Should the Ed Reformers just quit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming that this thread is riffing off of yesterday's PARCC scores, it seems that a couple schools e.g. KIPP and DC Prep - have figured out how to get their students to do nearly as well as white, affluent students.

I think that DCPS and the rest of the charters need to go spend some time in those schools and start replicating what they are doing.

What they are doing is selecting the "best" students from the most functional families (not all poor black families are the same). In order to go to KIPP, parents need the resources and the wherewithal to apply their kid to the lottery and to manage the transportation issues. They then must sign a pledge to commit to a certain number of parent participation hours. Then they also need to get their kid to school for frequent Saturday hours. All of these things are not possible for the most dysfunctional families, who are then concentrated in schools like Turner and Motten, with less than 5% proficiency rates.

At the middle and high school level, where kids from dysfunctional families need so much more -- in terms of social workers and guidance counselors -- the fact that their peers from more functional families are going to charters and OOB leaves the school less money for non-classroom staff.

I am a KIPP parent. While you are correct about transportation issues, there are zero required parent hours. Zero. That's an EL Haynes (tier 2 school), and CAPCS (lost their charter, no longer exists) requirement. I agree that the schools that do that are asking a subset of the population not to bother applying to the lottery. The only pledge required (I think? I would have signed it 4 years ago and I don't really remember) is to remain committed to your child's education, and good attendance.

The Saturday hours are fairly infrequent though, and while they are "required" they really aren't. My son has missed more than half the Saturday hours and it hasn't been a problem ever.

It's not a perfect system, but the school is very dedicated to helping all of its families be successful.

[Anonymous]

KIPP is also not at all boot camp like. They do have an extended day, but my kid loves school and has friends and is thriving there. By the way, I have a graduate degree and recognize a good school when I see one. The KIPP DC my child is at is a great school.