Why so much criticism of KIPP schools?

I have heard some discouraging words from educators who criticize KIPP for numerous reasons.  I read an article today “KIPP Schools: A Reform Triumph, or Disappointment?” which got me thinking about these criticisms again.  For the sake of transparency, I will admit that I am heavily biased towards KIPP. Prior to working at KIPP, I worked at one of the worst middle schools in Baltimore City, that had a negative school culture, no parent involvement, and unmotivated teachers. Walking into KIPP and finding excited teachers, excited students, and excited parents was refreshing. I found a culture of success with high expectations, for all key stakeholders. So when I read articles like is KIPP a triumph or disappointment, I initially get defensive.  The Knowledge is Power Program is a reform implemented to bridge the gaps in education for urban students throughout the country.

Many education reform critics site KIPP as a reform initiative that is not living up to standards. They say KIPP should have better college graduation rates given that there is a big focus for students to graduate college.  Critics say that only 33 percent of students that attended KIPP middle school graduated college to date.  I find it interesting that this statistic is connected back to KIPP when many of those students attend non-KIPP High schools.  I also find it interesting that the word “only” 33 percent graduated was used but compared to similar students nationwide just 8% are graduating college.  Given the disadvantaged youth that KIPP serves and the population of students, 33% is a reasonable number.  Whether the improvements are in small increments or large waves, improvement is always a positive. KIPP serves about 99 schools in 21 states across America, elementary, middle, and high schools.  

 I find it to be extremely disheartening for people to criticize a reform that is visibly empowering urban communities and students. The KIPP organization personal college graduation rate goal is 75%.  KIPP understand that the college rates needs to improve which is why the KIPP through College Program exist and more KIPP high schools are being considered. The talk of partnering with colleges and universities is also in conversation. 

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2067941,00.html

Does the Achievement Gap exist in more areas than academics?

I am sure we all are familiar with how prevalent the achievement gap is within the black community. This achievement gap has been in existence for decades and seems to be getting worst.  The disadvantage youth in the urban community lack resources, adequate buildings, competent teachers, involved parents, and intrinsic motivation.  These variables are all factors of a sub-par education our kids are given.  Ironically, the gap in academics is not the only area our kids are at a disadvantage.

Many critics tend to focus on academics in reference to the achievement gap but there is a wide gap in various capacities between the suburban white kid and the urban black kid.  There are differences in the quality of education, cultural experiences, and exposure to the arts, and social awareness. The cultural experience is a category that our urban students are at a great disadvantage.  Our students are not exposed to other cultures or indulged in societies that are not their own.  Many students in urban communities seem to never stray too far from their immediate area. Our kids only get a chance to see the urban community in which they grow up and develop this warped view of the world.  As a KIPP teacher, our students take an end of the year field lessons from the 5^Th grade through the 8^Th grade.  Our students travel to multiple states to experience the different cultures and view various landmarks in that state.  Fortunately, these KIPP students are able to experience a completely different world for at minimum four days which can be a life changing experience.  During the field lessons, our students visit other KIPP schools in the visited states and interact with the students and staff.  Also, many of the art programs are being cut because of funding and academic focus.  This does our kids a great disservice because some kids thrive in those programs, being successful in one of the arts programs can potentially motivate that student in other aspects of their studies.  The idea of multiple intelligences is an idea that I feel strongly about.  I believe kids are intelligent in multiple and in uncommon areas.  There is research to show it, I read an article that highlighted an autistic student that was very much musically inclined.  He could pick up any instrument and play but his academics was sub-par.  Let's just say this autistic student was very artistic.  We have to embrace all of our students with open arms and harness their abilities.

 I’m sure many of you will say that this is not in the budget but there are fundraisers, grants and sponsors. I believe that is a necessity to expose our students to things outside of their urban community.  I urged for additional funding to be given to start and maintain art programs.  These bottoms can do a great deed for our children and our communities. The bottom line is that the achievement gap extends beyond academics and it is visible in all classrooms throughout the city. 

Reform: The School Lunch

The Baltimore Sun published an article today called “Salad bars sprouting up in city school cafeterias.” The article explained the attempts BCPS was making towards providing students with healthier food options. From personal experience, I know my students would benefit from a higher quality diet. Early in the morning, when students are supposed to have the “most important meal of the day” I see my school providing sugary beverages that are not juice and cinnamon buns. This is a dangerous trend that BCPS is trying to overcome.

Currently, a student who is at Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, when referring to the newly piloted salad bar, stated, "I can go to lunch now and know I won't leave without eating.” This school is one of 11 in the city who has introduced salad bars, and tomorrow 10 more schools will be announced to become a part of this initiative.

Programs such as these are a necessary component to the healthy child in our Nation’s Schools. Currently, 94% of school meals do not much federal nutrition standards. This is appalling, especially when students are expected to perform at a high academic level. How can they do this without the proper diet? Luckily, the trend is sweeping the nation and Maryland schools take place in a farm fresh to classroom partnership, providing fresh food to most schools. I am happy to see this trend taking place, because, after all, students need to be healthy if they want to gain the most possible knowledge. 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-ci-healthy-school-food-20120430,0,5979943.story

Schools, Circus, and Nuts!

