Gary Rubinstein, critical friend of Teach for America, reviewed the school rankings recently released by Texas and made a startling discovery. Wendy Kopp’s hometown is Dallas. Wendy Kopp is a huge supporter of charter schools, which hire most of her recruits. KIPP was started by two TFA graduates. KIPP is widely considered to be a purveyor of “high-quality seats.”
The KIPP Destiny Elementary School in Dallas was rated F by the state.
But wait, aren’t these supposed to be the schools that are beacons of excellence in a sea of despair?
Rubinstein says sadly,
So this KIPP school is rated in the bottom 250 schools out of 9,000 schools in Texas which is around the bottom 3%. There’s a reformer mantra, “Zip code is not destiny.” I guess in the case of KIPP Destiny, zip code is, in fact, destiny.
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
More on Corporate Charter School failures.
KIPP may produce “high quality seats” (although even that is arguable), but real teachers and schools don’t teach “seats;” we teach children.
I have noticed that where charter-chain schools have been started, if the community has a little money and an organized neighborhood voice, the schools usually survive. However, if the school is pushed into a neighborhood which had no organized voice (often our nation’s poorest neighborhoods) the schools typically flounder and close — all to the detriment of the kids involved.
Kipp is suffering from growing pains. Kipp has gained the reputation for getting good results with urban students. Their success depends on the ability to choose those with the most potential and drop those with the least. It also depends on their ability to attract bright young people that enjoy being ground into dust and accept their “no excuses” ideology. As Kipp has expanded, the schools are becoming less able to control all the variables in the cocktail of Kipp “success.” Their vision is not scalable, and recent “failures” confirm that their tight ship is sinking.
But don’t forget how rheephorm works…
Whether they call it “alternative facts” or “truthful hyperbole” [from THE ART OF THE DEAL] it is clear that Rheeality Trumps reality because KIPP can (and even might) rightfully claim, without a scintilla of shame, that out of 9,000 schools in Texas they are in a select group of 250 or approx. 3%.
And leave it at that. Giving the impression that they are at the head of the class. If, er, the entire class is inverted…
Go figure.
😎
Wait, what? Isn’t Kopp’s husband in charge of the KIPP network? Isn’t it a family ka-ching affair? Look. It doesn’t matter what the results are. Kopp and KIPP need to stay relevant in the reform world. Nothing to see here; move along.
I’m not defending charter schools AT ALL, but the new A-F rating system in Texas is garbage. Any school in this area serving mostly black, brown, or poor kids received Ds and Fs. The grades schools receive is based on how well they close the achievement gap– I’m assuming– on their campus. But if your campus is literally 98% poor and minority, I don’t understand how that’s supposed to work. A public district in the southern part of the Dallas Metroplex that is well known for innovation and student success received a D, but I guess it’s because there aren’t enough white kids in the district to make their gains credible?
You are right. The A-F grades reflect affluence and poverty. They are garbage.
Yes, these rating systems are awful, but the point is that KIPPsters are being hoist on their own petard; they are failures even according to their own debased metrics.
“It’s all about the KIPPs” (can’t take credit for that one, unfortunately)
It’s all about the KIPPs
And NOT about the kids
It’s all about the trips
And million dollar bids
“It’s all about the KIPPs (2)”
It’s all about the KIPPs
And all about the Kopps
It’s all about the flip$
And all about the flops*
*See Gary Rubinstein