Students Learn to Make a Difference
When parents and educators pulled together to start this East Oakland school, their mission wasn't just to reinvigorate education; it was to change lives. More to this story.
Release Date: 11/5/2003
Running Time: 13 min.
Video Credits
Produced, Written, and Directed by
- Ken Ellis
Associate Producers:
- Leigh Iacobucci
- Miwa Yokoyama
Researcher:
- Roberta Furger
Editor:
- Karen Sutherland
Camera Crew:
- Brian Cardello
- Ken Ellis
- Leigh Iacobucci
- Miwa Yokoyama
Sound:
- Jerry Neuman
- Lewis Block
Narrator:
- Kris Welch
Music:
- Ed Bogas
Additional Footage Courtesy of:
- KGO-TV / ABC7
- KRON-TV
- Oakland Community Organizations
- Keiko Suda
- © 2003
- The George Lucas Educational Foundation
- All rights reserved.
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Former principal Hae-Sin Kim moved on from the ASCEND School in 2004 to spend several years working with the Oakland Unified School District's New School Development Group. She recently left the district to found urbanED Solutions, a nonprofit education consulting organization. ASCEND teacher Elena Aguilar moved on to become an instructional coach -- and an Edutopia.org blogger. (Read her occasional blog posts about where these students are now, including this one.) ASCEND is still growing and going strong, with Principal Larissa Adam at the helm.



What an inspiring story. A Wonderful school making a difference in the lives of the children in their community.
Wow! Great teachers open hearts and minds!
What a wonderful school!!!! All the teachers are so brave to open up the world to your students. I
envy you and the role you have played in the lives of children. You have created true thinkers and people who truly care about their world. GREAT JOB!!
An inspiring video--ASCEND School
I was very inspired by this great video. It is very inspiring to see what teachers,parents and students can accomplish together. This is how we all have to treat our students.
Students who are really engaged with learning
Wow! This is such an inspiring video! This is video that says the truth! And life isn't an answer it is a question. They are right the students and kids have a voice and it should be heard! Good Job you guys!
Inspiring!
This is what we all dream about. Getting our students to value education, question, take risks. Way to go!
What a fabulous example of how a learner-centered school environment can create discerning, questioning, creative students completely vested in their educational experience!!
I would love to see a follow-up piece, which shows where those students are now, whether they have been able to move forward in their education with the same hands-on, inquiry driven, pertinent curriculum that got them so fired-up about learning when this video was filmed. If so, where has it lead them? If not, what got in the way?
Excellent questions. Many of
Staff comment:
Excellent questions. Many of the ASCEND students attended MetWest High School, in Oakland, another project-learning school we profiled. I believe Huber Trenado got a scholarship to Cal, and many of the other students featured have done well. We hope to do a follow-up on these inspiring kids and their teachers.
See the update in a comment above by former ASCEND teacher Elena Aguilar, one of Edutopia.org's bloggers.
Ken Ellis
Executive Producer, Edutopia video
What Happened to These Kids . . .
I haven't seen this video in a few years. It brought up so many emotions.
These students (my babies; I taught them for 3 years) graduated from ASCEND in 2004. I officially conducted research on them through high school, because I was a little obsessed with them and had to know what happened once they left us. I also wanted to know what the effect was of all this project-based, real-world learning -- on their academic development as well as in other areas of their lives.
They went to all different kinds of high schools -- from the huge traditional high school to new ones that took radically different approaches to schooling.
Last spring, I went to the graduation ceremonies for the majority of these students. As far as numbers go, I lost contact with two of the 48 I had taught. Of the remainder, 39 graduated from high school; in comparison to overall district graduation rates, this was very high.
Many of the students you see in this video are now in college. Huber Trenado, who spoke on the Today Show, is in his 2nd year at UC Berkeley, where he is studying politics (he received more scholarships than he knows what to do with). Jeremy, who was the cell about to be hijacked in the HIV movie, is studying film at UC Santa Barbara. Brenda got a 3.8 in her first semester at Mills College. Others are attending other UC or California State University schools, private colleges, and community colleges.
A handful really struggled in high school. They got caught up in the street life that surrounded them, family problems and home responsibilities became overwhelming, and a few became parents. I grieve for what they lost, what we all lost.
There's a lot to say about what effect this kind of learning had on these students. Overall, I think it gave them a lot of confidence in high school, as well as foundational positive experiences with learning. They learned how to direct their own learning, how to challenge ideas, and how to debate and conduct research. They learned that people want to hear what they think, and value their high-quality work. They also learned about the rewards of investing a great deal of time and energy into one project. They learned to persevere and also how to plan projects and manage their time. Those who went to high schools where these skills were valued and further developed really blossomed. Those are the students who in great part are the ones who are now succeeding in college.
Many of these students continue to be a part of my life. (I write about them sometimes on my blog here at Edutopia.org.) I continue to learn about what impact their years at ASCEND had on them. The story is not yet complete; it's a thrill to be a part of it, and I look forward to the next installments.
Sustainability and replication
"They learned that people want to hear what they think and value their high quality work. They also learned about the rewards of investing a great deal of time and energy into one project. They learned to persevere and also how to plan projects and manage their time."
This should be the primary focus in all schools and I don't see LNCB putting resources into this kind of learning. This is exactly the kind of K-8 school I would like to be part of in Houston ISD. This is exactly the programs I have been working on in my 20 years of teaching computer science and math.
Multiple intelligence
Would love to know more about where these teachers were trained. What an ideal school!