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ConSoné Academy, Where Middle School Girls Can Develop Their Voice(s)


Concept
  
  The project
The current focus of our project is to establish residence and ready the opening of ConSoné Academy to its inaugural 5th- and 6th-grade classes.

ConSoné Academy is a tuition-free, all girls’ middle school with a choral focus similar to that of Cambridge’s St. Paul Choir School.  The highly structured paradigm will include an extended day and school year, rigorous academic standards, high expectations, value formation, summer intensive study, and graduate support.

  The organization and mission
ConSoné Academy is an independent, tuition-free, urban school, providing a highly structured, values-oriented education to promising and motivated girls in grades 5-8, serving students of all faiths from low-income families, and preparing them for admission to high schools and colleges—challenging each to achieve her highest potential and to attain academic competence, confidence, curiosity, integrity, and hope.  A special emphasis in choral music education will strengthen a traditional curriculum, empowering middle school girls to develop their voice, musicwise and otherwise.

The heart of ConSoné's mission is aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty through education and transforming the lives of young women through the power of music.

  The vision
ConSoné Academy will extend a lifeline and an opportunity for girls to study solid academics—hard, long, and late—with an intense after-school program that not only keeps them off the streets but also exposes students to the practical applications of classroom knowledge, engaging them with positive activities so they can develop academically, spiritually, socially, and culturally.  The expectation for all ConSoné matriculates is to keep their eyes on the prize:  graduating college. 

ConSoné Academy will motivate and mentor young women to become extraordinary citizens, inspiring them to find new ways to change the world—through music, through their voice(s).

  The rudiments
The teaching and learning priorities and initiatives are direct corollaries of the ConSoné mission.  The vast educational research of the following components was key in establishing the ConSoné mission and will focus our instruction and methodologies.

  • Girls

  • Music

  • Teachers
  • Rigor

With regard to the girls, research has shown that, during the middle school years, many students find success more easily when they can learn in a single-sex environment and where appropriate services address girls’ special needs and those that put them at risk during these years.  Studies have revealed a noted difference in brain development by gender, and how a combination of community, culture, and climate in a single-sex environment:

  • Propels achievement

  • Motivates girls
  • Instills qualities necessary for success1

Music is key at ConSoné Academy.  ConSoné seeks to encourage broad thinking and active listening, teach delivery and acceptance of constructive criticism, plant the seeds of wisdom, and nurture a life-long commitment to creative expression, all resulting in the development of individuals who are capable of effecting positive change in the world around them.  Research reveals strong correlations between quality music education in school and academic achievement.

 

The benefits conveyed by music education can be grouped in four (4) categories2:

  • Success in Society

  • Success in School

  • Success in Developing Intelligence
  • Success in Life

ConSoné builds on an extensive body of research that shows that “teacher quality is the most important educational input predicting student achievement.”3  The ConSoné Founders are of the belief that teachers are the key personnel in achieving educational success for its students.  The priority is to hire the best teachers who will use best practices to strengthen teaching and learning to fulfill our academic promise to our stakeholders—most especially, “the girls.”

 

The effects of highly-effective teachers are profound for students at all ability levels, but they are particularly striking for low-achieving students.  Studies demonstrate that, when learning from the most effective teachers, high achieving students improve by 25 percentile points (as compared to a 2 point gain with the least effective teachers), while low achieving students improve by more than 50 percentile points (as compared to a 14 point gain with the least effective teachers).4

 

Having attained knowledge in the areas bulleted below, our faculty will be able to present a standards-based curriculum and provide individualized instruction with such methodologies as:

  • RBT:  Research for Better Teaching, Jonathon D. Saphier, Ed.D.

  • EMI:  Empowering Multi-cultural Initiative, EDCO Collaborative

  • UBD:  Understanding By Design, Wiggins and McTighe

  • MI:  Multiple Intelligences, Howard Gardner
  • AMLT:  A Music Learning Theory, Edwin E. Gordon

 

Finally, it is the rigor of a comprehensive paradigm and a culture of high expectations which will boost student achievement.  Research provides compelling evidence that when children are given a challenging academic curriculum and supported by high expectations, they can and do achieve at high levels.5

 

Our school is designed around the following:

  • The Academic Program
  • The Chorus Program
  • The After School Program
  • The Athletic Program
  • The Community Service Learning Program
  • The Evening Study Program
  • The Summer Intensive Program
  • The Graduate Support Program
  • The Meal Program
  • The Volunteer Program
  • The Faculty Mentoring Program
  • The Professional Development Program


  The distinction
The heart of ConSoné's mission is aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty through education and transforming the lives of young women through the power of music.  "... A special emphasis in choral music education will strengthen a traditional curriculum, empowering middle school girls to develop their voice, musicwise and otherwise."  Excerpted from "Mission Statement."  ConSoné Academy, Where Middle School Girls Can Develop Their Voice(s).

Strategically, at ConSoné, The Chorus Program is a prominent part of the academic core—Every student will rehearse together every day.  Every week, each student will also have a music skills class.  Concerts will be performed on- and off-campus throughout the year.  ConSoné students will have opportunities to attend concerts, prepare for auditions, and participate in festivals.  Additionally, a SummerSing session will run concurrently with the Academy's required Summer Intensive Program.  ConSoné’s comprehensive chorus program will ensure music preservation, music education, and music awareness for all students.  ConSoné Academy will use music as a powerful tool for social change in three (3) primary domains:  youth development, social healing, and community building.

