'Culturally Responsive' Charter Has Plans for Crown Heights and PLG Kids

PROSPECT HEIGHTS and CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A planned charter school to be open to students from Crown Heights, Prospect Heights and Flatbush will offer a "culturally responsive" curriculum catering to children of African decent.

The Institute for Academic Achievement (IFAA) will operate in conjunction with the Ifetayo Cultural Arts Academy, a Lefferts Gardens-based organization "dedicated to supporting the creative, educational and vocational development of youth and families" with roots in African countries, as stated on Ifetayo's website.

The school aims to open in the fall of 2018 with 140 students in grades K-2, according to Dr. Sheriden M. Booker, the secretary of its board, and board chair Dr. Sharon McKenzie.

Within five years, it will have about 350 students and be open to grades K-6, they said. By 2030, IFAA aims to be a K-12 school.

Booker and McKenzie explained that the school will meet academic standards required of all elementary and high schools, but will do so in a way that factors in culturally-relevant lesson plans, course materials, and instruction that speaks to students with Caribbean and African backgrounds.

As an example, McKenzie explained that in math classes, "students are going to know about mathematicians that were from Africa. They're going to hear about mathematicians that look like them."

Teaching in this manner, she said, will allow them to place "their history [and] the history of their family" into a broader context, and help them to understand how class material is "related to who they are."

Booker added that students who are given "high expectations" by their schools, and who are also allowed to "learn within the context of their background cultures," have been found to perform better academically.

IFAA is still seeking state accreditation and formulating its curriculum, and doesn't yet have a physical location, the board members explained. (Patch previously, an incorrectly, reported that the school would be located above Ifetayo's offices in Lefferts Gardens.)

If the project moves forward, the school would be open to students in School District 17 and School District 18.

The charter is currently conducting a series of public meetings to solicit feedback from parents and community members about how they would like it to operate. Several additional meetings are planned for the coming weeks, the board members said, and will be announced on the charter's Facebook page.

In the meantime, those with questions can email the school's board by writing to ifaa.school@gmail.com.

Top image courtesy of alamosbasement on Flickr