Faith in the future

NCCU, Duke launch faith-based after-school programs

BY MICHAEL PETROCELLI mpetrocelli@heraldsun.com; 419-6617

Bethesda Elementary School Principal Doris Walker says the secret to bringing up achievement levels for her struggling students is not that complicated.

"A little more time to get the concepts" they're learning in school is the answer, she says.

A number of her students are getting more time with their academics this year as part of a new "faith-based" program launched last week between N.C. Central University and a nearby church.

NCCU and Duke University are teaming with a pair of churches this year to operate academically oriented after-school programs for struggling students in low-income neighborhoods near their campuses. The programs -- the Faith-based 21st Century Community Learning Centers -- are funded through a federal grant aimed at promoting "faith-based" educational programs, a Bush administration priority that figured in the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act.

Working with local churches to help nearby schools and students is another way for NCCU to help its neighbors, Chancellor James H. Ammons said at the program's kickoff event this week.

"These areas represent for us an outstanding opportunity" for the university to boost local schools, improve residents' quality of life and limit the number of delinquent children on the streets, he said. The Duke-sponsored program, to be held at Northside Baptist Church, 1239 Berkeley St., is scheduled to open Jan. 26.

Up to 50 elementary school students at each of the two sites will work with student-tutors on their homework in the early afternoons, and with certified teachers coming in at 4 p.m. The teachers will emphasize core academic skills like reading and math, while following the N.C. Standard Course of Study, organizers said.

Evelyn Slappy, principal at Burton Magnet Elementary School, 1500 Mathison St., said she feels her students will benefit because of the program's academic emphasis and trained staff.

"They're here with people who have been educated and know how to teach children," she said.

Bethesda Elementary School, at 2009 S. Miami Blvd., is a long bus ride away from Fisher Memorial, 420 E. Piedmont Ave., but many of its students live in or near the church's Eagle Village neighborhood, Walker said.

After attending a distant school during the school day, the students may receive some extra benefit from an after-school program in their own community, she said.

"Since they don't have a neighborhood school, this is a way to have a neighborhood focus," she said.

The program is faith-based only in that the churches are providing space and some of their members' time and energy, planners said. Discussing religion is not allowed, and religious imagery must be taken down in the areas that students will use.

Bishop Elroy Lewis, of Fisher Memorial, said that the after-school program would aid the church's mission by promoting education.

Durham schools Superintendent Ann Denlinger said she was not concerned about any overlap between the religious mission and the educational mission, saying that churches can provide an invaluable resource to schools.

"We understand about separation of church and state ... but we [also] understand that churches in communities are important places of support and modeling for young people," Denlinger said.

Walker agreed, saying that any connection that might form between the churches and the students would be a positive one.

"If they learn a church is a good and safe place to go, that's a good thing," she said.

INVESTING IN THE COMMUNITY

The Faith-based 21st Century Community Learning Centers, funded through money from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and the U.S. Department of Education, are expected to help local students raise their level of academic achievement and improve their end-of-grade reading and math test scores by at least one performance level. To that end, instructors certified according to N.C. Department of Public Instruction standards will teach the children, program director Willie Tabor said.

In addition, the four-year project will offer parenting workshops and seminars, help parents better understand the education system and teach them how to help their children excel in school, program officials said.

They noted that the 21st Century program is open to students at the 13 affiliated schools scoring below grade level on the state's most recent end-of-grade exams: Bethesda, Burton, Eastway, Glenn, R.N. Harris, Lakewood, W.G. Pearson, E.K. Powe, C.C. Spaulding, and George Watts elementary schools, and Chewning, Neal and Rogers-Herr middle schools.

Both programs -- at Northside Baptist and at Fisher Memorial -- will operate from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Alternate Saturday programs addressing academic and social issues will be provided for students and their families, as well.

For more information, contact Willie Tabor at (919) 530-7665.

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