Review of “Create Success: Unlocking the Potential of Urban Students,” by Kadhir Rajagopal, 2011. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). Paper, 151 pages.
The “CREATE” Model by Dr. Raja
Urban students represent individuals not only who live in a certain setting but also who have a very different sort of society they are surrounded by. They encounter often persons from cultures, countries, religions, and language communities different from their own – and different from those of many other persons in America.
Urban students include students who are marginalized for a wide variety of reaons… and include students often who are poor, homeless, and endangered. They are endangered because they walk through very tumultuous situations indeed on their trip to school each day.
The author has designed and already put to highly successful use a system called CREATE that has been shown to give urban students who were once struggling some incredible and stellar test results. “Dr. Raja,” as he is affectionately called by students, is a supportive and clever educator who has taken special learners many steps further than others thought possible, showing incredible gains in mathematics and other subjects.
His CREATE model consists of these essential elements for engaging students and getting them to outperform the levels naysayers have assigned to them:
· Culturally Responsive Instruction
· Rigorous Expectations and Rewards
· Essentials-focused planning
· Assessing for Mastery During Class
· Test Models
· Extra One-on-One Tutoring for Struggling Students
Dr. Raja uses a solid research base to design and drive the CREATE model, drawing on a range of experts from Dewey to Noguera, and from Bloom to Ladson-Billings. He is able to incorporate a lot of new information about the disengaged and disenfranchised urban students so difficult to motivate.
Looking at the variety of cultures they represent, from the culture of language and the culture of the street, Dr. Raja seems to really have a strong understanding of the pressures and challenges students can face. He also seems to really know the students for who they are and what they want.
Dr. Raja has developed CREATE specifically for students who:
· Have historically been underserved in our classrooms.
· Are primarily African American and Latino.
· Are quiet and stay “under the radar” because they don’t understand the material.
· Struggle and tend to act out in class.
He includes many strategies and ideas for helping students, and he shows a rationale for why he chooses certain methods. He talks about a typical class session, and he includes lots of good examples teachers can try in their own classes. He also shows the incredible statistics of his success in the classroom, his students consistently way outperforming students from more affluent settings where there are many more financial and other resources pouring into the buildings.
It would be interesting to try some of his strategies, I believe, or at least adapt some of the basic components to see if they can work with different levels, students, and subjects. He shows a lot of passion for teaching algebra. And he also shows a real love of urban students.
While I think an awful lot of what is here could be used with any students, I do feel Dr. Raja has created an interesting and certainly very successful set of strategies for getting students involved and learning. His respect for students shines through his examples of classroom activities and how to conduct them. His great hopes for the students are also brilliant and what drives this informative and well-written book.
A brief and affordable text, this would lend itself well…
to being on a list of required reading in a course for teaching urban students. There are lots of good ideas here, especially for newer teachers, I think.
I recommend the book not just as a possible professional development tool but also as a takeoff point for more study, for some possible grant project collaborative projects, and perhaps for some interesting content for dissertations or theses.
I for one would like to visit some of the classrooms where I could observe the CREATE system being employed regularly. It would be interesting to get to know some of the students who have embraced CREATE and see how they do on certain projects and assignments. It would be very inspiring, l think, to watch students as they CREATE.
Urban students have—and often present—some great challenges. As educators, counselors, helpers, and stakeholders in the community, we all have reasons for wanting to help these learners.
Let us continue the conversation about the complex, but exciting, world of the urban learner.