Annotated bibliography

http://www.pbs.org/makingschoolswork/sbs/kipp/index.html

Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) is a system that some charter schools, especially middle schools follow. It has proven to be very efficient for a number of reasons. KIPP exercises longer schools days and longer school years, students and parents must sign a ‘Commitment to Excellence’, students complete about 2 hours of homework a night and in class they are disciplined if not on task. KIPP’s school days are from 7:30 AM – 5:00 PM, they attends Saturday classes and everyone must spend 3 ½ weeks in summer school.  KIPP is a rigorous program and because of that both student and parent must sign a ‘Commitment to Excellence’. This simply says that the parent help the student stay on track, check homework, and they must be involved in the school. The student pledges to work hard on their classwork and homework. Each night a student receives approximately 2 hours of homework. Parents are expected to oversee that it gets done and teachers must remain accessible by phone until 9 PM in case a student has a question. If a student fails to complete their homework or acts up in class they become ‘on the bench’. Instead of being sent to the principal’s office they are separated from the rest of the class and forced to sit alone. This way the student never misses out on the lesson but doesn’t enjoy being with his classmates.

This program is so beneficial because it pushes the kids to be the best student they can be, it keeps kids off the streets of their low-income neighborhoods, and it tries to instill hard work in them when they are young. KIPP’s premise is that “students are held with high academic standards – no exceptions, no excuses.” With the extended school day, which keeps KIPP students in class 67% longer than regular public school students, the kids have more time for productivity and less time to spend getting into trouble in their neighborhoods. They attend summer school so that the information they have been learning can be reiterated several times and doesn’t become dormant or forgotten. According to a study KIPP took in 2004, 85% of KIPP alumni who were seniors were accepted into college. KIPP expects a lot from its students and students expect a lot from themselves, their school, teachers and parents to support them to get to college and have the tools to be successful.

I’m going to use this paper to show that while all charter schools may not be successful there are a few programs that truly do work. While this program is rigorous it could be the reform that the school system needs across the board.

·         “With a long school day (7:30 to 5 PM), Saturday classes and three and a half weeks of summer school for everyone, KIPP students spend 67% more time in class that regular public schools”

·         “In 2004, 85% of KIPP alumni who were seniors in high school were accepted in to a university or college”

·         “KIPP’s routine includes motivational and educational chants and sons. You will hear the kids chanting their multiplication tables and singing…”

(Need to search for link, I have a printed out copy)

This is compiled stack of research that talks about all aspects of charter schools. It touches briefly on all accounts like is it going to hurt the public education, the innovators with the original idea, is it just a fad? Piece by piece it takes it breaks it down and remains objective. One piece of the pieces that was focused on was ‘Do charter schools foster innovation and achievement?’ It touches on teachers having the ability to incorporate art and music into teaching math and science, the fact that public schools have to step it up to compete with charter schools and the testing comparison between the two. Since charter schools don’t have to follow any specific guidelines they are free to teach as they see best fit. When the ability to incorporate art and music into core subjects, it becomes more interesting and relatable to students. When this ability to teach how teachers feel best fit, students leave the traditional public schools to attend charter school. When students leave their neighborhood school, the funding goes with them. One superintendent lost only 1.3% of his student population but lost 1 million dollars because of it. He was interviewed and said that his students left but he was going to fight for his returned. There is lots of controversy about the testing results between charter and neighborhood schools. While some statistics say that charters aren’t testing worse others say they are way behind those in the same district. Testing levels in comparison of the two vary from state to state.

            This article touches on a wide variety of topics surrounding the concerns and benefits of charter school. It offers unbiased material and different opinions from both sides of the argument. While it doesn’t delve too deep in any one passage for extended time, it gives every issue some light.

            I am going to use this article to help me form more opinions on these matters while I continue to research. I think this is going to be one of my most helpful sources once I have gone completely through it. It offers me statistics, maps, graphs, and quotes from those directly involved in either the government, school boards or works in a charter school

 

·         “We’re better because of charters. I hate to say it, but we’re more aware of the importance to what parents say and have become more customer-service oriented… The charter schools stole our students; we will steal them back.”

·         A map showing the amount of charters in every state

·         Snip bits of CREDO (the Center of Research on Education Outcomes) which did a huge study across the U.S comparing charter schools and the local public schools in testing scores.

http://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/after-20-years-charter-schools-stray-their-original-mission

This article came out only a couple months ago when charter schools celebrated its 20 year anniversary since they first one opened in late 1991. The article compares what charter schools were originally intended to do and what they are like 20 years later. The article compares the charter system to the invasive plant kudzu. Kudzu is a Japanese weed that grows extremely quick and steals nutrients from other plants as it grows over them, ultimately smothering the original plant. Originally charter schools were created to use experimental teaching methods, if they proved to be effective they were to give the methods to the existing public schools to mimic. However that is far from what has happened. Charters are now seen as a competitor that could replace public education instead of a way of improvement. “For investors, charter schools are cash cows as local non-profit public school laboratories morphed into multi-state non-profit and eventually for-profit corporations.” Charter school numbers continue to grow while public schools begin to close due to lack of funding. “And this cycle feeds on itself. More charters mean less money for public schools; the more public education deteriorates, the greater the popularity and number of charter schools.” The article continues by talking about Finland’s educational system saying how it was one of the worst and it managed to turn itself around by doing one simple thing. It made the process of become a teacher more difficult than become a doctor or a lawyer. Because teachers go through difficult courses to become a teacher they are rewarded with a very high salary.

            This article shows us that charter schools started as a way to help the public school education but are now hurting it. It focuses on how charter schools have become corrupt rather than the reform the public education needed when charters were first proposed. Charters are run by organizations that are profiting from these schools. Charters are created from experimental learning and even though they are preforming worse than local public schools they aren’t being closed down because of the money investors continue to bring in.

            I’m going to use this article to show how charters schools are exhausting the public education system and if they continue to grow they will deplete the resources the neighborhood public schools need to stay open.  

·         As the cycle feeds on itself. More charters mean less money for public schools; the more public education deteriorates, the greater the popularity and number of charter schools.

·         “Groups of teachers and administrators who wanted to innovate and try new things would band together and little laboratories of education would emerge… the idea was simple: anything valuable culled from these experiments would be copied by the district…”

·         “ And so the kudzu like growth of charters and vouchers continues, stealing essential nutrients from a dying public health education system”