Extreme Makeover: School Edition

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is one of my favorite television shows. The show, which airs on ABC, is dedicated to rebuilding a family’s home when the family is in need of hope. The transformation is no mere facelift. They do not add new coats of paint, build additions to the existing structure, or put patches here and there. The old house is literally torn down. While some of the elements of the old house may be reused in new ways, what emerges is a completely new home.

Schools can learn a lot from the show. There are many students and families who have lost hope in schools all over this country. Hopeless leads to despair and disengagement. Band-aids, newsletters, and progress reports are not enough to create the extreme makeover these students and their families need.

On the television show, a small team of people arrives at the house of the family for whom the makeover is being done. They spend time getting to know the family, connecting with them, learning about each person’s unique interests, and any special needs or circumstances that must be considered in the makeover design. Community resources are then marshalled, and scores of individuals and businesses rally to create exactly what is needed for each member of the family, giving them new hope for a brighter future.

The disillusioned and disenfranchised families in our school communities are not all that different than the families on the ABC show. The specific circumstances that have led to their sense of hopelessness and despair, and caused them to disengage are not the central issue in creating change. What is important is what WE do next.

What if we sent a small team of people to the home of the disengaged family? What if we spent time getting to know them, and learning about their unique interests, needs, and circumstances? What if we reached out and helped meet those needs and began restoring hope?

Rhonda Ulmer of Van Bokkelen Elementary School in Severn, Maryland did just that. Five years ago, Van Bokkelen was one of the worst performing schools in the entire state, and was in danger of state takeover because of failure to make AYP for more than one year. Rhonda knew that something major needed to happen. And so she started reaching out to families in the community, soliciting help to get the school turned around. It didn’t take long before it was clear to her that the reason that many families were not more engaged in the school was because all of their time and energy was going to solve more basic challenges like providing shelter for their family, getting medical care for their children, putting food on the table, and trying to keep their children safe while they worked two jobs to just keep their head above water most of the time.

So Rhonda started marshalling community resources to meet the needs. She convinced the city to buy an abandoned building in the middle of the neighborhood, just up the street from the school, and put a medical clinic there. She had local groups bring first time homebuyers programs, complete with incentives that contributed down payments to purchasers completing a financial education program to the school. She brought GED programs to the school. She brought job skills training programs. She brought after school enrichment and child care programs. She brought more and more programs that addressed more and more of the basic needs the families needed. The school became the hub of the community, meeting the needs of more than just elementary aged students. As families started coming to the school to access these basic needs through the services offered there, they began connecting with teachers, with the principal, and with each other.

Five years later, Van Bokkelen has been transformed by the Extreme Makeover. Seventy-eight percent of fifth graders scored proficient or advanced in state math testing this year. The school has made AYP 4 years in a row. Grades and test scores are up across the board – but even more importantly – hope is restored to families who were desperately in need of hope – and re-engaged in the educational lives of their children.

Where will the next Extreme Makeover: School Edition be?