The West Side's learning lab // Corporations fund Lawndale school project

When Debbie Adolphson walks down the streets of Lawndale shelooks past the vacant buildings, littered lots and ominous doorwaysinto the faces of the people.

She doesn't see the "urban underclass," but fathers, mothers,grandmothers, uncles and cousins of the 30 6- to 7-year-olds sheteaches. Most of them she knows by name.

"I know where my children live," she said. "I know theircousins. I see a lot of familiar faces, bus drivers, even thehomeless people."

Aldolphson, 28, grew up in a small, all-white town in centralIllinois and now teaches at Corporate/Community Schools of America -an inner-city education experiment under way in the Lawndalecommunity.

At first she was afraid to walk around the West Sideneighborhood. But during her daily trek to Douglas Park with herstudents, she would speak to each person she passed.

"I tried to build a rapport with the people in the neighborhood.Now I know someone on each block," she said.

It is that kind of networking that is the foundation of CCSA, aresearch and development project that opened its doors three yearsago at 751 S. Sacramento in a school building leased from the Chicagoarchdiocese.

Founded by philanthropist Joseph Kellman, president of GlassGlobe & Mirror Co., the school will reach full capacity of 300students in the fall, and is operated by private donations fromcorporations and individuals.

CCSA is a corporate-managed model that Kellman hopes educatorswill look to in their search for solutions to the urban educationcrisis. The school, he says, is a place where kids can learn in anenvironment created to nurture both student and parents through anetwork of community and city services.

"Many of the parents are children themselves and are illequipped to get the kind of services they need from the community, oreven the city," he said.

"You can damn them all you want, but that doesn't help. Let'sjust help them help themselves."

After about $1 million in renovations, CCSA, with its manicuredlawns and scrubbed facade, is a showplace in an area dominated byslum dwellings and vacant lots.

In a classroom of fifth- and sixth-graders, strains from aclassical guitar drift from a cassette player while students work ingroups or individually, some sprawled on the floor.

"There is more freedom here," said Kenneth Stokes, 11, who camefrom a private school a year ago. There is no fear of drugs organgs."

Corey Jefferson, 11, transferred from public school when CCSAopened. He said its faculty has made the difference for him.

"Teaching is better here than at other schools," he said."There, they just say do it and hardly give instructions. Here, ifwe don't understand something, they try to help us with it."

Aside from the security bars at the windows of the first-floorconference room, there is nothing inside to remind the students thatCCSA is in the heart of a community where idlers languish in front ofthe liquor store across the street.

Beyond the front doors, where a security guard sits to buzz invisitors, Buster the rabbit, a school pet, greedily munches on applesbrought daily by kids from the primary classes. When the moodstrikes, he lumbers along the hallways.

Floor pillows are casually placed along the walls, invitingchildren to flop down and read under the chirping sounds of cagedbirds or watch lizards snap up snacks.

In a primary classroom, some 6-year-olds are busy making dancingAfrican dolls out of construction paper, while others sit quietly ina circle working with numbers. Crystal Thomas, 6, looks up from herart when visitors walk in and shows off her number skills by countingto 20 - in Spanish.

Elaine Mosley, the CEO and principal of CCSA, is the brainbehind the day-to-day operations of school, which is open 11 months ayear and 12 hours a day. A former principal in the Oak Park schooldistrict, Mosley earns more than public school principals, which,Kellman says, is part of his philosophy of paying top dollar for topskills.

Mosley hired 10 teachers at a salary about 10 percent morethan the average teacher in the Chicago public school system. At thebeginning of the school year, teachers are expected to visit theirstudents' homes as a way of assessing their needs.

"We take the time to learn the child's setting and try to createa lot of interaction," she said. Because of the rough area, teachersare sent out in pairs for home visits.

There are no grades at CCSA. Instead, progress is gauged byportfolios kept by students and by teachers' narrative reports,Mosley said. Together, teachers draw up individual instruction plansfor each child and develop their own curriculums, often withouttextbooks.

CCSA administers the same standardized achievement tests asChicago public schools to measure reading and math gains, but Mosleywould not give specific averages for the students, saying only thegains have been substantial.

"The children have certainly improved over the years, especiallythose who have been here for three years," she said. "Many werenon-readers and now are on grade level and above."

Students at CCSA are randomly selected by lottery. The onlyrequirement is that they live in Lawndale, an area bounded by Kostneron the west, Western on the east, 26th Street on the south andJackson on the north.

As a research and development project, the school was designedto mimic Chicago public schools in class size, while incorporatinginnovative educational techniques, such as coordinating health andsocial services, the school's project director, Primus Mootry, said.

As in public schools, class size averages 30 students. However,at CCSA, there are two age groups in each room, 6- and 7-year-oldstogether, 8- and 9-year-olds together, and so on. Two-year-olds aretaught in smaller groups of five and six.

Each teacher has an instructional aide, a college studentworking toward a teaching certificate, to help in the classroom,reducing the student-teacher ratio to 15-1, for the 250 kids now enrolled.At a per pupil cost of $4,800, CCSA's expenditure is less than the$5,733 Chicago public schools budgeted for fiscal year 1991.

Walter Kraus, the school's executive director, said one reasonfor the difference in operating costs is that CCSA, which is notfederally funded, has no restrictions on the use of its funds.

"We use our resources to the maximum extent we can. If someoneneeds additional reading help, there are no special programrestrictions," he said. "We have total flexibility on how we applyour money and that helps."

The school is open 12 hours a day, with six hours ofinstructional time. There is no cost for the extended day or earlyeducation program. An adult education program funded by CityColleges operates in the basement.

Mary Goosby, a principal at Armstrong School, 5345 W. CongressPkwy., has worked cooperatively with CCSA in professional developmentworkshops. She said the school's success is not just a matter ofmoney.

"The way your resources are used is far more important than theamount. Teachers willing to go over and beyond is better than havinga whole bunch of money or putting the money in the wrong places," shesaid. "And you have to have somebody who knows how to direct."

For most students, the CCSA school day begins with breakfast.Afterward, each child is directed in the art of properly brushingteeth.

In Adolphson's classroom, the morning routine for the 6- and7-year-olds also includes a 10-minute ritual in which they reciteworks by a black poet and work on self-esteem.

"They tell themsleves they are very special and getting betterevery day," she said. "And then they have to tell a friend."

Adolphson's curriculum includes reading and math in the morning,multicultural studies, French, music and physical education.

"At the end of each morning, we have self respect time wherechildren who have done their best are applauded," she said.

"Working at the school has been very challenging," Adolphsonsaid. My ideas are valued here and staff has some of the mostdynamic teachers I have worked with in public or private school. "Ithas taught me how to motivate children."