Page 142 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

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the largest department is special education. These children who apparently
cannot “focus” in the classroom are perfectly able to spend hours playing
computer games, are mesmerized for 90 minutes when watching the latest
Disney animated feature film, and spend hours excitedly researching a topic
that interests them.
Jan Drees and her team have created a classroom environment where
each and every student is self-motivated to learn in an atmosphere of
mutual respect and trust. Downtown School classrooms are as engaging as
any computer game. Jan and her team believe that if a student is motivated
by World War II, then why not use WWII reading material to teach basic
reading skills? Principal Ronald Williams of Detroit’s Newberry Elementary
School narrows this down to a single success factor, “If a child can’t learn
the way I teach, then I must learn to teach the way she learns.”
Jan’s daring deviance from conventional wisdom has resulted in
five times fewer Downtown School students on ADHD drugs than the
national average. Using AMA statistics and Downtown School’s current
enrollment, Jan should have 11 or 12 students on Ritalin-type drugs, but
she has only two at the present time. When a student who has been on
a course of ADHD drugs transfers into Downtown School, Jan asks the
family to try to eliminate the drug and see what happens. In almost all
cases, the student is suddenly cured of ADHD!
The final piece of Downtown School’s partnering strategy is its part-
nerships with the families. Parents, teachers and students all participate
in student-led conferences. These conferences are held three times a year
and usually last between 45 and 60 minutes. Jan believes that leading the
conference helps students take responsibility for their own growth and
learning. As one parent explained, “It kind of gives the kid somewhat of a
star status, telling you what he has done, instead of the teachers and parents
talking over his head.”
Is it worth it? Downtown School has been in existence for over 10 years
and continues to exceed the state and national standardized test results by
more than 10 percentage points. The “experiment” that began with 45 stu-
dents in 1993 is now nearly 300 students strong with over 900 names on a
waiting list. Even more significant than test scores is the passion for learning
and problem solving that Downtown School graduates take with them as
they move on to sixth grade. For many children in traditional environments,
that passion for learning is stifled by the end of their second school year.
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