Bedichek Middle School Community School
Location: 6800 Bill Hughes Road, Austin, 78715
Phone: (512) 414-3265
Contact: Gail Belcher, Principal
Brief Description
The community school program at Bedichek Middle School, in South Austin,
is open to the entire Austin community. The evening community school began
22 years ago on the initiative of a principal who felt it was simply a
"good idea". The school is open after the school day in the
afternoon for students and in the evening for adults, Monday through Thursday.
The community school program offers after-school activities for their
students as well as adult classes like GED training, ESL, and computer
classes. The program also offers computer classes for a fee through a
partnership with Austin Community College. According to Jonathon Curtis,
former Bedicheck vice principal and current director of the community
schools program, the vision is to "serve the needs of the community".
What makes this program distinctive in the group?
Beyond the fact that Bedichek is open to its students after the regular
school day, it is also open to the entire Austin community. The Bedichek
community school as a community-based organization (CBO) has existed for
over twenty years, but its computer classes have only been around for
a few months. It is unique in its approach to developing a Community Technology
Center within an already established and stable CBO that is itself within
a public school. Because it is so new, it has the advantage of learning
from years of CTC development in Austin.
Vision and Community Ownership
The community school program at Bedichek is an integral part of the community
if for no other reason than its 22-year existence. The school is prominently
located on a major street, and there is a bus stop right next to the campus.
People in the community have a good feel for what Bedichek offers besides
its function as a middle school. But the community has very little "ownership"
of the school. Bedichek is first and foremost a part of AISD, and it gets
its direction as an organization from the district rather than directly
from the community. This is not to say that Bedichek does not base its
programming on community needs. Clearly, directors of the community school
have a sense for what services the community needs and plan accordingly.
Nevertheless, the decision-making itself does not come from the community.
The Bedichek community school offers programs, such as computer classes,
because it is their philosophy that the community owns the school and
should benefit from it whenever the infrastructure is not in use for classes.
Bedichek sees itself as a provider of educational services. Some of the
other CBOs in our study promote activism or try to increase participants'
connectedness with each other and the community, but these activities
are outside the scope of Bedichek's activities.
The people associated with the computer classes come from a diverse background.
One uniting factor is that virtually everyone at Bedichek is proficient
in Spanish. The people involved, however, do not share a sense of community.
The teachers and the directors come from outside the area served by the
school itself. The participants also come from a variety of locations,
and many have no other affiliation with the school than the class they
attend.
Comprehensive Programming
Bedichek offers a variety of programs for adults after 6 pm. In addition
to the computer classes, the GED and ESL classes are very well attended,
followed by after-school programs, tutoring, and mentoring. Within the
computer classes, Bedichek has a special capacity to serve those with
special needs. A large part of the funding received to open the computer
labs was won through grants that specifically mentioned that students
with disabilities be served, so a variety of adaptive equipment is available.
Bedichek's computer programs are very new, so little can be said about
how they would change in response to the evolving needs of the community.
In fact, the population using the classes has not really had a chance
to change since the beginning of the program. However, the staff and directors
seem committed to tracking the interests and needs of the participants
and planning the content accordingly. As stated before, there is no formal
mechanism to achieve this. The programming relies on staff's ability to
read the participants and maintain relationships with participants.
Learning Opportunities
The equipment and software at Bedichek is all very up-to-date, and staff
is knowledgeable in its use. There is not a shortage of working computers
available during classes. The material taught in the classes is essentially
focused on technological issues, such as proficiency with particular hardware
and software. Some project-based learning is employed, wherein participants
learn while working on a more involved activity, including creating and
emailing a resume, or working with digital pictures.
The participants seem to learn a great deal with this format. Most reported
some increase in their ability to make use of computers and the Internet
as a result of the class. They were more able to surf the Internet, get
news online, find job postings, and keep in touch with people using email.
A couple had even learned how to build a web page. Participants reported
less improvement in the indirect benefits of classes. All of the participants
knew each other and knew the staff, but there were no increases in their
interactions with people outside of class. This result should be taken
with a grain of salt - asking people who have taken a few months of computer
classes if it has increased their ability to get help from the people
in their neighborhood is perhaps not a meaningful question. A good deal
of the survey questions were devoted to learning opportunities focused
on education beyond the classroom. Bedichek's community school programs
are fundamentally based on class-style learning, so the surveys did not
accurately capture the activities at Bedichek.
The success of the programming at Bedichek is reflected in many of the
survey responses concerning participant satisfaction. The participants
seem extremely satisfied, in general, with the range of programs offered.
When asked what types of things could be improved on, the answers consistently
reflect a demand for increases in all types of programs already offered.
Of the types of programming not offered, many participants requested unstructured
time on the computers, a practice we saw at almost all other centers.
Self-Reliance
Bedichek's computer classes are in their first year and still funded
by the three grants with which the program was initiated. Looking beyond
the computer classes, the community school is an extensive, well-established
program. We consider the computer classes an expansion of the services
already provided by Bedichek. Seen in this light, the computer classes
are expected to be stable and successful. The decades of experience as
a CBO, the administrative staff already in place for other programs, and
the resources made available by the school district are all promising
indicators.
One possible problem in the future is the loss of the grant writer who
obtained the grants to open the computer labs. Although she still works
for AISD and is available to help Bedichek, she no longer works at the
school. Only time will tell how difficult it is to get new grants or renew
existing ones. It is fortunate that they now operate under three separate
grants, which reduces the odds that all grant money might disappear at
one time.
Operating within AISD is probably the program's greatest asset in the
self-reliance category. The computer labs will always have a location,
Internet connection, and other overhead taken care of. AISD nominally
provides services to maintain the computers in the labs, although the
staff tells us that the district is very slow in making repairs and refuses
to support some older equipment. Bedichek has circumvented this problem
by establishing a relationship with the computer science department at
UT. Volunteers from UT come to Bedichek on occasion to repair and troubleshoot
equipment.
Social Capital
Once again, many of the survey questions related to social capital are
a poor fit for Bedichek. The participants do not all come from the same
community, and neither does the staff. Increasing community awareness
among them is not a goal of the center. Right or wrong, the outcomes that
the computer classes promote are limited to the individual participants
and have little connection to the community from which the participant
came. The computer programs are enjoying robust growth and interest, demonstrated
by the consistent waiting lists to get into classes. The participants
are picking up valuable tools, and there are skills learned in the classes.
While Bedichek is well networked with other members of AISD and to ACC,
they are not visibly connected to other CBOs.
Final Thoughts
Tony, one of the instructors at Bedichek's evening computer classes,
is an accountant during the day as well as a teacher. Talking to him about
the classes he teaches, one can tell that exciting things are happening.
The first night we met Tony, he eagerly gave us a tour of the campus and
all the classes taking place that evening. He also explained what he taught,
why he taught the skills he did, and how much fun he was having. He told
us about an exciting moment when one of his older students brought him
a Sunday advertisement for computers and asked for some advice. The student
had learned not only the skills behind using the computer but also the
importance of investing in a computer for his family. He also told us
about how inspired he felt when he watched his students move from frustration
to complete confidence - so much so that they were beginning to teach
other students without his assistance. He feels that this process takes
a long time, but is the true joy of both teaching and of learning.
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