As school administrators plan the upcoming academic year, Marshall Peeples and Frederick Minner are on a move to provide professional development to teachers, principals and school staff to strengthen the intellectual, physical, social and emotional achievement of all students.
To realize this mission, the business duo – both retired educators – are constructing The Urban Preparatory Academy to assist teachers, administrators and parents regain control of academic institutions that are the backbone of this country.
“Helping schools with tools for success is of utmost importance as they face 21st century challenges,” said Peeples, co-founder of Sankore Educational Resources and Consultation Services, LLC – launched this year just months after Peeples and Minner retired.
Sankore offers more than 20 in-school training sessions, such as “When Hip-Hop Comes to School,” “Healing the Father Wound,” “Daily Instructional Design” and “Parenting Without a Power Struggle.”
“The daily grind of running an effective school built on rigor, relationships and student achievement data can be exhausting,” Minner said. “That is why it is important to bring in companies such as Sankore to lessen the stress. Our short-term goal is to work with the St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas, and then schools across the nation.”
At the core of their training is an approach that probes the pedagogy and impact of urban culture on students in addition to the importance of establishing a strong student-teacher and student-parent relationship as the foundation of learning.
“To increase student achievement, we must marry student, teacher and parent relationships and academic rigor,” Minner said. “These entities, in isolation of each other, are a detriment to the potential that our students and families have and deserve.”
Peeples added: “Teachers still have the greatest impact on student achievement, so we really have to invest time and skill in their development.”
This past spring, Peeples and Minner walked into the Confluence Academy-Walnut Park campus to pitch their services.
“I was completely floored,” said Principal Angela Carpenter. “They knew immediately from my brief conversation what I needed.”
The result was a one-day workshop tackling three major topics – “Building and Sustaining a Positive School Culture,” “Classroom Management Strategies That Work,” and “A Data Driven Process: Building Data Teams.” The effort focused on constructing collaboration among school personnel and investing more in teachers to enhance their success in the classroom.
As a supplement to their services, Peeples, Minner and their team of consultants conduct ongoing consultation and monitoring of initiatives within all school settings.
“It is my full intent to have them work with our staff for the 2012-2013 school year,” Carpenter said. “They are going to be a part of our school culture. Often times, people come in and give presentations for one day, and you never see them anymore. But Sankore is going to come in throughout the school year, in addition to working with staff members one-on-one.”
With experience as teachers, administrators and teacher union presidents in the St. Louis area for the last 30 years, the business team has been on the front line of the challenges facing school systems.
“Today’s 21st century students have met challenges such as the social media and mainstream hip-hop, which has become part of their domain,” Minner said. “As educators, we must embrace and deal with those trends that affect them. How students and their peers view themselves can be challenging to the environment of any school setting if not handled appropriately.”
Carpenter looks forward to Sankore’s helping Confluence Academy-Walnut Park further tap teachers’ potential and get parents more involved.
“Here are two African-American men, who are very well-spoken, have years of experience and knowledge and theory beyond the textbook,” Carpenter said. “They are not removed from the obstacles of urban education and can see the opportunities.”
For more information, visit www.sankoreer.com or call 314-516-3188.
