04 Mar 2006 - 12:40

a contract I would sign

via Eduwonk, a US News & World report on the KIPP Academy with this passage on contracts:

Under a contract signed by students, parents, and teachers, students go to school from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every weekday, every other Saturday morning, and for an extra month in the summer--over 60 percent more class time than the average school year. Teachers are on call 24-7 to answer questions about homework (the better they teach, the fewer the calls), and parents are held accountable.

I suspect that the wording here — 'parents are held accountable' — comes from the writer, not from KIPP.

My understanding of KIPP is that they're careful to ask no more of parents than what parents really can, and should, deliver.

No parent is asked to serve as his child's re-teacher; hence the 24-7 on-call policy for teachers. IIRC, the parent's job is to make sure the child does his homework, gets enough rest, and gets to school on time. And that's it.

Here's another passage that gives the flavor of what really goes on at KIPP:

Once, when an exasperated Feinberg couldn't get a student to do her homework, he went to her home and, with her mother's permission, hauled the family's 37-inch TV out of the living room and installed it at the front of his classroom. When the student delivered, she got the TV back.

In that case the parent was failing to do her job. The school stepped in and helped — without resorting to a lot of blather about 'holding parents accountable.'

Here's more:

A bigger question for KIPP's founders, and for public education in general, is whether the success of their program can be replicated elsewhere. Some observers argue that KIPP parents, however underprivileged, are inherently more motivated than the parents of other public school kids. To which Feinberg responds: "More motivated? They have to answer a knock on the door and listen to us for an hour and sign their name? How difficult." Levin invites doubters to compare the statistics of KIPP kids when they enter the program and when they leave. "The kids in fourth grade started out with the same low scores, the same sorts of disciplinary problems," he says.

Again, we see 'observers' attributing a child's learning to something the parent is doing, not something the school is doing. This cuts both ways. If the child fails, it's the parent. If the child succeeds, it's the parent. KIPP kids are succeeding; therefore KIPP parents are different.

Richard Rothstein is big on this idea. KIPP parents aren't normal poor people. They're abnormal poor people. I find that shocking coming from an advocate for the poor. The poor are bad parents by definition? Awful.

Here's Rothstein:

But [KIPP] schools do not enroll black children from typical low-income families....Parents who send their children to such schools are already unusually interested in their education; children are accepted only if parents agree to monitor their homework, enforce approved disciplinary measures, and limit television-watching. If children or their parents violate these agreements, the children can be expelled—a rare occurrence, but a threat nevertheless.

source: Must Schools Fail? by Richard Rothstein
New York Review of Books $
Volume 51, Number 19 · December 2, 2004

There you have it. KIPP parents are not typical, because KIPP parents are 'unusually interested' in their children's education.

A typical poor person doesn't care.

Awful.



the parents

Looking back over a decade in the classroom, Feinberg and Levin cite the sorts of triumphs and failures familiar to any adventurer in the blackboard jungle. "There have been so many nights being up until midnight after waking up at 5 a.m. and voice mails from parents yelling at me like I'm a little worse than the devil," Feinberg says.

nope

There's not a lot of talk from either Feinberg or Levin about 'holding parents accountable.'

In fact, there's none.

These two guys are running a superb school for difficult students who are far behind their more affluent peers when they show up.

They hold themselves accountable, first and foremost.

Then the kids, then the parents.

Sounds like the parents are holding the school accountable, too.

That's the way it should work. As Ken pointed out when Christopher brought home the Contract to Improve My Grades, which I signed but then refused to hand in, a contract is signed by all parties, not just one.



preview of coming attractions

I've got to start writing down Christian's stories.

Christian is Jimmy's & Andrew's 'res hab' aide. He went to school in Yonkers, and has tales to tell. He has so many tales to tell that he wants to write a book, and I want him to write a book, and it's conceivable we'll write a book together. His mom lived in a cozy little row of townhouses built down below the enormous Projects there in Yonkers; Christian says they used to call their place Little House by the Projects.

Christian's mom spent a lot of time hassling school officials, let me tell you.

Before he moved to Yonkers, Christian was going to school in Mamaroneck. After they moved, he used the same book as a senior in high school he'd already used in 7th grade in Mamaroneck.

This is why we need KIPP.

And this is why Richard Rothstein doesn't know what he's talking about.

I wonder if Christopher would learn more at KIPP?

I wonder if Christopher could go to KIPP?

It's not that far away. We could get him there.






my contract to improve Christopher's grades
a Grade Contract that makes sense
the book
Grade Contract for married people
climb down
Smartest Tractor saves the day
KIPP Academy contract



-- CatherineJohnson - 04 Mar 2006

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WebLogForm
Title:	a contract I would sign
TopicType:	WebLog
SubjectArea:	TeachersTeachingKids
LogDate:	200603040739