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North Star Academy Charter School of Newark (NJ), named for Frederick Douglass' abolitionist paper The North Star, promotes higher education as the guiding "north star" of success for its inner city students, the majority of whom are African-American.

The story of North Star Academy begins with James Verrilli, a teacher in the Newark public schools, and Norman Atkins, a journalist with a private foundation, both of whom set out to improve the outlook for students in the second poorest city in the United States. In 1997, the year that North Star was founded, only 50 percent of freshmen enrolled in Newark high schools reached their senior year.  Of those, only 26 percent planned to attend college, six percent actually enrolled, and only two percent earned degrees. Now in its ninth year of operation, 100 percent of North Star's class of 2005 graduated and 95 percent went on to college.

North Star began as a middle school, but was expanded to serve high school students at the request of local parents who wanted better school options for their students after the eighth grade. The school currently serves 384 students in fifth through twelfth grade, with 125 students in the high school section. Ninety-nine percent of the students are African-American or Hispanic. All students who are accepted through the school's lottery system understand that they will be required to work hard throughout North Star's 11-month academic year. To graduate, students must take four years of English, mathematics, science, and history, and three years of foreign language, physical education, and the arts. North Star also encourages its students to enroll in Advanced Placement calculus, U.S. history, U.S. government, and English.  All classes offer honors-level, college-preparatory work. Additional graduation requirements include passing the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment, completing a senior thesis and composition, taking the SAT at least twice, engaging in 40 hours of community service, and applying to at least two colleges.

North Star also offers internships and special programs. For example, there is a journalism project in partnership with Princeton University, a Junior Statesman program through Georgetown University , and an FBI Summer Training Institute. Students who keep up their grades may spend a month off campus on work sites or traveling to foreign countries. Through a partnership with AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc., North Star students can spend time in China, Paraguay, Costa Rica, and Argentina. A relationship with VISIONS Service Adventures enables students to volunteer in Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.

Two of North Star's most innovative features are its use of data to inform instruction and its commitment to ensuring that all students understand the subject matter they are taught. Every six to eight weeks, teachers administer a set of interim assessments that are aligned with state standards and the school's curriculum. Teachers, department chairs, and the school principal examine the results and determine which students need additional help. Teachers then re-teach key concepts to the whole class or offer tutoring to individual students before, during, or after the school day. North Star also offers a Saturday tutoring session, so that no student slips behind.

Another distinctive element at the school is the principal's presence as an instructional leader. Every day, high school principal Julie Jackson and the principal at North Star's sister middle school visit at least 85 percent of classrooms. The principals observe classes, provide informal feedback to teachers, and use data from the interim assessments to draw connections between instruction and student learning.

The hard work of principals, teachers, and students at North Star Academy Charter School of Newark appears to be paying off with 100 percent of twelfth grade students in the class of 2005 passing the New Jersey High School Statewide Assessment, compared to 85.1 percent of students statewide, 44.2 percent of students in the district, and 19.5 percent of students in neighborhood schools. With the highest rate of four-year college acceptance and attendance of any school in New Jersey, North Star's success with some of Newark's most needy students offers a model for other schools across the country trying to eliminate the achievement gap.

(The preceding is adapted from The Educational Innovator, U.S. Dept. of Education, Nov. 17, 2006)

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"Anyone really working at changing the establishment is bound to be in trouble much of the time. And leaders who are successful in even a small way are usually in big trouble." p. 14, Hierarchy, Power, and Women in Educational Policy Making, Leadership Training Institute, Washington, DC: IEL Reports, August 1975.

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Copyright 2006 David W. Kirkpatrick
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