The Reeducation of Silicon Valley

It is an awesome show. But for Costano to be a success, students will need to maintain some of that pep-rally energy throughout the day. They will need to stay optimistic and focused when it's time to learn about fractions, the Liberty Bell, or the right way to use a semicolon.

In the younger grades, Hargrove's approach is working spectacularly well. Last year, second, third, and fifth graders scored above average in every standardized California test they took. Her third graders were in the top quartile in math, language, and spelling.

Older students are having a tougher time. Costano is located in the northeast corner of East Palo Alto, the poorest, toughest part of town. As children grow up, it's hard to shield them from every distraction or negative influence nearby. It's also hard to deal with a student population that turns over so fast. Nearly 70% of Costano's students come from immigrant families, including some that might have been in Mexico, in Samoa, or in other parts of California a year ago. If their previous schooling was erratic, Costano can't work miracles in a single year.

Turbulent local politics are touching Costano as well. State regulators aren't happy with East Palo Alto's efforts to teach disabled children and have proposed that the regulators should take over in lieu of the city's longtime school superintendent, Charlie Mae Knight. Hargrove rallied in Knight's defense, but a petition that she submitted was found to include some invalid signatures. Early this year, Hargrove was ordered to serve a one-month suspension in connection with the petition controversy.

Nonetheless, Costano has done a lot during the past 12 years to create a climate where students can learn. The graffiti is gone, replaced by relentlessly upbeat slogans on classroom walls. Bright sixth graders stay after school to tutor fourth graders who are having trouble with fractions or reading.

As Costano becomes known as a school that works, more people are willing to help. Librarians at the East Palo Alto Library -- who used to shudder when Costano students arrived after school -- now welcome them. No wonder: Approximately 40 students and their parents have signed contracts to do an hour of homework at the library at least four days a week.

Good teachers now seek out Costano, even though they could teach elsewhere. Stanford University is pitching in as well. Some 60 business-school students now visit Costano every Wednesday afternoon to tutor first graders. This is tutoring for realists: The program is supposed to last all the way through high school, and it will require future generations of MBAs to pick up the load after current tutors graduate. No one is predicting miracles right away. "You need to be very patient," says tutor Heather Steinmeier. "The kids have very different levels of learning. They also feel betrayed if a tutor doesn't show up. But it's exciting to see how you can make an impression on a child."

Of Costano's many outside allies, Cisco remains the biggest by far. In the 12 years since John Morgridge first visited the school, the network-equipment company has installed a computer lab and helped upgrade Costano's library. Cisco staff members have donated at least 80 school uniforms and a washing machine so that even the poorest families can keep their children's clothes clean. Cisco has also sent a free dental van to the school so that children who have never seen a dentist can get proper care before their teeth are ruined.

Cisco has established its own, hands-on way of helping. When the company gave several-dozen computers to the school, it also sent over its own engineers to network the machines. Then Cisco provided free summer classes to the school's computer-lab manager, Gil Patterson, so that he could keep the network running perfectly.

"Schools never want to turn down a donation," says Maideh Radpour, a director of philanthropy at Cisco. "But you need to know when you're burdening someone with a donation that they can't really use. You need to be sure that they can support it. Otherwise, you might feel good, but you've really just donated a large, expensive doorstop."

In the mid-1990s, Cisco grew too big and successful to keep its offices in East Palo Alto. The company moved farther south and now has an enormous headquarters in San Jose. That makes it harder for Cisco employees to stop by Costano during their lunch breaks and help children with their math homework.

Yet John Morgridge and the people who work for him have stayed true to their promise to help the school over the long term. "Marty Hargrove doesn't let go, and you don't want to let go," a Cisco executive explains. So Cisco keeps writing checks, donating supplies -- and sending Morgridge himself. Once a year, he serves as "principal for a day." It's a time to visit classes, ask teachers what he can do to help, and try to inspire each year's group of children.