For a school, the average cost of adopting the School Achievement Structure is $88,000, with most of the money going for a coordinator, who may work up to four days a week at the school.
The fee also pays for staff members to attend three annual, citywide conferences, smaller conferences involving three or four schools, and summer workshops.
Schools have been using state Chapter 1 funds to foot the bill, reports SAS Director Kymara Chase.
The 17 persons currently serving as coordinators include retired principals, university academicians and others on loan from the public school administration, according to Chase.
“We try to use coordinators who have specialized in certain areas,” she says. “We need early-childhood people and experts in administration and management.”
SAS was launched last year in 13 schools, but three schools—Mayo and McCorkle elementary and Juarez High—dropped out, and one, Arthur Ashe, is following the principles on its own. SAS now is in 20 schools, including four that are on remediation:
ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE SCHOOLS Brown, Curtis, Dyett, Gregory, Kellman Corporate, Lewis, Libby, Mays, Overton, Price, Spencer, Tilton and West Pullman.
HIGH SCHOOLS Austin, Calumet, Flower, Tilden, Near North, Phillips, and Westinghouse.