Applying Scientific Hypotheses to Create College-Prep Cultures in Urban Schools
By Caitlin Jennings, Communications Coordinator, 捆绑强奸
Rajiv Vinnakota (ISEF International Science and Engineering Fair 1989), co-founder and managing director of the聽, which partners with urban communities to provide innovative educational opportunities that prepare underserved students for success in college and beyond, is, in actuality, a scientist. He was fascinated with science in high school and studied molecular biology at Princeton.
鈥淪cientific research taught me so much about the importance of persistence, diligence, and attention to detail. I apply my background as a scientist to my work today as an education reformer,鈥� he says.
鈥淚 think in terms of scientific hypotheses. I look for data that either supports or contradicts the hypothesis, and then I use that data to prove the hypothesis,鈥� Raj explained further.
For example, when Raj decided to quit consulting to focus on improving education for underserved students, he approached it scientifically. 鈥淭he whole idea of SEED started as a hypothesis during a conversation with a friend from Princeton: 鈥楾here are boarding schools for privileged kids, so why don鈥檛 we have boarding schools for kids who need them the most?鈥欌�� he says. 鈥淎nd since that conversation, I have been testing鈥攁nd proving鈥攖hat hypothesis.鈥�
With his co-founder Eric Adler, he established the first SEED school, a tuition-free, public boarding school for urban students, in Washington, D.C. in 1998, and opened a second SEED school in Baltimore in 2008. These urban, public, boarding schools are the first of their kind in the nation and are proving Raj鈥檚 hypothesis: Boarding schools for underserved students are possible, and furthermore, these students can鈥攁nd will鈥攕ucceed if given the right resources.
鈥淲e have our students 120 hours a week, so we can achieve a great deal by supplying a 24-hour-a-day, 5-day-a-week rigorous academic program and a safe, nurturing boarding environment,鈥� he explained. SEED has a 91 percent graduation rate, and 95 percent of its graduates go on to four-year colleges and universities.