  • In youth development, it will encourage risk-taking in girls and give them an intensive music education and performance experience that will teach analytical, creative, communication, leadership, and teamwork skills.
  • In social healing, it will bring together children, families, and community leaders from diverse backgrounds to celebrate cultures, develop relationships, and break down social barriers. 
  • In community building, it will empower the girls to serve as ambassadors for their school as well as contribute something unique and valuable to the community.

Within the context of an intellectual and artistic community, The Chorus Program will foster
  • Active Listening
  • Aesthetic Sensitivity
  • Broad Thinking
  • Commitment
  • Confidence
  • Delivery and Acceptance of Constructive Criticism
  • Discipline
  • Ensemble
  • Musicianship
  • Poise
  • Celebration

Developing an outstanding chorus program, where girls' voices are heard and their talents flourish, will not only bring recognition to ConSoné but also heighten its mission.

  The outcomes
ConSoné Academy’s mission is at the heart of the school.  All practices, goals, planning, duties, and responsibilities will be guided by and for this purpose.  In addition to ConSoné being an academic institution, it is also a business.  To ensure the efficiency and effectiveness related to all corporate affairs of the 501(c)(3) ConSoné Academy, Inc., best practices will be implemented, followed, and evaluated.
  • To meet the ambitious timetable for opening its school, it is essential to secure financing in order to lease a facility and hire faculty and staff.  Our initial success will be realized when we open the doors to ConSoné Academy’s first classes in September 2010.

  • ConSoné Academy will provide a quality middle school education based on national standards and benchmarks for each core subject area and aligned with the requirements of a traditional college preparatory high school.  Grade-specific and subject-specific assessments as well as standardized tests and other appropriate assessments will be administered to students for measuring learning outcomes, levels of achievement, and mastery.  Additionally, where chorus is a part of ConSoné’s academic program, excellent choral artistry is valued and will be evaluated.

  • Perceptional surveys will be undertaken to determine where students are when they come into school vs. when they leave.  School reports, attendance, retention, graduation rates, and behavior are also part of assessment.  Social growth of each student will be witnessed daily--and yearly, beyond ConSoné Academy's middle school years.  Ultimately for the girls, high school and college placement, matriculation, and graduation will further depict their success  In tandem, the resulting data (statistics that we project to be higher than the inner-city averages) will reflect the success of ConSoné's rigorous program.

  • The ultimate hope is that ConSoné Academy will help transform girls by promoting girls’ self-sufficiency, self-esteem, and taking responsibility for their lives.  They, in turn, can then revolutionize their community.  Subsequently, the whole society becomes invested in the renewal process. 

  • Ideally, ConSoné Academy will be a beacon for education reform and a model to be replicated.


  The population served

We have chosen to educate preadolescent and adolescent girls because there is a need:  there is an urgent need for a holistic, individualized, and integrated approach to education for urban middle-school girls who are excluded from society’s advantages, for whom a private education is prohibitive, and where dropout rates are high. 


ConSoné Academy, slated to open in Boston, will serve at-risk, low-income, middle school girls from the city at-large.  Full enrollment will be 60 students, grades 5-8.  ConSoné is committed to its students not only in middle school but also in high school and college.  The expectation is that all ConSoné students will go on to some form of post-secondary education.


ConSoné Academy is truly a community of learners--where students receive a sound education, and a new cadre of teachers is trained.  In a unique dual learning-to-teach and teaching-to-learn opportunity, volunteer teachers will be mentored by experienced educators.  Volunteer teaching service at ConSoné in conjunction with graduate study at one of Boston's colleges offers an Alternative Route to Teaching certification. 


  The admission process

To qualify for admission, families will be required to submit proof that their child is eligible to receive a free or reduced lunch.  Families will also be required to submit a copy of their most recent federal tax return.  Parental involvement is required.


ConSoné Academy admits students of any race, color, national origin, and ethnic origin, to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the Academy.  It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.  Our school is committed to helping deserving students have the opportunity to attend.


In assembling a new entering class, ConSoné seeks a diverse group of students whose differing interests, backgrounds, and talents will combine to form a unique, dynamic, and balanced class.  ConSoné takes into consideration past school performance, standardized test scores, teacher and personal recommendations, impressions from the personal interviews, and the completion of all application forms, plus a vocal audition.  ConSoné is also interested in evidence of a candidate's non-academic involvement and achievement in areas such as athletics, the visual and performing arts, and community service.






1  The Girls’ School Experience:  A Survey of Young Alumnae of Single-Sex Schools.  Executive Summary, October 2005.

2  Facts compiled by MENC:  The National Association for Music Education “Benefits of Music Education” Brochure, Spring 2002.

3  Dan Goldhaber and Emily Anthony, “Teacher Quality and Student Achievement,” ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, Urban Diversity Series No. 115, May 2003: 1.

4  William L. Sanders and June C. Rivers, “Cumulative and Residual Effects of Teachers on Future Student Academic Achievement,” Research Progress Report, University of Tennessee, Value Added Research and Assessment Center.

5  The Education Resources Institute, Inc. Pathways to College Network.  www.pathwaystocollege.net