It’s relatively obvious to anyone who looks that the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), the nation’s largest charter management organization, produces results. Just by seeing its classrooms you start to figure this out: the students are in matching uniforms, they chant and seem energized about learning, and, other than the chants, they’re orderly and respectful. [...]
All Posts Tagged: 'KIPP'
When Policy Becomes Ideology
Last week Andy and I offered some ideas on the best way to characterize the theoretical and ideological divisions in education policy. Justin Cohen followed up:
I like Andy’s “Choice/Accountability” matrix, it’s far superior to the dichotomy that both of their posts reject. I worry, though, that it conflates “choice” and school-based “autonomy.” Right [...]
Why DC Vouchers Don’t Matter
President Obama wants to appropriate enough money to keep the DC voucher program going for the children currently enrolled. Good–this is the only ethical position to take. I know some Democrats in Congress wish the program had never been implemented, but that’s the price of losing elections. Dragging low-income and minority students out of their [...]
Why KIPP Matters
I first heard the word “kip” in seventh-grade gymnastics class. It was a special move where, lying on your back, you pulled your legs to your chest and then quickly pushed them forward. The momentum would propel you up and into a standing position. This was all theoretical of course, at least for me; I [...]
"Work Hard. Be Nice."
Famously, that’s the slogan of the much-discussed KIPP network of charter schools that have had great success in helping low-income and minority students learn. Now it’s also the title of veteran Washington Post education reporter Jay Matthews’ new book chronicling how the organization came to be what it is today. Education Sector is sponsoring an event [...]
Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers, Part 2
Continuing from yesterday’s post about Gladwell’s new book, which is basically an inventory of all the things besides individual talent and initiative that lead to unusual success. Put another way, it’s a book about unequal opportunity–how individual success and failure are a product of external circumstances, much more so than people like to believe, and how [...]
Schools as Scapegoats?
Larry Mishel and Richard Rothstein have written a long piece for The American Prospect titled “Schools as Scapegoats,” which is a good summary of the labor-centered critique of education reform. They make some good points, but I think their larger takes on the political and the policy implications are deeply misguided.
First, the good points. A [...]
Heroes or Just Hard Workers?
Matt Yglesias approvingly cites a recent post from Alex Tabbarok, in which Alex mocks the teacher-as-hero archetype (e.g. Freedom Writers etc.) as unscaleable, and recommends Direct Instruction instead. “The problem,” Matt says, “is that it’s just not realistic to build an entire system composed of teachers like that.” This is a common refrain, particularly among [...]
Tough on the 16 Hour KIPP workday
Alexander Russo has posted an interesting interview with Paul Tough, author of the much-discussed recent NYTimes article on the achievement gap. A sample:
AR: One of the things that folks have glommed onto is the idea that KIPP teachers work 16 hours a day. Where’d you get that from, and does it really matter?
PT: Dave Levin, [...]
KIPPing up with the Joneses?
Conor Clarke at TNR considers whether or not selection bias accounts for KIPP’s impressive academic results. The allegation that KIPP and other high-performing charter schools “skim” off higher-performing students from the public schools is pretty much as old as the charter movement itself and a lot of evidence suggests it’s far from accurate. But lately [...]
Jon Chait, Wrong About Education
The good thing about articles like Paul Tough’s much-discussed NYTimes piece about the achievement gap is that they get a lot of people talking about an important educational issue. The bad thing is that many of those people don’t really know what they’re talking about.
Take, for example, Jonathan Chait’s new column in the LA Times. [...]
Guess All that "Learning to Think Critically" Didn’t Pay Off for You, Huh?
Continuing her guestblogging stint on Eduwonk, Newoldschoolteacher rips into common “good liberal” arguments (in this case, typed by Peter at Schools Matter) against KIPP and other high-performing, highly-structured urban charter schools, with both righteous anger and humor. I’m kinda surprised, though, that she missed this doozy:
KIPP schools are basically charged with raising these children. [...]
Lowering Student Loan Default Rates: What One Consortium of Historically Black Institutions Did to Succeed 
College and Career-Ready: Using Outcomes Data to Hold High Schools Accountable for Student Success
03/19/10 | Ben Miller is quoted on college graduation rates and the NCAA Tournament in the Detroit Free Press.
03/19/10 | Linda Perlstein links to Education Sector's "College- and Career-Ready" event.
03/17/10 | Ben Miller's column on graduation rates and NCAA Tournament eligibility is mentioned on The Wall Street Journal's The Daily Fix.
03/17/10 | Kevin Carey's critique of Diane Ravitch's latest book is quoted in Doublethink's Conventional Folly blog.
03/15/10 | Ben Miller pens an op-ed for US News & World Report on using graduation rates to determine NCAA Tournament eligibility.