The sense of hope is almost palpable in room 223 on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, where 30 mostly minority freshmen are breaking down stereotypes of student achievement.

The African American Scholars program, started last year by teachers Ginny Burton and Laura Strentz, has been making waves as a strategy that can make real progress on narrowing the achievement gap. Funded by a $10,000 grant from the Washington State Office of Public Instruction, it is aimed at increasing the number of minority students in advanced and AP classes, and to better their chances of success in college. Currently, only 40% of African Americans enrolled in college graduate with a degree.

The program works like this: all of the freshmen Scholars are enrolled in honors core classes, plus an additional math class, and an elective. They come in at least twice a week after school to work on homework with volunteer tutors from the University of Washington, and are required to do extra assignments.

Also, the group of 30 is split up into two groups that have the same schedule, so that about half of every core class is composed of Scholars. Keeping the Scholars together, Shope believes, will help develop a feeling of community.

“We’re trying to set up a support system,” she said, “where they realize that it’s going to be tough, it’s going to be rigorous, but that they can handle it and they can rely on each other.”

Most of the Scholars weren’t slackers to begin with. According to history teacher Hersh Mandelman, high performing minority students with academic potential were recruited and encouraged to apply at middle schools around the city. Those that were accepted then had to sign a contract saying they would attend all the sessions and complete extra assignments as a part of the program.

So far, says history teacher Dan Cerquitella, the history teacher of last year’s Scholars, results have been encouraging. Seventeen out of the 34 students in his World History Honors class are African American, and ten of these are Scholars.

There are seven total African Americans enrolled in his AP European history classes, up from three last year, and four of these are Scholars. “We now have more African American students, kids who might not otherwise have had the skills to take these advanced classes, doing well and taking AP European history as sophomores,” said Cerquitella. “Sure, it’s only a small change, but we’re moving in the right direction and that’s good.”

The big test, the one that many people will look at to see if the Scholars program is having an impact, will come in the spring when these tenth graders take the state-mandated Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). Traditionally and in recent years, African American students have done very poorly on this test relative to their white and Asian classmates.

Math department head Ginny Burton explains that this is partially due to conditioning. She says testing shows that black students, when they encounter a problem they don’t understand, will simply not do the problem, while “Asian and white students are taught to play the game, and would work on it anyway. That affects the scores.” Also, she says, standardized tests may be harder for African Americans because they are generally more verbal, interacting better with people than with booklets and bubble sheets.

Mandelman, however, believes that the focus should not be on reasons why black students lag behind on such assessments. “There’s this agreement that some of them aren’t going to do well, that it’s a bad test, that the test is racially biased…it gives you a rationale for [being] where you are.”

In fact, Mandelman says, race does not even enter into the equation. “I don’t care about color,” he says. “I want to know who they are, so we can figure out what we need to do to bring them up.”

“We need to blow the lid off this chimera about the Achievement Gap,” he continued. “It’s a story that keeps us in place. Everyone is worried, looking over their shoulder, afraid of being called a racist.”

Shope, however, believes that race cannot be factored out. “As a white woman, running an African American program, it’s hard,” she says. “I realize that it would be better for the kids if there was a black person running this program, but that’s not the case. I’m here, and I love the kids, and I hope that I’m making a difference. But there’s always going to be that obstacle that I’m white.”

No matter who runs the program, though, Shope hopes that eventually, all struggling students will be able to get this level of assistance. “If you get it ingrained in the kids and the program starts working,” she said, “then it’s going to stick with the school and be something that people will support, and will encompass, not just 30 kids, but all African American kids. Which is what needs to happen.”

Already, the program is making its mark, by leaving a legacy of high achieving African American students determined to beat the statistics. Ayan Tahlil, diligently bent over classwork during a Thursday afternoon session, says she wants to go to college and become an orthodontist. “I think everyone should join African American Scholars,” she said. “It would be good for them.”