At KIPP, at least for 07102, zip code is destiny | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

At KIPP, at least for 07102, zip code is destiny | Gary Rubinstein's Blog:

At KIPP, at least for 07102, zip code is destiny

by Gary Rubinstein

One of the most annoying phrases uttered in ed reform is some version of ‘poverty is not destiny.’  Occasionally they mix it up a little with something like ‘zip code is not destiny.’  The implication is that there are some people out there who think that every person born into poverty or born in a particular city is doomed to become an uneducated adult.  I don’t know anyone who believes that.  What many people do believe, though, is that students born into poverty or into a particular zip code that correlates with high poverty are less likely to, for example, graduate college than students born into the Beverly Hills 90210 zip code.  I don’t think that even the most vocal ‘reformers’ think that improving schools and teachers will be able to overcome all the out of school factors to completely equalize the college completion rates between two zip codes representing such different demographics.  The ‘reformers’ just think that they think that schools are less limited in their influence to do this than the ‘status quo’ defenders.  As the ‘reformers’ never really commit to numbers that they think are realistic or would define success, it really is an empty phrase to just say ‘zip code is not destiny.’  A few months ago, a Arkansas KIPP executive director even wrote an Op-Ed entitled ‘For Students, zip code does not define destiny’.
Newark, New Jersey, is an excellent example of a city where charter schools have flourished over the years.  A TFA alum is even the chancellor of schools in Newark.  KIPP schools are the gold standard of charter schools