一所贫民窟学校的创业启示

    虽然相隔多年，黛博拉•肯尼依然清晰地记得那一天。她把车靠边停在了美国95号州际公路的路肩上，拿出笔记本写下了“教育不是开发产品，而是培育人”。当时，肯尼的丈夫刚去世不久，高薪工作让她郁郁寡欢，她渴望在纽约黑人聚居区——哈林创建一家新的公助私立学校。她确实做到了。在《天生我才》（Born to Rise）一书中，肯尼娓娓道来，回忆了多年致力于提供优质教育这段“亦师亦生”的历程。

    肯尼认定，打造一所好学校的最好办法是培养高素质的教师队伍。

    她坚信社会经济因素不应成为学生求学的障碍。正是这种天真的乐观情绪支撑着她在纽约市教育系统僵化的官僚作风下努力前行，让教师和学生都做到最好。

    和很多成功的创业者一样，肯尼从一开始就有明确的构想，并在前行过程中不断调整策略。她飞到全美很多地方参加会议，借鉴顶尖教育专家的意见，并思考如何在几无储蓄的情况下创建一所学校。很多专家警告肯尼，她很可能失败。有些时候，她的确失败了，但这些小小的挫折都进一步转化为了她继续前进的动力。

    2001年哈林乡村学校（Harlem Village Academies）成立时，哈林区仅29%的四年级学生可以通过基本的阅读测试，16%的八年级学生能够达到该年级的阅读水平。五年后，肯尼的学生们创造了历史，成为哈林区首个八年级数学测试全部达标的班级。

    She pulled over to the shoulder on I-95, took out her notebook, and wrote: "Education is not about developing products. It's about developing people." Deborah Kenny was recently widowed, unhappy at her high-paying job, and eager to create a new public charter school in Harlem. Which she did. In Born to Rise, Kenny takes us on her long but rewarding journey to deliver great education, one teacher and student at a time.

    Kenny decided that the best way to build a quality school was to develop quality teachers.

    She firmly believed that socioeconomic circumstances shouldn't block any student from learning. Her naïve optimism helped her cut through New York City's stultifying educational bureaucracy and get the very best from her teachers and students.

    Like many successful entrepreneurs, Kenny had a clear vision from day one but often changed tactics along the way. She flew around the country to conferences, picking the brains of top experts in education, while figuring out how to start a school with barely any money in her bank account. Many experts warned Kenny that she could easily fail. At times she did, but only in small ways that strengthened her motivation to succeed.

    When Harlem Village Academies launched in 2001, only 29% of fourth grade students in Harlem could pass a basic reading test. Just 16% of Harlem eighth graders could read at grade level. Five years later, Kenny's students made history as the first Harlem class ever to achieve 100% proficiency in eighth-grade math.

    Kenny introduces us to kids who faced long odds in their pursuit of an education. Their successes and failures keep you turning each page. After President George W. Bush toured Kenny's school in 2007, he said on national television that schools everywhere should follow her example. Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the school "a national model of excellence." NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams called them "a lesson for America's schools about what works."