Education

Educational excellence is key to long-term sustainable change and essential to the success of any community. Top-quality public education, coupled with access to the vibrant intellectual life of a university, is a powerful incentive for home ownership. In Main South, neighborhood residents have some of the best educational opportunities in the country right in their backyards.

• Clark offers free tuition to residents who meet the University's admissions requirements and who have lived in UPP's targeted Main South neighborhood for at least five years. Currently, 11 neighborhood residents are enrolled at Clark under this scholarship program and a total of 33 have participated.
• The University Park Campus School (UPCS) was established by Clark and the Worcester Public Schools as a public secondary school for the children of Main South and has been recognized as the top urban high school in Massachusetts and one of the top urban high schools in the country. UPCS, a cornerstone of UPP, has a rigorous academic curriculum that prepares students for higher education. UPCS features a homework center, an August Academy to prepare students for the new school year and mentoring by Clark students. UPCS graduates who meet Clark's admissions requirements can attend the University tuition free. Seventy-eight percent of UPCS students qualify for free lunches, 65 percent are from families in which English is not spoken, and the majority of UPCS students enter the school reading at the fourth-grade level or below. These students make remarkable progress in UPCS' small learning community. According to recent scores from the Massachusetts Assessment System test, UPCS has consistently ranked in the top 20 out of 341 schools in the state, including a rank of third in math in 2003. All UPCS students have passed both the math and English portions of the MCAS test. Read more in Clarknews.
• Clark faculty teach seminars for UPCS students, and UPCS juniors and seniors earn college credit by taking courses at Clark.
• More than 200 neighborhood residents attend adult education classes offered through UPP. These classes include GED, English as a Second Language I and II, basic computer training and computer training for the Internet.
• Public-school teachers in Main south and throughout Worcester receive professional development through Clark's Jacob Hiatt Center for Urban Education. The Hiatt Center's Professional Development School collaborative with the Worcester Public Schools offers a comprehensive program for training new teachers and supporting veteran teachers. Clark has provided more than $3 million in free tuition to Worcester teachers who participate in the collaborative.
• Clark's Hiatt center is also a leader in the Worcester Education Partnership (WEP). This broad-based coalition is spearheading a citywide school-reform initiative supported by an $8 million "Schools for a New Society" grant from the Carnegie Corporation. Using UPCS as a model, WEP is working to transform large public secondary schools into small learning communities. The Hiatt Center serves as the hub for WEP activities, and many Clark faculty members serve on WEP.