Students arriving at Winston Preparatory School come with significant educational baggage. There are as many stories of academic woe as there are students. According to William DeHaven, Head of School at Winston Prep, the school targets a unique audience: the school is specifically designed for students with learning disabilities. Students are grouped and taught according to their unique learning styles.
DeHaven places the majority of his students within three categories. Some students are working with dyslexia, a developmental disorder that manifests itself in difficulty decoding particularly when dealing with reading, writing and mathematical tasks. Other students are coping with language processing disorders, an umbrella term encompassing a variety of disorders that affect the way the brain processes auditory information. Students within this category may be able to decipher written words, but are not able to understand what they’ve read. Others may not be able to process information they hear or be able to express their ideas verbally. And lastly, Winston serves students who are working with executive functioning disorders. As the name implies, executive functions are high-level abilities that influence the most basic activities associated with learning like attention, memory, synthesis and even motor skills.
“Everyone has trouble somewhere. It’s all about learning how to learn. We have a school like Winston because the regular school in not equipped to effectively help.” The three large categories are separate but often overlap in order to effectively serve each student.
Now in their 29th year, Winston Preparatory School does not have a typical grades 6-12 curriculum. Instead, they have a curriculum for students with a particular learning disability. Each group within that category has a unique curriculum resulting in 20 unique academic groups. Each spring, the faculty begins the exhausting task of reevaluating and recreating the groups. The end result will be 10-12 students of varying ages who all learn the same way. A dean is then appointed to the group and is responsible for understanding their strengths and needs as learners. Taking into considerations the skills and content they need to learn, the dean then creatively guides them through their specific curriculum.
This approach, DeHaven proudly notes, allows a teacher to understand students’ needs completely. Not only are students closing the gap between where they are and where they need to be, they are basically working with an individualized learning plan that removes potential roadblocks unique to their learning style.” The goal at Winston Prep, unlike many other schools, is to foster resilience, self-efficacy and perseverance in its students as opposed to helping them score well on a standardized tests.
DeHaven comments, “I want students to advocate for themselves. I want them to know when they need help and know how and when to ask for it. I want them to take responsibility. I want them to be independent and confident people because of Winston.”
In a city that is known for its competitive, academically rigorous and exorbitantly priced private schools, it may come as a shock that Winston itself has no direct competition. “There are no other schools like Winston Prep,” states DeHaven. “Take a look at high school graduation rates in New York City public schools and examine the graduation rates for students falling under the umbrella of Special Education. The rate is shockingly low.”
Parents of students with specific learning needs may find themselves eager to enroll their children at Winston and be deterred by the cost of tuition. The cost of attending Winston is roughly $45,000 a year. Despite the hefty price, there 10 to 15 families that can pay full tuition. However, that leaves about 210 families who are unable to do so. Interestingly enough, most families pay for Winston by suing the New York City Department of Education.
These suits are filed based on the results of a 1984 court case in which the parents of Shannon Carter, a South Carolina student, removed her from public school on the grounds that she was not being adequately served. Carter was placed in a private school and her family sued the Department of Education for re-embers, thus making the school affordable. Since then, a great number of families have been able to afford Winston by following a similar path. A further extension of that path comes with a related case brought to court by another family. According to that precedent, families who have no means to get the reimbursement fee can get the money from the Department of Education up front, though they will have to follow the same process eventually.
The recession has affected everyone in recent years, even Winston Prep, according to DeHaven. Winston’s enrollment shrank by 20 students in the last year. “The hardest thing I have ever done was letting teachers go last year. I’m still worried about our enrollment for next year, I think all of the private schools are.” Winston does have a niche market that ensures its survival, if not its success, however. There are no schools currently funded by the New York City Department of Education that can cater to students with the same needs as those who attend Winston. Until such schools exist, families will continue to win lawsuits ensuring funding. In this case, the failure of New York City Public Schools is allowing for the success of not only students, but also an entire school.
The Department of Education earmarks $6.5 million for Winston Prep each year. However, it’s not as though the money sits in a coffer, awaiting distribution to students in need of services. For a school like Winston Prep, there are legal fees involved, substantial time commitments and the assessment and observation of virtually every student within its walls.
The current relationship between the Department of Education and Winston Prep is less than harmonious. “We have to go through the same process year after year,” comments DeHaven. While the Department of Education once readily complied with Winston, the relationship has deteriorated as concerns over funding have grown. “In recent years, I’ve had parents coming to me crying, my teachers are upset. It’s a mess.”
Each student in need of funds goes through hours of testing in order to demonstrate need. The battle for funding requires a great deal of time from students, teachers and families. In the end, DeHaven notes, it comes down to the decisions made by the members of the Department of Education. “We’re asking them to pay for a lot.” DeHaven comments, “So when you are having a meeting with Joel Klein, the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, you talk about what he wants to talk about.” DeHaven notes that as long as Klein remains interested in talking to and about Winston Prep and continues to serve his students, he’s satisfied.
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