Hamilton College's Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty David Paris was quoted in an article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. The article titled "City pins hope on teaching reform: America's Choice has district backing, but critics balk," discusses the "America's Choice" program.
The program, geared toward urban schools and English as a Second Language students, aims to help kids improve their test scores. According to the article: "Although it addresses parent involvement, it does not depend on it. Nor does it attempt to compensate for social and economic disadvantages. Instead, America's Choice focuses on reading, writing and mathematics and claims its aim is 'to ensure that every student is successful on local and state assessments and prepared for college.'"
...Despite the efforts by many schools to implement the program, "America's Choice" has had mixed results. ...The most important piece of making America's Choice — or any other reform program — succeed is getting the staff on board, educational experts say.
"You definitely need a buy-in from the people involved," said school-reform researcher David Paris, vice president for academic affairs at Hamilton College in Clinton. "It's not that there's one right model."
Much of the success, he said, depends on "'the Tinkerbell effect' — if you believe it will work, it will."
