Principals Praise University Cooperation

Friday, February 2, 2001

Duke's decision to form special partnerships with seven of Durham's public schools has resulted in increased arts programming, improvements in student achievement, enhanced teacher development and rising principal satisfaction in those schools, according to school officials. Eunice Sanders, principal of Rogers-Herr Year-Round Middle School, told how Duke's Office of Information Technology has donated computers. Equally crucial was getting her teachers to make better use of the Internet in their classrooms with instruction from Duke librarians and financial support from a $250,000 AT&T grant. The Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership Initiative was launched in 1996 by President Nannerl O. Keohane to strengthen and focus the university's ties with the community. Duke formed partnerships with 12 neighborhoods closest to campus, and the seven public schools that serve them. Those schools are Durham School of the Arts, Rogers-Herr Year Round Middle School, Lakewood Elementary, Morehead Montessori, George Watts Elementary, E.K. Poe Elementary, Forest View Elementary. Duke works with residents and school officials to empower them to achieve goals they identify. As a result of the focus, Burness said, E.K. Powe Elementary teachers, with help from a partnership including Duke and the N.C. Museum of Life and Science, are going to get a much-longed-for, hands-on science lab. More than 70 Duke retirees have "adopted" Lakewood Elementary and have beautified the grounds, provided tutoring and library support and secured donated computers from Duke. Dozens of Duke student tutors in the America Reads programs were placed in Watts Elementary, which serves one of the most disadvantaged student populations in the system. The effort to increase Duke effectiveness is working, said school board chair Kathryn Myers, in an interview. "I've been on the board 13 years and have always appreciated Duke as a corporate citizen and its vast and wonderful contributions to the schools," Myers said. "But without direction and focus, it didn't translate into a sustained benefit. With the targeted focus we're seeing real positive results. I'd really like to explore the possibility of offering this as a model to other schools and university communities." One indicator of the partnership's success is reflected in school leadership. Of the 44 schools in the Durham Public Schools system, only nine have the same principals they had in 1997. Four of those nine principals lead Duke partnership schools. Hill said in an interview that the low turnover is not coincidental. Duke helped break the isolation of principals by organizing quarterly meetings where they can brainstorm about shared challenges and explore new approaches, she said. "It's the whole feeling of support and having the university behind the schools," said Hill, whose school was recently named N.C. Entrepreneurial School of the Year. "Duke really provides a strong anchor."