More millions for KIPP schools
Developer Eli Broad just donated $12 million to four L.A.-area KIPP schools (plus another $12 million to Aspire, another charter chain).
The L.A. Times followed the news of the donation with an intelligently reported (to the eye of a KIPP skeptic) profile of one of the KIPP schools.
All those who think it's a good idea to keep fifth-graders in school for 10-hour days and then add two to three hours of homework — and to make a student feel like she wants "to cut her wrists every morning" — raise your hands. (And Sit Up, Listen, Ask Questions, Nod and Track the Speaker With Your Eyes — this is KIPP's SLANT policy, required of all students.)
The L.A. Times followed the news of the donation with an intelligently reported (to the eye of a KIPP skeptic) profile of one of the KIPP schools.
All those who think it's a good idea to keep fifth-graders in school for 10-hour days and then add two to three hours of homework — and to make a student feel like she wants "to cut her wrists every morning" — raise your hands. (And Sit Up, Listen, Ask Questions, Nod and Track the Speaker With Your Eyes — this is KIPP's SLANT policy, required of all students.)
Strict rules mark schools
Pupils' workloads are heavy at L.A. charter sites that have drawn a billionaire's support.
By Jason Song, L.A. Times, Jan. 18, 2008
Antonio Chavez spends 10 hours a day at school and two or three doing homework because he wants to go to UCLA. He isn't sure what to major in. "I need some time to learn what my interests are," he says.
Fifth-graders generally do.
Click to read the rest of the article...
Labels: Charters
11 Comments:
yeah; but i think the wrist slitting might be due to the KIPP lack of salad bars..
oh, one more comment.
you sit there and constantly dis the KIPP charter attempt to get some disadvantaged kids out of "ghetto" ; and then you freak balboa out w/ rumors of the continuation school on their campus...???
i think maybe we could get rid of the continuation schools if we had dedicated schools helping these kids out (ie KIPP)
Really? Are you clear on the fact that students and parents whose children attend KIPP must sign an agreement which, among other things, requires the students to come to school every day? Those who miss school without a valid excuse are asked to leave KIPP.
Continuation schools serve primarily students who are behind because they have missed too much school - in fact, they are filled with exactly the kind of students who couldn't cut it at KIPP. KIPP does not perform miracles; they give kids and their families who are willing to work really, really hard, a chance to attend school in an environment which demands a high level of committment from everyone involved in a student's education - the student, the family, the teachers and staff. Those who can't cut it, or won't, don't remain at KIPP.
Parents who want this kind of environment for their kids are the ones who enroll there. Parents who don't monitor whether their kids go to school or not, don't. KIPP is never going to replace continuation schools, because some families just don't place a priority on their kids' education.
It's not KIPP's attempt to "get some disadvantaged kids out of the ghetto" that I have a problem with.
What troubles me is the fact that KIPP receives huge amounts of money and massive praise based on the misguided notion that it is a solution to the challenges of educating low-income, at-risk students.
As the third comment accurately indicates, KIPP students are self-screened for being motivated, compliant, obedient students with motivated, supportive, committed, compliant families. They are not the students who are likely to end up in continuation school.
KIPP schools' very high attrition demonstrates that only a fraction even of the kids who DO get as far as enrolling in KIPP schools can succeed in that environment. And that's fine for those who can. But to hail KIPP as the solution, pour money into it on that basis, and disparage the public schools that accept the rest of the community's kids is not productive.
Regarding the information about the proposed school site shifts -- the issue was the lack of sunshine in the process that was reportedly underway. And as I've said, one person's "rumor" is another's valuable information. If it had been your school involved in that proposal, Anonymous #2, I have a feeling you'd have wanted to hear about it.
Lowell makes kids want to slit their wrists, and ump off the bridge all the time, not just in the mornings.
So?
Lowell is a high school. KIPP starts in 5th grade - age 10.
oh i just LOVE this...
"lowell is a high school" but the dreaded KIPP the CHARTER ( wooooohooooo scary) school is only 5th graders wanting to slit their wrists...
this website has been charter bashers for a long time,
so just accept the fact that WHATEVER incremental, positive steps charter schools take to help out some kids; it will never be positively portrayed on this site.
but that's ok; i have other sites to get THAT information.
let's get back to salad bar discussions, please.....
It's definitely true that you have other sites to get pro-charter information. Charters have the support of the Bush administration, the Schwarzenegger administration and all the wealthy, powerful right-wing think tanks, from Cato to Hoover to Heritage. So the questioning, skeptical viewpoint expressed here is admittedly a tiny voice amid the massive, bounteously funded pro-charter propaganda.
I guess some charters make kids not want to slit their wrists, but rather attack the Principal.
Alleged attack has principal staying home from school
Jan 24, 2008 3:00 AM by Brent Begin, The Examiner
The principal of a San Francisco charter school has not returned to campus in two weeks after a 14-year-old student allegedly attacked him in his office.
The City Arts and Technology High School student, who was sent to the principal’s office after fighting with a student on the Ingleside campus, was “very angry” when Principal Joshua Brankman told him, about 1 p.m., that he couldn’t leave campus, according to police reports. When the student tried to leave anyway, the principal attempted to restrain him and the conflict escalated.
The teenager allegedly knocked over books and office equipment in Brankman’s office and then began shoving the principal and trying to choke him, according to police spokesman Sgt. Steve Mannina. The teenager then picked up a coffee mug with a broken handle, shoved it at him and cut Brankman’s hand.
Brankman, while not hurt seriously enough to require immediate medical attention from the Jan. 10 attack, is working from home as he recovers, according to Bob Lenz, founder and chief education officer of Envision Schools, which operates the five-year-old City Arts and Technology High School.
More at:
http://tinyurl.com/293cdc
That poor principal -- I hope he's not hurt more badly than the article indicates. The specter of an out-of-control kid trashing the principal's office and attacking the principal is truly scary.
What is this badly troubled, violent kid from Petaluma doing in a San Francisco school? I understand that he has the right to attend and they have the right to enroll him, but what's that about?
as i stated.. caroline should stick to the salad bar stuff.
Post a Comment
<< Home