THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
OFFICE OF NEWS AND INFORMATION
901 S. Bond Street/Suite 540
Baltimore, Maryland 21231
August 23, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACTS: Chris Atkins Godack, JHU School of Education
410-516-8590, or cgodack@jhu.edu
Dennis O’Shea, JHU
443-287-9960, or dro@jhu.edu
Patricia Welch, dean, Morgan State University School of Education and Urban Studies
443-885-3385
The Johns Hopkins University School of Education and Morgan State University’s School of Education and Urban Studies have joined forces in a university-school initiative to help transform the East Baltimore Community School into one of the best schools in the city.
The EBCS, an elementary/middle school temporarily located at 1101 N. Wolfe St. near the Johns Hopkins University East Baltimore campus, is a contract school for approximately 260 students in kindergarten and first, second, third sixth and seventh grades. Grades four, five and eight will be added incrementally.
Both the Johns Hopkins School of Education, or SOE, and Morgan State University’s School of Education and Urban Studies have already been integrally involved with the startup of the school, and representatives of each school have served on governance committees, advised the principal and staff, and participated in the design and implementation of best practices in the school. Specifically, Morgan State University’s School of Education and Urban Studies will assume the primary governance representation of the partnership, with the JHU School of Education assuming the primary responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the school through a contract with the EBCS board.
Both education schools will provide opportunities for student practicum and internship placements; provide professional development through committing faculty expertise to key issues; seek external funding for program development, implementation and evaluation; and work with partners (district, city officials, foundations, community representatives) to remove barriers and create additional opportunities for the success of the school.
In August 2013, EBCS will relocate to a new $30 million, 90,000-square-foot facility on a 7-acre campus within the East Baltimore Development Inc. redevelopment area, 88 acres north of the university’s East Baltimore campus. EBCS will share that site with a $10 million, 28,000-square-foot early childhood center, or ECC. The capacity of EBCS and ECC will be approximately 540 and 180, respectively. Children of catchment area residents and families relocated from the EBDI redevelopment area will be given priority for enrollment. The remaining capacity will be filled by children of persons who work within the catchment area, families living in zones 250, 36, 97, 25 and 13, and at-large children citywide.
The EBCS will be the first new school built in East Baltimore in 25 years and will be built with creative financing sources, including New Market Tax Credits, TIF funds, Johns Hopkins University contributions and private philanthropy. No Baltimore City Public Schools capital funds will be used. The campus will also include a gym, auditorium and library, all available for community use. The overall campus will serve as a community hub for family engagement, citizenship, and wellness. The school was previously operated by EBDI, a non-profit entity created to oversee the area’s redevelopment.
The EBCS and ECC will provide models of the most contemporary, effective approaches to meeting the needs of students, their families, and the community. The school will take a holistic approach to developing the potential of each student, one that focuses on the behavioral, cognitive and physical health of the child, on individualized learning, and on family and community involvement supported by wrap-around services. In addition, the SOE plans to use the nationally recognized evidence-based work of Robert Slavin, SOE faculty member and director of the Success for All Foundation, for much of the school’s curriculum. Slavin, a top winner in the recent federal I3 competition, was awarded a $50 million grant to expand the dissemination of his work nationally. The SOE is currently leading a committee in a national search to select a new principal for the school. Carol Deloatch, the EBCS’s assistant principal, is currently serving as interim principal.
There are a number of partners involved in this project, including the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Weinberg Foundation. In addition, there are various Johns Hopkins entities whose expertise will be fully tapped, including the university’s Center for Research and Reform in Education, Center for Talented Youth, Peabody Institute, Center for the Social Organization of Schools, Urban Health Institute, Center for Social Concern, and the schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health. The SOE and the Morgan State University School of Education and Urban Studies will also work closely with Teach for America to jointly provide emerging teachers.
The SOE recently received a $1.5 million start up gift from the Windsong Trust to support the EBCS with funds going towards needed equipment, curriculum design and implementation, initial teacher recruitment, and professional development.
To refer to updates on the EBCS and this unique university-school partnership, please visit http://education.jhu.edu/ebcs.
###
Johns Hopkins University news releases can be found on the World Wide Web at http://releases.jhu.edu/
Information on automatic E-mail delivery of science and medical news releases is available at the same address.