Helen Joyce posts a review of her visit to a Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) charter school in Newark, NJ. It turned out differently from what she expected, based on her biases about corporate operated charter schools.
I cannot remember when my expectations and reality last clashed so much: the day turns out to be the most fun I’ve ever had visiting schools. I’m shown around RISE, one of KIPP’s two middle schools in Newark, by Drew Martin, its principal, and Ryan Hill, the executive director of KIPP in Newark. Both had become head teachers by the age of 25 and both are TFA alumni—and although their desire to create great schools is real and serious, they have fun while doing it.
Eighty percent of KIPP students are low-income, and 90 percent are African American or Latino.
Nationally, more than 90 percent of KIPP middle school students have gone on to college-preparatory high schools, and more than 80 percent of KIPP alumni have gone on to college.
Bill Gates says that KIPP schools operate for less money and yield higher student academic performance than schools with similar students in the same or similar neighborhoods.
I will post a separate comment about the cost-benefit ratio after checking it out independently. I’m curious.
In the mean time, thanks Helen for the review.
Kudos, KIPP educators and students for setting a brisk pace for other U.S. schools.
Joyce, H. “Education in New York: Off to school,” The Economist (online), April 23, 2009.
JesseAlred said… Here’s the relevant point of Alred’s comment about KIPP: The architect of KIPP’s expansion is a Houston businessman and “capitalist intellectual” adjunct professor at (White) Rice University, named Leo Linbeck III. Here are some blog posts he gave through the Belmont Club: …I deleted the rest as SPAM that has been cited by the Economist as a personal attack. You can read it on other sites through Google. Why, Jesse do you think private entrepreneurship disqualifies students from learning more than their peers in other schools? KIPP students apparently perform better in academics. Yes? 🙂
Have u seen livetuor its amazing. Its about online teaching through videophone. website http://bsnl.livetutor.in
Glad you cam back, Jesse. No one I know blocked your speech. Yes, I monitor comments again; haven’t for a long time until recently. The site was hit by a rash of SPAM. It comes in cycles. So, I’ll continue monitoring to remove SPAM until that cycle of submissions stops. 🙂 Now, you were saying?