MPR’s Tim Pugmire profiles Seed Academy and Harvest Preparatory School, an African American private school in North Minneapolis. The school began in 1985 as a pre-school program in its founders' house. Ten years later there are 300 students enrolled in pre-school through sixth grade.
As urban public schools struggle to increase academic achievement among many poor and minority children, Seed Academy and Harvest Preparatory School is succeeding where others have failed. Pugmire visited the school to learn how and why it works.
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TIM PUGMIRE: Seed Academy and Harvest Preparatory school are located in the same North Minneapolis neighborhood as the public elementary school named for the late African-American educator Mary McLeod Bethune. Seed Academy founder Eric Mahmoud says, he's no fan of public schools, but he emulates the work of Bethune, who stressed high academic achievement and community service among her students. Mahmoud says, his school is educating future community leaders.
ERIC MAHMOUD: The basic philosophy of our program is that our success or our failure as a community is based on our values and beliefs. And so as part of our overall program, we inculcate African culture and values. We tell our children all the time, being smart is important, but it's not sufficient.
What we really want are smart children that will ultimately make a contribution to our community. And so that's why we incorporate the values and culture.
TIM PUGMIRE: In 1985, Eric and Ella Mahmoud started the Seed Academy preschool program for 10 children, including their own, in their Minneapolis home. The Mahmoud's expanded their preschool five years later, moving into a converted grocery store. They started the elementary school, Harvest Preparatory in 1992 with 24 students in kindergarten and first grade.
There are now 188 elementary students. Ella Mahmoud moved to Minneapolis from Mississippi as a young child. She credits her family and a high school teacher with providing lessons in African-American culture and values. Mahmoud says it's important to give her students an early appreciation of their heritage.
ELLA MAHMOUD: I can look back on my own experience and say, I think I became a better person when I began to understand and appreciate the importance of who I am. So I think if these children feel that same way, they'll start at an earlier age and therefore they'll become more in tune with what other people need to know and what other people need. And based on their ability to be comfortable with themselves, they'll give more of themselves. I think people who are uncomfortable with themselves tend not to give as much as they possibly can to other people.
ANURA SI-ASAR: Now, what was the name of the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers at that time? Michael.
MICHAEL: Branch Rickey.
ANURA SI-ASAR: Branch Rickey. Was Branch Rickey really thinking of forming a new Negro baseball league, though?
TIM PUGMIRE: Teacher Anura Si-Asar leads his fifth and sixth grade students in a discussion of baseball legend Jackie Robinson as part of a reading class. Si-Asar teaches African history and culture at harvest preparatory. He says, emphasizing African-American's achievements to world history helps develop a sense of pride among students.
ANURA SI-ASAR: Getting the ground and the heritage, the values and the expectations of a culture is what we're doing here, as well as teaching everything else to become competent, confident, strong, proud young African children.
TIM PUGMIRE: Pride and increased self esteem are only part of the Mahmoud's strategy for success. Student uniforms are required. And the school boasts a rigorous academic program in all grades. Eric Mahmoud says, he's alarmed by the poor test scores of public school students, especially among African-American students. He says, socioeconomic conditions result in Black students coming to school less prepared to learn than white students.
ERIC MAHMOUD: A lot of the students, the African-American students, because of their socioeconomic background, they don't come to school as prepared as the white students, OK. They don't come to kindergarten prepared. They're not as exposed to literature.
And so once they come to school, the instruction is really not as structured. And so the students that are African-American, they fall behind. Whereas the white students, they will excel.
TIM PUGMIRE: Mahmoud says his school is programming children for success. He says his students' reading comprehension test scores have surpassed Minneapolis public school students and continue to rise.
STUDENTS: China.
PATRICE DARRYL: Spell it.
STUDENTS: C, H, I, N, A.
TIM PUGMIRE: Kindergarten teacher, Patrice Darryl, drills her students on a list of new vocabulary words. These five-year-olds also learn multiplication and history. Darryl says, some of her students are reading at nearly a third grade level. She says there is no reason for surprise at their success.
PATRICE DARRYL: And a lot of times, people don't believe children of color can rise to the occasion for education. And I know that they can. Like I said, whatever they're exposed to, that's what they're going to learn. They're like sponges. Don't put a limitation on what a child can learn based on their age or the grade that they're in.
TIM PUGMIRE: Eric Mahmoud says, when students get enough resources and support for a strong academic foundation, they can go to any school and succeed. He says, two of the school's first graduating sixth graders skipped ahead to eighth grade when they entered public school last fall. It takes a lot of money to educate children.
The tuition at harvest preparatory is $3,000 a year. Mahmoud says, over half of his students are low income and need scholarship help to attend the school. He credits the African-American community for giving him strong financial support.
The artist formerly known as Prince donated $200,000 toward the purchase of the school's current building. Mahmoud says, people recognize the need.
ERIC MAHMOUD: Education for all children, but African-American children in particular, is really a matter of life and death. It's no accident that 40% of the prison population is illiterate. So there's a direct correlation between the literacy and what happens, what you're able to do in life.
TIM PUGMIRE: Mahmoud says, the school will hire its first principal this spring. He says, he's looking for someone who shares the vision to direct the curriculum and provide instructional leadership. He says, the ultimate plan is to add grades up through high school. But the growth will come slowly. Mahmoud says, he hopes his students are an example to other urban educators, public and private, of what kind of academic success is possible for poor and minority students. I'm Tim pugmire, Minnesota Public Radio news.