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December 17, 2008Closing the Education Gap in America's Poorest Neighborhoods |
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From Ascribe Newsfeed: The intersection of King and Story roads in East San Jose, Calif., has long been notorious as gang-infested, violent, and poor - facts that most educators will tell you make it an unlikely location for educational excellence. But just steps from that infamous corner, on a bedraggled middle school campus that promises nothing better, is a school with test scores that rank it among the best in California. Its students - all neighborhood kids - are unflaggingly polite, offering a handshake and a poised explanation of the day's lesson to a classroom visitor. This is Heartwood Academy, one of five middle schools and two high schools the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) charter school network operates in the San Francisco Bay Area, all of which are located in neighborhoods like King and Story and all of which produce similar results. This fall, with support from the Hewlett Foundation, the research institute SRI International issued one of the most thorough and ambitious studies to date of the educational approach of KIPP charter schools. The SRI study concluded that, despite KIPP's problems of high student attrition and teacher turnover, school districts can learn from its example. Ali met the founders of what would become KIPP, Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, while all three were young Teach for America teachers working in inner-city schools in Houston, Texas. While polls consistently show that Californians place improving education at or near the top of their priorities, they've also shown a striking reluctance to do anything that would provide the additional funding to allow that to happen.
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