Dive Brief:
- The high-poverty 186th Street School in the Los Angeles Unified School District collaborates with physicians in the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center’s pediatrics department for a specialized science curriculum geared toward gifted fifth graders.
- District Administration reports the physicians initially approached the school about the collaboration in 2015, which now brings 30 volunteer pediatric residents to teach two-hour, biweekly modules to a cohort of 40 students.
- Besides their regular coursework, students get to visit the medical center at the end of the school year and observe doctors and technicians at work, and other Los Angeles schools have since adopted the program.
Dive Insight:
Specialized programs that focus on science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) fields can go a long way to introducing students to previously unthinkable career options. If students don’t ever see anyone in specific roles, it is harder for them to consider them as possibilities for their own lives. These early programs also create opportunities for students to connect with adult mentors, who can remain in their lives throughout high school, college and even career.
This networking component is often an afterthought for schools, but Julia Freeland Fisher, director of education at The Clayton Christensen Institute, says helping students build social capital is key. Especially in Title I schools, like Los Angeles’ 186th Street School, students are less likely to benefit from social capital collected in their homes or neighborhoods.