Stories
Stories
One School at a Time
Students at the Alternative School for Math and Science (ASMS) in Corning, New York, don’t diagram what a circuit board looks like on a piece of paper; they wire one themselves. Led by Administrative Head Kim Frock (MBA 1987) and opened just eight years ago, ASMS is a private school driven by the mission to provide an academically challenging, inquiry-based learning environment for children in grades 6 through 8.
“At the end of 5th grade, American students are still among the best in the world,” says Frock. “But by the end of high school they’re scoring substantially below their international peers. We believe that if you really want students to learn, you need small class sizes, highly qualified instructors, and an experiential learning program. Students learn by doing, not by memorizing facts and spitting them back on a test.”
Frock was working as a high-level executive at Corning when she decided to scale back her involvement to spend more time at home with her children, then 7 and 8 years old. After becoming more involved in the local public schools, she and a group of concerned parents got together to see what they could do. In the end, the group decided to start a school.
“In 2003 I took what I thought would be a nine-month leave of absence from Corning to help establish ASMS,” she says. The school opened in 2004 with 20 enrolled students and is now at capacity with a student body of 85. Corning, which provides the school’s building rent-free, is currently funding an expansion that promises to more than double ASMS’s physical space.
A 2007 Intel School of Distinction finalist, ASMS concentrates on math and science but its comprehensive curriculum places an equally strong emphasis on the humanities, the arts, and community service. “Since we’ve opened,” Frock says, “our students have given more than 30,000 hours of service to nonprofit organizations in our community”—a considerable contribution, given the school’s relatively small size.
Frock serves the school as a full-time volunteer. “We have a very small staff because we try to keep tuition as low as possible,” she says. “HBS gave me a great appreciation for the number of moving pieces that need to come together to create a successful organization. Schools are very organic. They’re alive. It’s a management task that involves understanding the needs and values of your constituents, working efficiently, and providing real leadership in the process.”
For Frock, that means standing outside every morning to greet students and doing lunch room duty, even if office work beckons. “My first priority is that every child feels successful, has a great experience, loves to come to school, and is safe,” she says. “This is a very welcoming, collaborative environment for students and faculty members.”
ASMS’s public-private partnership with Corning and nonprofit organizations in the community offers a possible model for what is possible going forward, Frock suggests. In addition, the school’s first academic head is working with area public schools to implement its science curriculum. “Education changes one school at a time,” she says. “I don’t think top-down initiatives work. You demonstrate what’s possible and then other people start to get on board.”
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