(2010-10-13) Harlem Childrens Zone Test Score Challenges

Geoffrey Canada and his Harlem Childrens Zone Charter School-s have struggled with the same difficulties faced by other urban schools, even as they outspend them. After a rocky start several years ago typical of many new schools, Mr. Canada’s two charter schools, featured as unqualified successes in “WaitingForSuperman, ” the new documentary, again hit choppy waters this summer, when New York State made its exams harder to pass. A drop-off occurred, in spite of private donations that keep class sizes small, allow for an extended school day and an 11-month school year, and offer students incentives for good performance like trips to the Galápagos Islands or Disney World.