tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589405835312873091.post10404600419298720..comments2023-03-23T09:51:05.485-04:00Comments on Eduwonkette: When a Lottery is Not a Lotteryeduwonkettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072705276536120758noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589405835312873091.post-73646241243278851942007-10-17T13:44:00.000-04:002007-10-17T13:44:00.000-04:00Love the blog, but frankly this is controversy loo...Love the blog, but frankly this is controversy looking for a place to affix itself. Of course KIPP kids are different. They become so the second their parents pick up the phone to enter the lottery. I taught in the South Bronx for several years, and in that time had exactly ONE parent follow through after I encouraged her to make that call; that kid goes to KIPP. Parental support matters. <BR/><BR/>Why shouldn't KIPP screen parents to make sure that the families are down with the program? The Gods may strike me dead for this unfashionable opinion, but families NOT being down with the program is precisely what turns the average low-performing school into a house of horrors. <BR/><BR/>The gold standard is high achievement among a random assignment of students? That's great. I'm glad there are well intentioned people out there who will not rest until EVERY child is doing well. But I'm even happier there are the KIPPs of the world, who are ready to help the kids and families who want to take us up on our offer of a great education. Today. Right now. <BR/><BR/>People of means send their children to private school. I've long held that what you're really paying for is not a first-rate education (at least at the primary level), but a first-rate environment. As a parent, I want my child to be in school with other kids from families who value education. I'm not prepared to demand that poor families have their child's educational time taken up by those who have to be coerced into acting in their own best interests. <BR/><BR/>KIPP offers an education -- and more to the point, a learning environment -- that is light years ahead of what those same children would get in their district schools. I fail to see how quibbling about their selection process alters that unassailable fact, or diminishes their accomplishment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589405835312873091.post-35942087756381701442007-10-16T19:00:00.000-04:002007-10-16T19:00:00.000-04:00I don't think KIPP loses many students in the sign...I don't think KIPP loses many students in the sign-up process, though it would be good to have those numbers. I suspect it's more common to lose students during the school year when those long hours kick in. <BR/><BR/>I observed the sign-up process when I did a story on a KIPP principal <A HREF="http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0706/p11s01-legn.html" REL="nofollow">recruiting students</A> for a new school for the Christian Science Monitor. It's standard practice to get parents to commit to getting the child to school on time and, if necessary, on Saturdays. Students have to make a commitment too. By the time parents agreed to the sign-up interview, they seemed to have made up their minds to go with KIPP. <BR/><BR/>In this case, there was no lottery: The principal was signing up every kid she could find, literally walking the streets to find prospects. I'm sure the least committed parents don't consider KIPP or any other choice, but most who did in this case were low-income, poorly educated Mexican immigrants. The girl in the story was behind academically and had two older siblings who were doing poorly in school. It seems unlikely to me this girl would have turned into a good student at her old school. <BR/><BR/>By the start of its second year, KIPP Heartwood was doing so well that people now swear it creams the best students. I'm sure that its very, very high scores are attracting education-minded parents. But KIPP Heartwood started out with kids like Delia.Joanne Jacobshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06801487780819716845noreply@blogger.com