MATCH offers unique high school
The Daily Free Press
February 28, 2006by Jean Bentley
Remember high school? Class all day, then sports and clubs, then homework and WB shows until bedtime. Well, the students at the MATCH School on Commonwealth Avenue, smack in the middle of the Boston University campus, are going to have a very different memory of their secondary education.
The Media and Technology Charter High, or MATCH, school day runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with many students staying until the doors are closed at 8 p.m. and coming back for tutoring on Saturdays. Voluntarily. And they like it.
According to MATCH School Director of Development Ashley Danoff, the school is in its sixth year of operation.
"The school was the brainchild of Mike Goldstein, who was in graduate school at Harvard," she said. "This school was kind of his thesis for graduate school."
Although the school's initial focus was to be media and technology, Danoff said this idea changed over time.
"We found, in early years, that we couldn't focus as much on the media and technology," she said. "We really needed to focus on basic math and English skills more than that. So now, media and technology are really an addition, a supplement."
The school, which is run as a charter through the Boston Public Schools and receives two-thirds of its funding from the state, has 185 students. The students are chosen through a random lottery, and the school's curriculum focuses on college preparation. Each class period is one hour, and students spend at least two hours a day with a tutor.
Jared Taillefer, a 2005 graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, is currently a member of the 45-person MATCH Corps. He tutors a small group of students, working closely with teachers and families to provide individualized help catered to each student.
The MATCH Corps program is in its second year, Danoff said. In addition to the school's 12 to 15 full-time teachers, all in their mid-20s, the MATCH Corps is a one-year service fellowship where members closely tutor a small group of students, Taillefer said.
"My job has a couple components," he said. "One is tutoring, where I work with four to six kids for the entire year. I tutor them in basic math, English, all the way up to AP Calculus and AP English. One of my seniors takes a class at BU. I'm their resource for everything educational throughout the year."
Taillefer said he started a service group as a part of his commitment to AmeriCorps, where he goes to other Boston Public Schools to tutor three days a week. In addition, Taillefer coordinates a BU student volunteer group that helps students with sustained silent reading, test preparation and other things.
University Professors Program senior Jacqui Moreau runs the MATCH/BU volunteer program through the honors society National Society of Collegiate Scholars, where she is the Vice President of Planning for College Success.
"I work with the same student every week reading," she said. "I help her understand the material, vocabulary and content, to act as a sounding board."
Moreau said NSCS volunteers also help with other programs at MATCH.
Marcus John, 16, a sophomore at MATCH said his experience at the MATCH School began involuntarily but became a perfect fit for his goals.
"I did not want to come here at all," he said. "I didn't even know this school existed. I didn't hear about the curriculum or anything like that, academics, nothing."
After a rocky start he is now glad he made the decision to attend.
Danoff said the school has many programs designed to encourage success among its students, including a dress code, strict disciplinary system, personal attention from each teacher and school administrator, tutoring programs and a monthly pleasure reading program.
Another component of the MATCH education is the requirement that each senior take one course at BU each semester. Taillefer said the program is run through CAS with the help of Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore, who Taillefer said has been very involved with MATCH and sometimes comes to speak to students.
Classes that MATCH students take at BU include ethics, psychology, history, economics, world religion, art history and human geography.
"It's a good chance to give them some insight into what the rigor of college will be like," Taillefer said.
Moreau said she likes tutoring at MATCH because she can tell everyone at the school cares about the fate of each student.
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