Renaissance School Awarded Grant

The National Geographic Education Foundation has awarded The Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights a $200,000 Model Program grant as part of a national campaign to promote geographic literacy for all students. Renaissance will be the lead partner of an initiative called “Matrix Geography”. Four other groups in the country received Model Program grants.

Matrix Geography will enhance the study of geography in Social Studies classes and infuse it in other subjects as well. At the same time, Matrix Geography will provide tools to teachers who are preparing students for English language arts, mathematics, and science state assessments. Matrix Geography is based on spatial-thinking theory which has the potential of accelerating a student’s “cognitive highway”. Renaissance will communicate its progress through its Web site, “wikis” and blogs. In this way Matrix Geography can be replicated by others.

The Renaissance Charter School is the lead partner of this grant, mentored by Professors Carol and Philip Gersmehl of the New York Center for Geographic Learning at Hunter College. A second group of participating teachers will be drawn from primarily upstate members of the New York Geography Alliance. Professor Stephen Vermette of the Department of Geography at Buffalo State University will be the academic mentor of this group. A third group of teachers will be drawn from the North Carolina Geography Alliance, mentored by Dr. James Young of Appalachia State University and a fourth group from South Korea mentored by Professor Choi Jae-Heon of Konkuk University in Seoul.

National Geographic Education Foundation’s Grants for Model Programs in Geography Education is designed explicitly to provide funding for nonprofits to conduct innovative programs that:

•Focus on geographic literacy, especially nationally significant issues of culture and human/environmental interaction,

•Incorporate a strategy for replicating and scaling up,

•Conduct high-quality evaluation of impact and

•Make creative use of education technologies, such as geospatial information technologies, to enhance the learning process and to reach a broad audience.

Through this grant National Geography hopes to garner increased federal support for geography education and improve public understanding of the importance and relevance of geography.

The Renaissance Charter School is a K-12 public charter school located in Jackson Heights. The school was created in April 1992 by a group of 15 parents and teachers who were concerned about the future of New York City and its children. The school is an original “New Visions School”. Renaissance converted to charter status in May 2000 and subsequently had its charter renewed in 2005.