensitize America’s children about race issues at an age when their minds are very vulnerable to internalizing subtle forms of racism. Successful classroom engagement is essential to reducing problems related to race in our society.
Why We Need To Move Towards Standards-Based Learning
Posted on June 24, 2016 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
As of last year, there were an estimated 50 million students in the United States who were attending public elementary and secondary schools. Within the next few years, these children will be having full time jobs and contributing towards the growth of the nation. It is no secret that good education has an effect on progress of a people, which is why it is important to ensure that education systems are constantly evolving. In this spirit, the grading system that is employed by majority of the schools in the USA is observed to give rise to many problems, and it will have to be changed if we want the children of the future to be competent.
The present scenario
The present system makes a student sit through a class for an entire year and allows progression to a higher grade once they prove their proficiency at the end of the year. This kind of a system assumes that students have gained expertise in their subjects before they are made to sit through more advanced classes. But empirical evidence shows that students can progress to higher grades even when they are not competent enough to grasp advanced concepts.
The grading system has, for many years, been the subject of criticism as many people become acutely aware of the effect it has on children. One of the primary issues is that the grading system focuses on achieving marks, instead of learning the concept thoroughly. The intrinsic motivation for students in such a system is to get good grades, and this forces them to take lesser risks in their learning process, instead of exploring topics that lie beyond their current skill set.
The very approach to learning is corrupted when the message given by an educational institution is “grades matter more than learning”. As the students study a book with the intention of memorizing facts, their quality of understanding the essence of the text is diminished, and this effect is magnified as the students progress through higher levels of the education system.
Why improvement would not really help
Many people are of the opinion that an improvement in the education system is a necessity, but they may not be very open to completely doing away with the grading system. Several schools around the country try to augment the grading system by introducing innovative policies, yet these methods do not stand the test of time. The reason that superficial improvements to the grading system do not work is because it is psychologically flawed.
Experts of pedagogy agree that the learning process inherently motivates students, not because they stand to gain good grades, but because the subject matter interests them. The grading system, instead of acknowledging this quality, forces a structure of rewards and punishments in the hopes of spurring young minds to work harder. Studies conducted by educational psychologists reveal that simply focusing on the assessment process can undermine the quality of learning, as the students monitor their performance instead of trying to grasp the nuances of the subject matter.
How to move towards standards-based learning
The process of change towards standards-based learning is arduous and it will require the combined efforts of school administrators and teachers, if a school hopes to use such a system in the long run. To make a gradual move away from the grading system, a school administrator needs to first have extensive discussions with teachers, parents and even students about the effects of the present system. The main rebuttal people have against changing the grading system is that it becomes nearly impossible to collect data about a student’s performance. But there are far better methods of assessing mastery which involves gathering information about the capability of students.
Once a considerable number of people are in support of the idea of moving away from the grading system, a school can start to eliminate the traditional system for the youngest students, so that the system can be continued as they progress through their education. Instead of completely eliminating grades, an educational institution may choose to reduce the focus on academic success to show students that learning is more important that scoring well.
Teachers will have a major role to play in the efforts of an educational institution, as they will need to adapt to new methods of assessment. There will also be considerable resistance from parents and students alike, who will argue that excellence needs to be documented with data. When faced with such situations, remember that the goal of a school is not to grade students competitively, but to increase knowledge within each student. With persistence and skill, it is possible to eliminate the grading system and move towards a competency based learning system in the long term.
2016 Build-A-Bed
Posted on March 1, 2016 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
We are asking for community support to pull off this year’s Build-A-Bed event. As many non-profit organizations, we are having a tough fiscal year. However, the staff and students are committed to continuing to provide beds for children 12 and under who otherwise don’t have a bed to call their own.
BUILD-A-BED: Created in 2009 by two Kentucky AmeriCorps State programs, the on-going mission of this program is to build beds for children who do not have one. Research shows that poor or inadequate sleep adversely affects academics, behavior, and health in general. To date, YouthBuild students have built and delivered 200 beds to children under the age of 12 who have been living without a bed. Each child also receives a new mattress and a “bedtime bag” filled with new sheets, a pillow, new blanket, books, stuffed animal, toothbrush, and toothpaste.
We NEED your help to meet our goal of $5,000.00, which will cover the cost of the 85 mattresses needed for our May 21th event.
http://youthbuildprov.org/build-a-bed/
YouthBuild Providence is an AmeriCorps program that is partially funded through the Rhode Island Foundation, US Department of Labor, and Providence Public School Department.