Member Spotlight 

 

Accountability, Dedication, Teamwork Lead to Success at University Charter Academy

A turtle (top) and an African cichlid named "Killer" are part of the science lab/classroom at University Charter Academy, which has made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for six consecutive years.

 

GCSA - April 2, 2009

ATLANTA - During a morning class at University Charter Academy (UCA) recently, a young middle school student learned a hard lesson.

 

She and a small group of classmates were being disciplined because one person in the group failed to heed their teacher's directive to quiet down. When she took her protest to UCA Principal James Harris, Ph.D., she didn't get the answer she was looking for.

 

"Well, next time I guess you'll choose a better group of people to sit with, right?" Harris said. The student responded simply: "Yes, sir."

 

And that personifies the philosophy of Harris, his faculty and staff, and the school culture at UCA - a start-up charter which serves 400 students, kindergarten through eighth grade in northwest Atlanta. Be respectful, be accountable and perform. No excuses.

 

In spite of the fact that the school is located in one of the most socioeconomically depressed areas of the city, nearly 80 percent of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch and close to 10 percent are special education students, UCA has made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) - the national standard for annual school achievement, as set forth by No Child Left Behind - for six consecutive years.

 

Reading scores for UCA students consistently exceed state averages.

 

In 2005, the first year State Superintendent Kathy Cox's office began honoring schools in Georgia that made the most gains in student achievement each year, UCA was second on the list. It was one of just a handful of charter schools and the only school from the Atlanta Public Schools to make the list.

 

Last year, school leaders and parents from all over the state decried the new Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) as unfair, when 60 percent of eighth grade students failed math and social studies on the Criterion Reference Competency Test (CRCT).  UCA's eighth graders were among the 40 percent who passed math and social studies.

 

While the school building isn't at all aesthetically pleasing, what goes on inside of it is beautiful.

 

"If students aren't learning the way you're teaching, then you have to change the way you're teaching them," said Harris, in his fifth year at the school. "Once you're able to understand how they learn, then you can reach them."

 

Harris said his teachers use a number of techniques - conventional and out of the norm - all of which are grounded in the same basic philosophy.

 

"We use songs [the students] know and like. We use dances and phrases, all types of things," Harris said. "But the bottom line is we show them that we care and we encourage them, always.

 

"We celebrate every success, even the small ones," Harris said. "We give them something to make them feel worthwhile. We let them know that they can learn just as efficiently as anyone else."

 

Harris said the faculty and staff at UCA have more than bought into the school's "no excuses" philosophy. The school's custodian also handles technology and monitors the cafeteria. The person coordinating in-school suspension doubles as the lunch cashier.

 

"We have an excellent staff here," Harris said. "Everyone works as a team. We do what we have to do."

 

Unfortunately, during the current economic climate, that has meant having to cut supplemental programs like the school's social etiquette class, which Harris said is an important part of the education equation for UCA's students.

 

"It's important to show them and give them access to some of the same opportunities as others have," Harris said. "The socialization process is important because as you gain an excitement about your education, you start to advance. You move on to college and maybe even advanced degrees. The whole time you're meeting people from different backgrounds and social levels, and it's important to be able to interact with them."

 

Harris knows this first hand. He grew up poor in Birmingham, often having to walk to school in shoes that "talked" as he walked, meaning the soles had partially separated from the bottom of his shoes. But an athletic scholarship took him to Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He earned a bachelor's degree there and eventually earned two doctorates, one in linguistics and one in educational leadership from the University of Tennessee.

 

His background is the foundation for why he and the faculty and staff at UCA do what they do.

 

"We challenge our students. They work hard," Harris said. "We get some sixth graders who come here reading on a second grade level, and we work with them to pull them up. We have some first graders reading on a sixth grade level, and we continue to push and challenge them.

 

"Our job is to take these students and make them better than they were when they came," Harris said. "We want them well prepared when they leave us and go on to high school."

 

To learn more about University Charter Academy visit http://www.uca-atlanta.com/Welcome.html.