KIPP Scores Tumble, kipp gets $50 million, President Demands More Charter Schools

When you live by the scores, you die by the scores. Except, here's the thing--KIPP schools are the darlings of Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Jay Matthews, and Wal-Mart. Therefore, they've just won 50 million bucks. Odd this revelation occurred only days after the award, ain't it?

<<Schaeffler said her staff was working to determine what the problem in fifth grade might be. "We're looking at everything from teacher turnover to a change in the incoming students."<<

They have to look at that darn teacher turnover, because few can maintain the grueling pace demanded of KIPP teachers, the six-day weeks, the long hours, the cell phone at home to answer the demands of parents. Some teachers, in fact, persist in wanting a personal life, out of the question for those in the super charters. However, such charters are paving the way for the vision of the American President--an America where all are peasants, working round the clock, never getting ahead, an America in which no one has a pesky union and everyone works for whatever the bosses feel like paying.

It doesn't matter that charters don't do better than public schools, despite enormous advantages in selection. Make no mistake--with 100% proactive parents, the only miracle about charters is that they don't outperform public schools everywhere, all the time. It doesn't matter if they fail. It doesn't matter if all the methods the "reformers" use fail, or if both Texas and Chicago, the audition grounds for the programs in place now were failures too. In fact, they don't even care if their arguments are transparent nonsense. The editorial boards from the New York Times on down are asleep at the wheel and can't be bothered with the most perfunctory research.

http://nyceducator.com/2010/08/kipp-scores-tumble-president-demands.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/06/AR2010080606206.html?wprss=rss_education

Both the Bush family and the charter schools.

Hope all the DFER dollars are worth it, White House. http://www.dfer.org/list/about/board/

Kevin Chavous (chair) - Former Washington, DC, City Council member and chair of the Education Committee.

Tony Davis - Anchorage Capital, board chair for Achievement First East New York, in Brooklyn.

Charles Ledley - Highfields Capital Management, board member of the Tobin Project

Rafael Mayer - Co-founder and managing partner, Khronos LLC, board member for Planned Parenthood of NYC, KIPP AMP, and The Dalton School.

Sara Mead - New America Foundation, former analyst for Education Sector and the Progressive Policy Institute, Washington, D.C.

John Petry - Gotham Capital, co-founder of Harlem Success Academy Charter School, NYC.

Andrew Rotherham - Co-Founder and Publisher, Education Sector, former White House education advisor to President Clinton, author of the blog, Eduwonk.com.

Whitney Tilson - T2 Partners and Tilson Funds, vice chairman of KIPP Academy Charter Schools in NYC, co-founder of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City.

(Note - Organizations listed here are for identification purposes only and do not imply an endorsement or affiliation.)


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The DFER Board of Advisors

William Ackman - Founder, Pershing Square Capital.

Steve Barr - Founder and CEO, Green Dot Public Schools.

Cory Booker - Mayor of Newark, N.J.

David Einhorn - Founder of Greenlight Capital, LLC.

Joel Greenblatt - Founder and Managing Partner of Gotham Capital.

Vincent Mai - Chairman of AEA Investors, LP.

Michael Novogratz - President of Fortress Investment Group.

Tom Vander Ark - Partner, Revolution Learning.


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The plan was started in 2007 and executed like clockwork.

http://edreform.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html




Move over teachers and teacher's unions, we aren't needed anymore. The Democratic party have found a new and cushier swain. The hedge fund managers have sold their super plan to the politicians.

You'll love this:

http://dferwatch.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/dfer-ny-2010-spending-donations/

So the next time someone (maybe on this very forum) says that all one has to do is get out and sell the public on one's ideals and build a coalition that will vote for it? Stuff it. Shoe leather is at a distinct disadvantage in the face of billionaires. These guys are pretty much buying elections. They have heavy marketing and PR propaganda campaigns. They are the "New Democrats".

The school level and this will fix our school system. Seriously is this a good plan? Right now our kids test pretty low...48th in the nation I think. This was the guy I was thinking of voting for but I think he is a little deluded on this.

As far as the awards program:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/education/05grants.html?src=me

naep tests, gold standard (administered by outsiders):

The NAEP/Tuda also shows that in 2009 DCPS surpassed charter school performance in math. Two years ago we were 14 scale score points behind charter schools in eighth grade math, and this year we have a higher proficiency rate than charter schools at both the fourth and eighth grade levels.

http://dc.gov/DCPS/About+DCPS/Strategic+Documents/Plan+for+Stimulus+Funding

and they have found the holy grail, why are 30 groups still being paid big bucks for "intruiging sounding" ideas? It sounds like money is just being thrown around at a fad. These big institutions like the Smithsonian and John Hopkins have merely found another trough to feed at. And they're milking it for all it's worth.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/6032

Keeping it in the family so to speak.

didn't they?

This makes me want to kick and wreck in a totally different way...