What South Bend’s Empowerment Zone can Learn from Springfield

The South Bend Empowerment Zone in Indiana looks to the Springfield Empowerment Zone in Massachusetts for inspiration. For example, Springfield’s school advisory group model at Duggan Academy could be applied to South Bend schools. This model involves students meeting to eat breakfast together and having group discussions before classes start. The goal is to give students a consistent group and teacher they stay with throughout their time at the school. It’s one of the many changes that school leaders credit for taking Duggan from the bottom 1-percentile in the state to out of underperforming status. Read more.