Students at the Zone's two charter schools routinely perform better than their counterparts at public schools. The middle school received an "A" on its report card this year from the New York City Department of Education - something awarded to only 25 percent of the city's middle schools.
Laura Vural, who runs the Zone's audio-visual arts program for high-schoolers, called TRUCE, says all 33 of her seniors this year graduated on time and have been accepted to college, including Syracuse University, Sarah Lawrence and the University of Pennsylvania. Next year, about 400 former Zone participants will be in college, she says. That's especially noteworthy, she says, because only about 30 percent of Central Harlem teenagers passed their high school exit exams last year.
Still, Canada says the real gauge of the Zone's success is years away. "It's something we have to measure across time - decades. We're only beginning to see results."
For Altheo Serrao's family, school days begin at 5 a.m.
One Wednesday this spring, Serrao stood in her tiny kitchen before sunrise, buttering wheat bread for cheese sandwiches that will be breakfast once they arrive at school. The kids, their hair covered in wraps, were asleep on mattresses in the living room, where the only air conditioner keeps Isaiah's asthma at bay.
"Say good morning," she instructed her boys at 5:08 a.m. Ezekiel pulled on socks and pants laid out near his bed, the routine an instinct by now. Serrao helped Isaiah into his clothes. She brushed their teeth and hair and slathered their faces in Eucerin lotion and their lips in Carmex. Sarah woke up last, and sleepily slipped on her clothing.
Forty-two minutes later, they were out the door in the cold. They took the elevator eight floors down, and headed into the still-dark and chilly morning to catch the bus. It pulled up seven minutes later. They were heading to Harlem.
At times, it seems as if the world is watching Canada's project.
In January of last year, Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall visited a Zone after-school program for middle-schoolers that focuses on personal finance. In a campaign speech last year, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he wants to launch 20 others programs like the Zone across the country.
So many cities want to emulate Canada's project that he recently created a "Practitioner's Institute" to coordinate all of the information requests. About 70 groups across the country and delegations from 24 foreign countries have visited.
