A focus on teaching basic reading and math in primary school ensures that children don't fall behind as they get older. Bessemer Elementary School in Colorado rewrote its curriculum to focus on remedial classes after the school was ranked dead last in the state in 1996. Since then, the proportion of students passing the reading exam has risen from 12 percent to 74 percent, and the percentage passing the writing portion has increased from 2 to 47. Parent and community involvement helps raise expectations and erase the assumption that poor children can't excel. Now, parents are proud of the school's improved record and want their children to work harder, she said.
Schools focus on results and give accountability a lot of weight.
They have a no-excuses atmosphere. Lessons must be interesting. Just because they come from a low-income home doesn't mean they have to be at a disadvantage. They looked at the work of Dr. David Sousa, an education reformer, and dozens of other researchers, and found much agreement that early exposure to the arts helps develop children's brains. There is a direct correlation, the group found, between playing music and learning math.