Brooklyn School Uses HOPE’S Six Principles to Upgrade from a “D” to an “A”

HOPE Foundation
Amber Reeves
areeves@hopefoundation.org
812.355.6003

For Immediate Release:

October 31, 2011                                            

Brooklyn School Uses HOPE’S Six Principles to Upgrade from “D” to “A”  

Jackie Robinson has just achieved the top mark of an “A” from the Department of Education, and was identified as the fifth best elementary school in New York City in The New York Times’ listing of Highest Performing Schools. These accolades were based on the progress it made in student performance, learning environment and testing population due in large part to following the principles of Corwin/HOPE’s award-winning book, Failure is Not an Option®: Six Principles that Guide Student Achievement in High-Performing Schools (FNO) by Alan Blankstein.

According to school Principle Dr. Marion Wilson, “We are a real life example that the HOPE principles from Failure is Not an Option® really do work. I will continue to lead my extraordinary school with tenacity, courage and HOPE, because at the Jackie Robinson school we truly believe that ‘excellence in education is really our only option’, and as Alan Blankstein and I agree, failure is not an option.”

Jackie Robinson, a 90 percent high poverty Title I school, with 85 percent African American children, was built on the Ebbets Field parking lot where Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers once played. The 560 students had endured five different principals in the five years before Wilson came on board.

When Wilson came to Jackie Robinson, she gave a copy of FNO to every staff member, including support staff. Throughout the years they have used the principles to guide them as they made positive change. Three years ago the principal went to a HOPE conference where she met Blankstein, who has acted as a sounding board and mentor ever since. In fact, Blankstein used Wilson’s story in his new book, The Answer Is in the Room.

“I am excited about the great progress that Dr. Marion Wilson has affected at the Jackie Robinson school. She is a real force for educational excellence, and combining her talents with the six principles from Failure is not an Option have clearly been a winning combination for both students and teachers. I have every confidence that Jackie Robinson will continue to be an example of excellence within the New York learning community.”

For more information about the six principles from Failure is not an Option®, or to learn more about author Blankstein’s newest book The Answer is in the Room, go to www.HOPEfoundation.org