NEW YORK, Sept. 10, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The High School for Global Citizenship (HSGC) -- Global Kids' innovative high school in Brooklyn -- has appointed Stephen Rau as its new principal. He becomes the second principal of HSGC, which began its fifth year last week. Mr. Rau had been the Assistant Principal at the High School for Arts, Imagination, and Inquiry in New York City.
The High School for Global Citizenship, with 440 students, has won praise as one of New York City's leading new small high schools by taking students from underserved communities and engaging them first-hand in the democratic process with a strong emphasis on foreign policy issues and the connections between their personal lives and international events. HSGC graduated its first class with 64 students last June.
The High School for Global Citizenship was opened by Global Kids in 2004 as a laboratory for the organization's highly respected approach to international education and experiential learning. More than 80% of the school's population is eligible for free or reduced lunch and the overwhelming majority enters below grade level in math and reading. However, HSGC students are succeeding academically and participating in an impressive array of extracurricular activities. They regularly interact with business leaders, ambassadors, and other global leaders; they have presented at United Nations conferences; they have traveled to Africa, Europe, and the Middle East; and they organize impressive events in their communities to raise awareness about critical global issues.
Mr. Rau will build on founding Principal Brad Haggerty's legacy of infusing Global Kids' content into curriculum while ensuring that students meet Regents requirements. Despite being nonselective, the school has achieved impressive results to date, including: a retention rate of more than 95%, an attendance rate of 87%, and passing rates of over 85% on the Math A and Living Environment Regents' Exams.
"As we welcome Stephen Rau, we also must pay tribute to Brad Haggerty for his great vision and inspiring leadership as the first principal of the High School for Global Citizenship," said Associate Director of Programs and co-founder of HSGC, Courtney Killingsworth. "Brad understood global citizenship which enabled him to design the Global Kids program and create our profile of an HSGC graduate: college ready, able to pass the Regents, aware of what is going on in the world and an active citizen."
Principal Rau plans to execute Global Kids' mission to transform urban youth into successful students as well as global and community leaders by using interactive and experiential methods to educate young people about critical international and foreign policy issues.
"The great part about Global Kids is that it focuses on taking action rather than talking philosophy," Mr. Rau said. "I really enjoy the concept of having kids take action and participating in the world as opposed to presenting an educational philosophy which is thought-provoking but not hands-on."
Mr. Rau intends to create a tight-knit community and school culture, which fosters students' academic and personal growth. His specific goals are to 1) increase literacy, 2) increase the role of academic advisors in the school and 3) increase parent outreach and parent contact.
To develop literacy, Principal Rau and the HSGC staff will bring in organizations such as Read 180, College Summit, New York Cares, and Kaplan to work with students. This year, Global Kids will also collaborate with Partnership with Children to target the lowest-performing cohort of students at the school, and provide them with counseling services, through an initiative supported by the Robin Hood Foundation. Global Kids also engages HSGC students in leadership building programs and college and career readiness services made possible with the support of the Independence Community Foundation, the Samuel Rubin Foundation, the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, the Third Millenium Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation.
HSGC leaders will also continue to infuse Global Kids' mission of 21st Century skill development in classroom curriculum. Mr. Rau highlighted the introduction of technology courses into this year's HSGC curriculum in order to build students' science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills. Courses will include building computer skills such as typing, PowerPoint, and Excel skills, and this year the school will introduce a music production class.
Global Kids, Inc. (www,globalkids.org): Founded in 1989 and an independent nonprofit since 1993, Global Kids educates and inspires urban youth to become successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-rich learning experiences. Through its leadership development and academic enrichment programs, Global Kids educates youth about critical international and domestic issues and promotes their engagement in civic life and the democratic process. Through professional development initiatives, Global Kids provides educators with strategies for integrating experiential learning methods and international issues into urban classrooms. Over ninety percent of the high school seniors who participate in Global Kids' leadership program graduate from high school.
The Global Kids, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=4850