Charter School Partners

Minneapolis, MN. 10.05.09. In just its third year, Hiawatha Leadership Academy (HLA), a Minneapolis charter school in the Nokomis neighborhood is already at full enrollment and with a waiting list. Now the school is touting test scores that are showing dramatic results for its 93% minority population, 98% of whom qualify for free and reduced lunch.

“In one academic year 2008-2009, we essentially doubled the proficiency of our students,” says Shannon Blankenship, Hiawatha’s school leader referring to tests scores from the Stanford 10 Assessment, a nationally recognized student assessment that tracks student growth and improvement.

The Stanford tests showed that at the beginning of the school year Hiawatha Leadership Academy students tested in the 19^th and 20^th percentile in math and reading tests. By the end of the year, they were in the 49^th (math) and 40^th percentiles (reading), respectively. “While these results are impressive and even greatly exceeding the aggressive goals we set for ourselves”, continued Blankenship, “we are confident that our students will continue to improve and in a few years rival the test scores of our suburban neighborhood schools,”

HLA opened in Fall 2007 as a K-1 public charter school, with plans to grow to a K-12. The school recently moved into a renovated former Minneapolis Public School building. This year the program added a 3^rd grade and will be the first year the 3^rd graders will be taking the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA’s). (Students do not take a standard test in Grades K-2 in Minnesota). Alberto Monserrate, HLA’s Board Chair said that “we could not wait three years to determine how our students were doing. We need to hold ourselves accountable and we need to make sure our young scholars are on a track for college. We are confident that HLA and its students are on that success track”.

“Our mission is to close the achievement gap in the Minneapolis, pure and simple”, says Shannon Blankenship, Hiawatha’s school leader. “It is inexcusable that Minnesota has one of the highest achievement gaps in the country. We passionately believe that the historic patterns of poverty and race can be overcome with high-quality instruction, quality teachers and a ‘whatever it takes’/‘no excuse’ attitude.” Blankenship credits his teachers, which include ten former Teach for America corps members and two current corps members for the school’s success. He says that the ‘whatever it takes’ attitude means that these teachers are working as much as 50% more hours for comparable salaries. “It’s a tremendous sacrifice, but this is what is needed for success.”

“Our mission is to close the achievement gap in the Minneapolis, pure and simple”, says Shannon Blankenship, Hiawatha’s school leader. "We passionately believe that the historic patterns of poverty and race can be overcome with high-quality instruction, quality teachers and a ‘whatever it takes’/‘no excuse’ attitude.”

Blankenship knows a little about serving inner city populations. He was a 2001 Teach for America Corps member in Harlem and also worked for a highly successful KIPP school in Oakland, CA for five years as a classroom and curriculum specialist. He also completed the prestigious Fisher Fellowship principal training program. Mr. Blankenship holds a B.A. in Political Science from Lewis & Clark College, a Master’s in Teaching from Pace University and a Master’s in Administration from National-Louis University.

In addition to a rigorous focus on literacy and math proficiency, HLA offers a number of specialty classes which include art, dance, music and technology. The school also has as much as 40% more time in school than a traditional district school, with the school hours from 7:45 am-4:15 pm and the school year running several weeks longer. HLA has uniforms, and has a special focus on character and the school-wide values, which they have called H.E.A.R.T. (Honor, Excellence, Always Try Again, Responsibility and Team).

Camille Alexander, a single mom with a full-time job has two children at HLA and couldn’t be more pleased with the program. “Every night I have to initial every piece of homework,” says Ms. Alexander. “Both my children are already good readers. I really like the uniforms and the fact that the shirts have to be tucked in. The teachers are all very nice, friendly, and good teachers too. Mr. Shannon (Blankenship) and the teachers all seem to really know and care about my kids — all the kids, really.”

Ms. Alexander particularly likes the emphasis on ‘every child going to college’. As one walks through the school the message is everywhere. Students are called ‘scholars’. First graders are often referred to as the Class of 2021.

The school’s website states: Less than one in ten African-American and Latino students in south Minneapolis go to college. It doesn’t have to be this way. Each student, parent and teacher signs the “The Commitment to Excellence Contract”, outlining the high expectations and responsibility to work together to ensure that each child is prepared for college.

The school’s ethnic breakdown is  58% Latino, 32% black,  7% Caucasian, 2% American Indian and 1% Pacific Islander. Adding to HLA’s student profile, the website again boldly adds:  “100% will be prepared for college”.

With high expectations and a focus on closing the achievement gap, HLA seems poised to become one of the Twin Cities ‘beating the odds’ urban education success stories.