this message,
"More than 80 percent of KIPP students are low-income, and 95 percent
are black or Hispanic. The KIPP program has built a record of increasing
achievement levels and preparing students for college...
Wouldn't the city of Minneapolis be better off if more of its African
American, Hispanic and low income students did better in school? And,
if the school district responds constructively, district achievement
could improve to (Please see below for thoughtful coment by MPS Board
member Pam Costain.)
What happens in the district depends in part on how MPS responds to
KIPP, other charters and other options available to Mpls area
families. The quote in the same (TC Daily) article from MPS Board
member Pam Costain was encouraging:
"Minneapolis Public Schools Board member Pam Costain said in general,
KIPP has a very good reputation and outstanding results particularly
with poor kids. MPS has to strengthen its schools, compete on its merits
and learn to collaborate in a way that it becomes a cooperative
competition."
Speaking for herself, not the board, Costain said: âThe days of saying
we can just shun alternatives because we donât like themâreality has
overtaken us. Whatever we may think of any alternative, they are there.
We have to adjust..â
Meanwhile, the quote Dan cited comes from long time charter public
school critics whose funding comes, in part from teacher unions. It is
much easier to deny what KIPP, YES PREP, Withrow University, Frederick
Douglass, etc. etc. accomplish, than to do it.
In some places like Boston and New York, teacher unions are taking the
lead in starting new smaller, focused public schools (whether Pilots in
Boston, or charters, in New York)
Of course, new smaller schools are NOT the total solution.
Working together, educators, families and the broader community can make
a huge difference for lots of young people. My hope is that MPS moves
ahead with the kind of spirit Ms. Costain presents.
Sincerely
Joe Nathan
Humphrey Institute
University of Minnesota
The New York Times - "Charter Group Will Enroll More Pupils in Houston"
By Tamar Lewin
March 21, 2007
The Knowledge Is Power Program, a charter school network widely praised
for its results with low-income students in its 52 schools nationwide,
yesterday announced a $100 million plan, financed by private donations,
to expand its Houston operations over the next decade to serve about 10
percent of the cityâs public school population.
KIPP, which has eight schools in the city, plans over the next decade to
grow to 42 schools serving 21,000 students, pre-kindergarten through
grade 12.
âHouston is very fertile ground to start new public schools,â said Mike
Feinberg, a co-founder of KIPP, who supervises its Houston schools.
âThereâs a decent to good charter law, tremendous support for KIPP in
the community and a very generous private sector.â
A spokesman for the Houston schools said the district welcomed KIPPâs
expansion.
âIt simply gives kids and parents more choices, and we think thatâs a
good thing,â said Terry Abbott, the spokesman. âI think itâll make us
work harder to recruit and keep students.â
With more than 200,000 students, Houston is the seventh-largest school
district in the nation, and the largest in Texas.
There are 2,500 students on the waiting list for the 600 new seats that
will open next year at KIPPâs Houston schools, which currently enroll
1,700 children.
Charter schools, public schools that are tax-supported but independently
run, have been growing steadily since the early 1990s, with some 4,000
such schools now enrolling more than a million students nationwide. In
Washington, D.C., more than a quarter of all public students now attend
charters.
But charter schools are still controversial. Some parents and educators
say their very existence pushes school districts to compete and improve,
while others say that charters harm public school districts by drawing
off the students with the most involved parents.
KIPP started in Houston 13 years ago, founded by Mr. Feinberg and Dave
Levin, then two idealistic young fifth-grade teachers finishing their
stints in Teach for America. Mr. Levin now supervises the four KIPP
schools in New York.
More than 80 percent of KIPP students are low-income, and 95 percent are
black or Hispanic. The KIPP program has built a record of increasing
achievement levels and preparing students for college, with its long
school days â 9 to 10 hours a day rather than the standard 6 1â2 â
Saturday classes, required summer school and disciplined behavioral
expectations. Students are taught to sit up straight, look at whoever is
speaking and follow two basic tenets: âwork hardâ and âbe nice.â
Within the realm of charter schools, KIPP has long been a media
favorite, featured on â60 Minutesâ in 1999 and âOprahâ last spring.
The big question â what Mr. Feinberg calls the âYes, but ...â â has
always been whether KIPP could grow into a large-scale effort without
diluting the quality of the teaching, or the promising results it has
shown so far. Even some of the programâs admirers have been skeptical
that it could find enough highly committed, enthusiastic and
well-trained educators to become a real force for improving American
schools.
Mr. Feinberg said recruiting would be important. âWe have large boxes of
rĂ©sumĂ©s, but we do not have large boxes of great rĂ©sumĂ©s,â he said. But
he said he had no doubt that KIPP would find new principals who met the
same standards as the current ones. âIf I didnât believe it, we wouldnât
be doing this,â he said.
KIPP said it would not change its existing policy of training new
principals in a yearlong school leadership program. About two-thirds of
the programâs school leaders are, like the founders, alumni of Teach for
America.
KIPP announced yesterday that foundations and private philanthropists
had already pledged $65 million toward the Houston expansion. The Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Houston Endowment, Laura and John
Arnold, and Hines Interests Limited Partnership have pledged $10 million
each. The Walton Family Foundation pledged $8.7 million, and the Doris
and Donald Fisher Fund, KIPPâs largest long-term donor, pledged $5.3
million.