November 25, 2002 - Contra Costa Times: Ecuador RPCV Beverly Hansen's world of experience enriches Mt. Diablo High School
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November 25, 2002 - Contra Costa Times: Ecuador RPCV Beverly Hansen's world of experience enriches Mt. Diablo High School
Ecuador RPCV Beverly Hansen's world of experience enriches Mt. Diablo High School
Read and comment on this story from the Contra Costa Times on 62-year old Beverly Hansen who served as a teacher in Ecuador in the Peace Corps from 1962 - 64 and is drawing on her four decades of experience as a volunteer and educator to lead an academic renaissance at the lowest-performing high school in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District.
Hansen, an unflappable woman with short, graying hair and empathetic green eyes, has a unique mix of pragmatism and inspiration that will be essential to the school's success. Mt. Diablo High is a suburban school with urban concerns. Located on the edge of downtown Concord, it serves a diverse population with more poor, immigrant and special education students than the district's five other high schools.
The school's richness of cultures and backgrounds is its strength, Hansen said. Hansen says it all goes back to what she learned in the Peace Corps: "When you focus on something small and stay the course, it's amazing how much you can change." Read the story at:
Her world of experience enriches Mt. Diablo High*
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Her world of experience enriches Mt. Diablo High
By Suzanne Pardington
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Beverly Hansen has lived and worked around the world from Ecuador to Egypt, but she may have found her biggest challenge yet at Mt. Diablo High School.
At an age when many people are slowing down, 63-year-old Hansen is drawing on her four decades of experience as a volunteer and educator to lead an academic renaissance at the lowest-performing high school in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District.
Hansen, an unflappable woman with short, graying hair and empathetic green eyes, has a unique mix of pragmatism and inspiration that will be essential to the school's success, those who work closely with her say. But she cautions them not to put too much faith in her alone.
"Everybody wants to help this school," she said. "I don't have all the answers, but all of us together in this school have the answers. I'm convinced of it."
Mt. Diablo High is a suburban school with urban concerns. Located on the edge of downtown Concord, it serves a diverse population with more poor, immigrant and special education students than the district's five other high schools.
The school's richness of cultures and backgrounds is its strength, Hansen said. But test scores remain stubbornly and unacceptably low; last year Mt. Diablo was ranked in the bottom 20 percent of schools statewide. While some students excel academically at the school, others struggle to read.
Teachers and students are under immense pressure to improve or they may face state sanctions. Students could suffer the most: If they don't pass the new high school exit exam, they could be denied a diploma. About half the class of 2004 -- the first students required to pass the exam -- has not passed the test yet.
Hansen puts the task ahead simply: "We don't want to send these kids out of here without being able to read."
Hansen believes everything in her life so far has prepared her for the challenge, from majoring in Hispanic studies in college to her previous job as principal of Olympic Continuation High School, where students who have had trouble in the district's traditional high schools often end up.
As she lived around the world for 14 years with her husband, John, who worked first for the international humanitarian group CARE and later for the construction firm Bechtel, and their three children, she learned the importance of working together to find lasting solutions.
The key is including as many people as possible in the process, she said.
The first time Hansen helped unite a community to solve a collective problem was as a 22-year-old Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador. She had recently graduated from UC Santa Barbara when she heeded President Kennedy's call to serve abroad.
She taught English and PE in Bahia de Caraquez, a small, hot town on the equator. It had beautiful beaches, except for one thing: They were used as the town's garbage dump. The town's trash -- dead donkeys included -- was swept out to sea every day in what seemed like the easiest disposal system around.
Hansen worked with the town leaders and the community to stop littering the ocean by constructing permanent garbage cans throughout the town.
"It wasn't what you did; it was the process of how you got people there," she said. "We can choose to dictate the things that need to be done, but it usually doesn't work."
Change based on the charisma of a leader usually does not last, she added.
Three months into her job as principal of Mt. Diablo High, she has earned a reputation as a consensus builder. She said she has an appreciation for the staff and the students, because she worked there for three years as a teacher, student service coordinator and vice principal when she first came to the district in 1994.
"She's got a real skill for getting everyone's input," said Laurel Gude, chairwoman of the school site council. "I feel when I have been in meetings with her that everyone feels listened to and not just paid lip service to."
Hansen is sympathetic to students who struggle in school. Her oldest son probably would have been placed in special education programs if the family had not lived overseas, but he now has a master's degree, she said.
Schools need to take into account that students do not all learn at the same pace, she said. A student who cannot pass the exit exam at age 18 may be able to do it at 20.
Hansen, who was born in Berkeley and attended El Cerrito High School, often tells students that it wasn't until graduate school, when she finally found an academic focus, that she began to do really well in school.
"You never know what is out there for you after high school," she tells them.
Hansen really cares about students, while also setting high expectations for them, said Alan Young, associate superintendent of the district.
"I think that is the first ingredient for serving any child: the willingness to take them from where they are rather than labeling them as they can or cannot," he said.
Do not let her slight frame and kindness fool you, however. Hansen can tackle big problems head-on and tell people things they don't want to hear, said Rinda Bartley, who worked with Hansen at Olympic and replaced her as principal there.
Hansen approaches students in a very straightforward manner and treats them as if they were mature young people, Bartley said.
"The students cannot miss that her intent is to assist them in the end, even though she may be frustrated with them," she said.
On an afternoon at the school last week, Hansen smelled smoke in a hallway and sent several students loitering nearby back to class.
"I need you in class," she told them. "It's the only way I know to have you learn."
One student lurking near the door said he was a student at Olympic waiting for a friend. Skeptical, she checked his ID, wrote down his name to report him and directed him to the nearest exit.
Later, she saw him across the street, keeping a respectful distance from the school.
"Thank you. I appreciate it," she shouted across the street. "I'm not calling your principal because you're a good guy."
When Hansen came to Mt. Diablo High in the fall, the school had already set out on the long road to improvement.
With the help of nearly $1 million in state and federal grants this year, with more money promised in the coming years, teachers are focusing on improving literacy and math instruction. They are learning how to teach literacy skills, such as note-taking and vocabulary, while they teach other subjects.
They also have divided the freshman class into small learning communities called "houses" to foster more connection among teachers and students.
Hansen says it all goes back to what she learned in the Peace Corps: "When you focus on something small and stay the course, it's amazing how much you can change."
"I'm not worried," she said. "I know we will get where we need to be."
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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; What RPCVs are doing; Special Interests - Education; COS - Ecuador
PCOL1482
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i am a former student of mt. diablo high school and i would like to say this school has helped me in more ways than one. i bumped heads with one teacher, but beside that the school has really improved since i first started attending. so to say that this school is great would be an understatement.