Millions of kids walk away from school long before they're scheduled to graduate. Millions more stay but disengage. Half of those entering the teaching profession soon abandon it. Administrators play musical chairs. Barbed wire surrounds many schools, and police patrol hallways.” A few lines from What's Worth Learning?" Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, North Carolina, 2011 piqued my interest. Is it any wonder our why kids aren’t doing well in school.  The amazing thing is, to find the problems with students in schools, the only solution has been to test the crap out of them. It should come as no surprise that the scores are in fact crappy. Where is the fun in schools what happened to the excitement of discovery? Well, its gone because there is no test for that. But, not surprisingly, there is an app for that. This obsession with test scores has come at a hefty price. (Literally have you ever looked into how much it costs to administer these tests?)

Consider the current decline in math scores. let’s take a look at the systems current logic: Students do poor on tests. Then we  give more tests to find out why. Tests show students don’t like taking tests, or the tests don’t really show what the students know, so the students lose interest. The educational leaders realize “hey we can’t get the students to like tests……., but we can make it so what’s being taught is more “ALIGNED” to the tests.  Maybe if they have had more exposure to it they will do well… Maybe we should test for that”. Reality: Students still dislike testing and have found ways of expressing that dislike; classes have reverted to lower level rote memorization; and opportunities for and enrichment or experienced based learning have been replaced with repetitive practices and what essentially amounts to teaching to the test.

In the article “Test Problems: Seven Reasons Why Standardized Tests Are Not Working” by By David Miller there are reports of people bucking against the continued proliferation of standardized testing. In Scarsdale, New York, an upscale, college-oriented community, parents organized a boycott of the eighth-grade standardized tests. Of 290 eighth-graders, only 95 showed up for the exam. In Miami protests erupted when over 12,000 Florida seniors were denied their high school diploma, and in Massachusetts, local school boards defied the state and issued their own diplomas to students they believed were being unfairly denied their high school graduation because of the state-mandated test. Teachers in California and Chicago refused to give tests and faced disciplinary action. 

It seems we have all been made part of a flea circus. For the unfamiliar let me explain. Fleas have the ability to jump great heights proportional to their body size, in the wild. However, place those wild fleas in a small jar and close the lid for approximately 20 minutes. You will see something quite odd. When you remove the lid, you will find the fleas no longer believe they have the ability to jump out of the jar. They have gotten so tired of banging their heads against the lid that they just stop jumping as high. These fleas that are now trained to reach below their potential stay that way until death. I should not have to explain the parallel, but I will just in case. If you teach to a low level, the students will only learn at a low level. Furthermore, if they are trying to do better and are continually getting hit across the head with standardized tests eventually they will stop trying.

While we are on the subject of taking lessons from nature, the educational pundits could learn a thing or two from George Washington Carver. He correctly theorized that the repetitive planting and replanting of cotton was depleting the nutrients from the soil. He suggested, to save the land from spoiling farmers to rotate crops that complemented one another. The peanut being one that was quite notable as a complement to cotton. Why is that important? Well it's actually quite simple. We are stripping the soil in the minds of our students! Why is everyone so surprised? After all our sewing we are not reaping much of an intellectual harvest! Quite simply, we are failing to rotate the crops. The practices high repetition with little application or exploration are depleting the students of resources like an out of control weed. It should be expected that the students are bored and uninterested. If we really want our students to become invested again, we all have to reinvest in experiential learning, extracurriculars, and electives. In any rate we have got to find some way to rotate, fertilize and cultivate our crops before we lose our nuts. 

Incentives versus Rewards

Daniel Pink, profiled in a recent Washington Post article and author of the book “Drive,” claims that merit pay and pay for performance programs for teachers will not work.  According to Pink’s book, jobs that involve simple straightforward tasks respond well to rewards, but those that involve judgment and creativity do not.  Pink argues that teaching falls into the latter category.   A recent study of a pay-for-performance system in Nashville, conducted by Vanderbilt University, seems to support Pink’s premise.  The study examined teachers in Nashville schools who were offered bonuses of as much as $15,000 to improve student achievement and found that student test scores for these teachers were no better than for teachers that did not get merit pay.

What the article fails to address, is that merit pay and pay-for-performance systems actually address two different issues in the teaching profession.  Pay-for-performance, as a means to incentivize teachers to work harder and produce higher student achievement is different from the idea of merit pay as a reward for great teaching.  Proponents of merit pay such as former DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee point out that it is about “retaining high performers not inspiring mediocre teachers.”  Others claim that this is an important step to helping create a professional culture of high expectations and high performers. 

The new Baltimore Professional Practices and Student Learning Program (BPPSLP), which abolished the traditional step seniority increases and replaced it with a merit based system, has to improve student learning by January 2013 or the contract could revert back to the old system.  So the question that comes to mind: Is Baltimore measuring success by the most appropriate standard?  Should the point of the new pay system be increasing student achievement or retaining more educators?  And if you are a teacher does the new pay system matter as much in the stay or go decision-making process as the quality of professional development or the support of a good principal?  As Baltimore pushes forward in its merit pay reforms, one can only hope that the district is giving equal consideration to other critical factors that influence teacher retention.