Eastside Multicultural

The new rage in education across the country is Charter Schools. Florida has more than 30.. including one in pinellas county and three in Hillsborough County. One of those Hillsborough Charter Schools is Eastside Multicultural Community School.

In Assignment: Education.. Bill Ratliff takes a look at Eastside.. a school its founders say is performing beyond their wildest dreams.

--[Teacher Barrick Collins says:] "Okay you probably get in bed 'oh, I don't feel too well'."--

On this day, teacher Barrick Collins is helping his second-graders learn the concept of sequencing. They're listening. They're participating. They're engaged.

--[Boy reads out loud:] "Let them see just how much they need me."--

Right next to the second-grade class.. in the same room.. a class of third graders is quietly working on a reading assignment. And 10-feet away in a small room...

--[Teacher Teresa Capiel says:] "How did the frog get away?" [in unison, class says:] "Jump frog jump." --

--Teacher Teresa Capiel reads a short story to her first graders. These are the students of Eastside Mulitcultural Community School.. a charter school that opened in East Tampa this school year. The goal of the school is to bring quality education to disadvantaged youngsters.. To teach them to be critical thinkers and good communicators. The school's small classes of 15 students are essential in reaching that goal. School co-founder Ernest Kennedy..

--[Ernest Kennedy says:] "It's very difficult to manage 35-40 kids in a class. You can be he best teacher in the world, but you've got 35 different personalities that you must manage."--

By providing more individual attention to the students.. it's easier to get across the message that people just like them have and do succeed. School co-founder and multicultural education expert.. Dr. Donna Elam.

--[Dr. Donna Elam says:] "When we say scientist we want them to visualize themselves so they don't think it's a male or it's a white male or a white female or an Asian. They see themselves."--

Dr. Elam says at Eastside it's about letting these children know there are high expectations of them and for them. Bill Ratliff, Newschannel 8.

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