Re: [eddra] High-scoring KIPP and its mysterious ways

[Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>]

I thought so!  We need to get this out to the 
public as much as we can.  Just as with Lorraine 
Monroe's highly publicized Frederick Douglass 
Academy, a magnet school in Harlem  (which creams 
for students with a strict admissions pledge that 
parents must agree to), these "No Excuses" KIPP 
schools receive extra foundation funding that 
enables them to provide important extras that 
make a big difference for working class 
kids.  We'd all love to offer such services as 
extra tutoring, safe supervised campuses open 
from dawn to dusk, Saturday enrichment and parent 
classes, expert foreign language teachers (and 
European summer travel!), take-home laptops, etc 
in our overcrowded, underfunded, dilapidated 
public schools.  The conservative standardistas 
and privatizers don't want the public to know 
about this unfair advantage because it's part of 
their overall strategy to justify tax cuts and 
savage reductions in social spending by making 
public education look bad.  And thanks to them it 
is bad and getting worse in inner-city 
neighborhoods and low income rural areas, where 
the militarization of working class kids has once 
again become the norm through scripted programs 
and narrow, test-prep curricula, designed to 
produce a "disciplined," low wage workforce and 
cannon fodder for the imperialist military.  The 
least we can do is try to expose the hypocrisy of these creeps.

Pete Farruggio

At 10:10 AM 9/9/2006, Caroline Grannan wrote:

> Both. They get major funding from the Gap's Don 
> and Doris Fisher, plus I think the usual suspects (Gates, Walton, Broad etc.).
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <mailto:pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>Peter Farruggio
> To: <mailto:eddra@yahoogroups.com>eddra@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 11:00 PM
> Subject: Re: [eddra] High-scoring KIPP and its mysterious ways
>
> Question:  How does KIPP get the money to fund 
> the student store, public funds (ADA) or private donations?
>
>
>
> At 01:07 PM 9/8/2006, cmgrannan wrote:
>
> > Blog item from www.sfschools.org ,where I co-blog:
> >
> > The KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy, run by a national (San
> > Francisco-based) charter chain that's widely hailed by pundits and the
> > press, is in the news for a sharp gain in test scores. It now posts a
> > higher API than almost all other SFUSD middle schools.
> >
> > Though I'm a charter skeptic, I'm not going to try to interpret or
> > debunk that result. I hope it's legit and that those kids really are
> > learning and achieving at the high level those scores would indicate.
> > Maybe I'll see the light and become a charter supporter after all.
> >
> > Naturally, I'm curious. I have acquired the school's 2006-2007 Parent
> > Handbook, which gives an interesting view of the school culture. Here
> > are some impressions and quotes.
> >
> > KIPP appears to be very aggressive about retaining kids based on
> > achievement. That does make me wonder about the actual age levels of
> > the kids tested as being in certain grades ? are 13-year-olds taking
> > the 5th-grade STAR tests? I don't know what the requirements are in
> > this area. (Of course, they could be skipping kids ahead too, and
> > testing them ahead of grade.)
> >
> > KIPP has a lavish "paycheck" system that rewards kids with credits at
> > the student store for basically everything. It's clearly a driving
> > force, a huge part of the school culture. I don't know what's
> > available at the student store.
> >
> > Parent Handbook:
> >
> > " By the end of a regular 5 day week, students will have had the
> > opportunity to earn up to $200 Bay dollars, which they can then spend
> > at the student store. "
> >
> > There's a punitive designation called YET for students whose paychecks
> > fall below $170 or $180, depending on grade level.
> >
> > Parent Handbook:
> >
> > " YET is designed as a consequence for students who aren't making
> > the best decisions yet. The YET group's consequences will be
> > determined by the grade level, but might include the following,
> > effective for the week following a low paycheck:
> > * Silent lunch in a classroom.
> > * Loss of extra privileges (i.e. field trips, assemblies, school
> > store, etc.).
> > * Reflection/goal-setting assignment signed by parents. Students
> > in YET earn their way off at the end of the week as long as their
> > goals have been signed by their parents. "
> >
> > So the norm would be for each kid who doesn't mess up to get $180-$200
> > in store credit per week. Without seeing the store and the prices, we
> > don't know how powerful an incentive that is.
> >
> > KIPP's punishment system is called The Bench, and is basically
> > shunning. It's for violations from physical aggression and vandalism
> > to untucked shirt, chewing gum or talking to a benched student. It
> > lasts for two days if they do everything right.
> >
> > Parent Handbook:
> >
> > " If a student makes one of the poor choices [listed infractions],
> > he or she must be "off the team" and is subjected to the following
> > until earning his/her way off:
> > * No talking, except to staff (freshmen and sophomores) [KIPP
> > refers to its students, who are in grades 5-8, as freshmen through
> > seniors, and the student body as a team].
> > * Wearing a bench sticker
> > * Loss of all privileges
> > * Silent lunch away from the team
> > * Detention from 5-5:30
> > * Grade level appropriate letter explaining why s/he should be
> > accepted back to the team
> > * Participation in a family meeting [it's not clear whether this
> > means the student's family or is referring to the school community as
> > a family; there is another use of the latter] (in all cases except
> > talking to bench student, gum, and untucked shirt)
> > * One or more logical consequences as decided by teacher/admin...
> > * Public apology at Grade Level Team and Family (juniors and seniors)
> > * Meeting with Student Discipline Committee (SDC) where they
> > review the student's apology letter and decide whether s/he should be
> > off the bench..." "
> > [If the SDC and/or asst. principal so decide, the student is
> > benched until another review the following week.]
> >
> > There are also time-outs, with a time-out space in each classroom.
> >
> > Naturally there are strict uniform rules and requirements that
> > students walk in the hall in a silent line.
> >
> > There's a "volume meter" in each classroom. "Teachers are expected to
> > inform students as to which voice level is appropriate for various
> > activities," ranging from 0 (silent) to 4 (chants, songs etc.).
> > There's more about all this.
> >
> > Also, on the wall of the school were posters about incentives for
> > bringing in new students. Students get a $25 Old Navy/Gap certificate
> > for successfully bringing in a new student, and there are school store
> > incentives for even bringing in an inquiry. The class that brings in
> > the most new students gets an incentive too.
> >
> > I stopped by the facility that houses that KIPP school and also
> > Gateway Charter High School this morning. The doorbell-type "call
> > bell" is "broken," so there's no way to enter unannounced ? or at all,
> > for that matter. A passing high-schooler let me in. I wonder if that's
> > the normal procedure.
> >
> > Interesting and mysterious place. I look forward to learning more
> > about it.
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