Homogeneity works.
During a recent class period at McCaskey East High School, T’onna Johnson’s class discussed a film, learned about a college-visit trip, talked about designing a class T-shirt and was encouraged to sign up for a seminar on the importance of a good education.
This all happened during homeroom — that fleeting period when teachers take attendance, principals make announcements and students, usually, don’t do much of anything.
Not at McCaskey East.
Every junior at the school has been paired with an adult homeroom mentor who tries to squeeze as much information and activities as possible into six minutes each day and 20 minutes twice a month.
The intent of the program, implemented in mid-December, is simple, principal Bill Jimanez said: “Let’s make these guys think for six minutes about their future.”
Every junior — the class that will take PSSA tests this year — was matched with a teacher who already had a relationship with that pupil.
But in the case of T’onna’s class, there are other ties that bind the homeroom.
Every pupil is a black female. And their mentors are both female African-Americans. Across the hall, two homerooms of black male students are led by black men.
The all-black homerooms are part of an experiment to determine if grouping students homogeneously for a brief period each day will help them socially and academically.
“At first I was kind of like iffy because why would we be in homeroom together?” T’onna recalled. “But we work together and we do problems together, so I like it.
“Here we learn about how we can basically make a difference and how we don’t have to settle for less.”