ESPI is back in session....In-Person |
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Dear Friends,
Having had a successful distance learning platform for the 2020-2021 school year, we are officially back in the classrooms at The Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. Through lagging internet connections, mute buttons, and the repetition of “Can you see my screen?”, we’ve learned a lot about our scholars, teachers, interns, and near peer mentors. We are a village of thrivers, and we’ve got grit! In the face of adversity, our growing community has become stronger than ever, more compassionate, more self-aware, and more resilient.
With the ongoing support of so many of you, ESPI village was able to create spaces that promoted high levels of engagement and connections, amidst social distancing. But how do we translate what has grown over Zoom calls and Google Meets into our classrooms? Behind masks, we look for cues of understanding, nods of approval, smiles through eyes, and remnants of thumbs up in agreement. We are learning about our scholars and each other in ways that extends beyond verbal communication.
As we settle back into the halls of Silberman and get used to muffled class discussions and chatter of our scholars, we recall our mission; to provide consistent high level academic and cultural enrichment to academically advanced students from low-income neighborhoods and racially isolated schools. This is our new normal. This is why we are here; this is the joy of the work we come together to do.
Please allow me to thank you in advance for your continued support,
Vizhier Mooney
President, ESPI: City Smart Scholars
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Back in the classrooms!
The goal of our curriculum is to develop students who are capable of thinking creatively and critically when faced with any new content, no matter how challenging. Our teachers have ensured, through intellectual preparation, that our scholars are receiving an elevated level of instruction geared towards their growth as lifelong learners and contributors to society. Throughout distance learning, and in our classrooms, this remains true, and is in alignment with our focus on intensive test prep strategies and skills. We are equipping our scholars with the readiness and tools to compete among the strongest applicants for admission to New York City’s top ranked high schools.
The sixth-grade curriculum focuses on core learning in math and English. Our sixth graders have started work in pre-algebra and Hunter test prep math skills. In English, scholars are immersed in elements of culture, stereotypes, and identity in the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Scholars are developing their individual voice through essay writing and responding critically to discussion questions. Seventh grade scholars experience one’s existence in forbidden spaces in the memoir Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, as they continue with algebraic expressions in math. SHSAT prep is well underway for our continuing eighth grade scholars.
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Across the country, the buzz amongst educators and school leaders is the disparity in academic performance that the COVID-19 pandemic has left behind. Scholars, on average, could be behind by up to nine months in math. For students of color, it increased to twelve months. Our role as an academically driven organization is to partner with schools, and families to create a pathway for keeping our scholars on track and maintaining a level of engagement in our classrooms that transfers into their homes and community schools. We do some of this work by offering remote access to scholars who may be quarantined, or otherwise unable to attend in person instruction on Saturdays. In addition, we provide remote office hours on Wednesdays as a support for scholars with homework and class assignments. It takes a village, we know. |
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Summer 2021: Returning to Normalcy
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Hunter College Main Campus offered ESPI a temporary home this summer. From the morning COVID-safety screening checks to lunch in the massive dining hall, we were welcomed with open arms; social distanced of course. Maneuvering through the building took some getting used to, but that’s small potatoes when it comes to what our scholars are preparing for. The change in scenery was worth it. Our rising sixth grade scholars had started their ESPI journey remotely during the spring, summer was the first opportunity they had to meet their teachers and friends in person. The comradery within this cohort was much needed as starting remotely meant, no welcome assembly or intro day as fifth graders. Our eager interns, near peer mentors, and teachers banded together to take scholars to Central Park each day to enjoy their lunch and have their writing class perched on tree stumps or laying in the grass. To close out summer session, ESPI village enjoyed a fun day of bowling and pizza at Bowlero Chelsea Piers. This cohort’s humble beginnings are what has set them up for success this fall. |
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2019- 2021 Admissions Report by ESPI Founder Andy McCord |
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In the past six years we have worked with 331 students from 126 schools across New York City, with the large majority in the Bronx or upper Manhattan. Our students’ school communities have an Economic Needs Index of 75 percent, above the high citywide average or 71, and they are racially isolated; 83 percent of ESPI students identify as Black or Latinx, slightly above the average for their home schools.
Three classes are now in high school, allowing us to begin taking stock of how we have done in preparing students for schools that can in turn prepare them for greater options and opportunity. Less than 2 percent of these students are in schools with graduation or college preparedness rates below 90 percent, 38 attend specialized high schools, including 6 now in 9th through 11th grades at Hunter College High School, 10 at Bronx High School of Science, 6 at Brooklyn Tech and 5 at Stuyvesant.
Other students are now in schools outside the specialized high school system, including 66 at highly regarded public schools such as Bard High School Early College, Beacon, Eleanor Roosevelt, NEST+M and LaGuardia, private and parochial schools such as Regis, Horace Mann, Friends Seminary and Hotchkiss.
ESPI does not pressure our students to enroll at a specialized high school, but we do work with students to create that as an option for themselves, as well as to overcome the largely disparate results on the Specialized High School Admissions Test from Black and Latinx students, and for others outside the limited pipeline of schools that feed into the top city high schools. With three classes now to have taken the test, our acceptance rate to specialized high schools and Hunter College High school has grown to 38 percent. Among our Black and Latinx students, who complete advanced 7th grade math and ESPI’s SHSAT prep course, the offer rate is 43 percent.
On the test for Hunter College High School, which is given in 6th grade for admission to the 7th-12th grade school, we are proud to announce in 2021 four of our ESPI students succeeded out of 21 who qualified to take the test. This fall, there are 11 ESPI students in grades 7 through 11 at Hunter. We owe this success to the commitment and dedication of our teachers and students.
ESPI high school students have begun to return to ESPI’s classrooms to volunteer as near-peer mentors for younger students. This spring we will pilot a program of mentoring, group discussion and networking with outside programs, to help these students and ESPI itself develop strategies for continued success and satisfaction through high school and after high school.
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ESPI Welcomes Hunter High School Alums
Shamsa Derrick, a graduate of Yale University with a dual bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration, joins us months shy of completing her master’s degree in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies at Oxford. Shamsa is our newest teaching fellow, shadowing the 7th grade English class.
Our newest intern is Lydia Diebel, a recent graduate of Macalester College in Minnesota, where she completed a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Lydia is the lead intern for the 6th grade class. We are grateful for their dedication to ESPI and our scholars.
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Thanks to our continued success and the tireless work of founder Andy McCord, ESPI was awarded grants from Capital One, The Lauder Foundation, The New York Community Trust, HCHS Alumnae/i Association and more. As an organization that sprung from a grassroots effort, and only in our sixth year we are grateful for their support. This is much needed funding and we are truly humbled by the recognition these grants signal. Our grantors understand how our program broadly benefit the citizens of New York City, bolster upward mobility among underserved communities, and specifically address the issue of diversity in NYC’s exam schools. |
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