Manley Career Academy
Manley serves the North Lawndale/East Garfield Park communities of greater Chicago. The school is located on the northern border of North Lawndale and the southern border of East Garfield Park. Manley has constantly evolved to accommodate the needs of its community. Manley serves approximately 750 students, 53% male and 47% female. The population is 99% African-American.
In the continuing effort to meet student needs, the Manley staff wrote a successful Carl Perkins grant in the 1992/93 school year that allowed the creation of VocAdemics strands. The first three strands were Graphic Communications, Medical Arts, and Construction Technology. During the 1993/94 school year, Business Technology and Foods strands were added. In addition, during the 1995/96 school year, a successful grant proposal was written to create the Freshman Academy. The VocAdemics strands and Freshman Academy became individual schools-within-a-school in September 1996.
Manley's focus on student needs is reflected in the variety of instructional strategies used in the school, such as cooperative learning, peer coaching, Paideia (Socratic seminars), graphic organizers, the writing process, authentic assessments, project-based learning, and interdisciplinary team teaching to name a few. Manley uses parent volunteers in its Truancy Outreach Program to help keep as many students in school as possible.
The Inquiry Initiative fieldwork advisor has shadowed students, interviewed staff and community members, visited and observed classrooms, and met with all of the Small School staffs. The Freshman Academy staff has tried to incorporate the essential questions of the Inquiry Initiative into their curriculum writing for the 1997/98 school year. The program advisors and fieldwork advisors meet with the Inquiry Team and discuss their observations of student learning and teaching strategies.
For more information, please contact:
Manley Career Academy
2935 West Polk Street
Chicago, IL 60612
773-534-6900
Mdshrk1@aol.com
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