The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is leading a coalition to turn around the troubled schools of McDowell County, West Virginia. In doing so, they're working from what we know about student achievement: The biggest factors are found
outside the classroom. And with more than 70 percent of
McDowell students coming from homes in which no one has a job, with 38 percent of the county's residents below the poverty level in 2009, with nearly half of residents on public assistance, with the county leading the nation in overdose deaths from narcotic painkillers, these students and these schools face an enormous challenge, one that simply can't be met by just changing what's happening during the school day.
That's why this effort focuses not only on improving the schools, but on improving the life of the county by building a network of social services based in the schools. Revitalizing McDowell starts with a six-month assessment period to figure out what needs to be done and what can be done. What needs to be done is daunting: "With some areas lacking even dial-up access to the Internet, the project aims to expand broadband and cell phone coverage"; there's no rental housing, making it difficult to attract teachers to the area; kids can't do after-school activities because they'll miss the one bus of the day. But the plan goes deeper still:
Investments would also be geared to help families outside the classroom, such as better access to health care, drug prevention and treatment programs, better transportation, and more recreation.
This will be a long process, and the challenges are huge, almost unimaginable for most of us, going as they do beyond individual deprivation to an entire county with almost no infrastructure or resources. But even failure at this challenge is preferable to just giving up on McDowell County altogether.