Continuing Comments on "A Former KIPP Teacher Shares Her Story"
Published in 2012, "A Former KIPP Teacher Shares Her Story" has been viewed over 111,000 times. Here are the two most recent comments, especially worth noting now 7 years after the piece was posted… (SEE BELOW)
Alex M10:01 PM
As the wife of a current KIPP teacher I am pleased, yet saddened to read this as I've watched my husband, a 10 year social studies teacher who previously taught at a school ranked as one of the top in the country by US News & World Report, struggle mightily in his first year. He came to KIPP with such optimism and a strong desire to make a difference in urban ed. All he's been met with is constant criticism, but zero resources and actual lies from his admin. He teaches two grade levels, 7th and 8th, and even though the school has been open 8 years, there was no curriculum. Literally no materials to work with. He has created everything from lesson plans to assessments to state test questions on his own. His 8th graders only have text books, because he secured a donation from his prior school district. Even after all this, he has been told he doesn't seem vested and that his teaching style isn't a fit for succeeding on the rubric. We now completely understand why they've never had a social studies teacher last longer than a year and the last 2 were gone in the middle of the year. I definitely believe there are students benefiting greatly from KIPP's work, but there must be some way to actually support teachers and build a work place suitable for a career. Currently it seems they only want to deal with fresh grads who are easily manipulated. They can suck the life out of them for a couple of years and start over again.
Reply
Anonymous1:11 PM
I was a long-term sub at a KIPP school in California. Although they had positions open and I was encouraged to apply, I never did. The school could be best described as a shabbily run prison. The principal was far too young and inexperienced to be running anything of such vital importance, and this was reflected in how he CONTINUE READING: Schools Matter: Continuing Comments on "A Former KIPP Teacher Shares Her Story"
Schools Matter: A Former KIPP Teacher Shares Her Story:
A Former KIPP Teacher Shares Her Story
A Former KIPP Teacher Shares Her Story
A Former KIPP Teacher Shares Her Story
Jim Horn
Ever since KIPP students were recruited to do a skit at the National Republican Convention in 2000, KIPP has been the darling of venture philanthropists, Wall Street hedge funds, corporate donors like the Fisher family (of Gap fame), and corporate foundations, including the Gates and Walton Foundations. Hundreds of millions of dollars have poured in to the KIPP home office in San Francisco, and tens of millions more are raised each year to support a charter chain that claims to have found the solution to urban schooling, a solution that entirely ignores the exploded lives and oppressive conditions of the people living in
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Weingarten Patrolling the Web to Urge Patience for Obama/Gates Agenda
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Orlando Sentinel reporter responds to a letter I submitted about Pre-K testing but that wasn’t published. I answer back.
On the Orlando Sentinel Education blog, Sentinel reporter Leslie Postal responded to a letter to the editor of the Sentinel that I submitted but that wasn’t published, at least not yet. Her post is below and also at: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_education_edblog/2012/09/fls-new-pre-k-test-set-to-debut-amid-some-complaints.html/comment-page-1#comment-5344 Since Postal did not provide readers with a link to my letter, here it is: Stop treating 4 and 5 year olds like children Sent to the Orlando Sentinel, Sept. 5 Pre-K testing is a step in the right direction (“Time for another ... more »
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Stop treating 4 and 5 year olds like children
Sent to the Orlando Sentinel, Sept. 5 Pre-K testing is a step in the right direction (“Time for another test — this one for 180,000 pre-K children,” Sept. 3). Required (not “voluntary”) testing is what we need to toughen up pre-school, and make sure it includes a full dose of pre-phonics (phonemic awareness) and math. We should require all children to know the alphabet and be able to spell their names as a condition for entering kindergarten. And let's insist that parents properly prepare their children for pre-school. There is no hope for the US is to compete internationally if we c... more »
Stop treating 4 and 5 year olds like children
Sent to the Orlando Sentinel, Sept. 5 Pre-K testing is a step in the right direction (“Time for another test — this one for 180,000 pre-K children,” Sept. 3). Required (not “voluntary”) testing is what we need to toughen up pre-school, and make sure it includes a full dose of pre-phonics (phonemic awareness) and math. We should require all children to know the alphabet and be able to spell their names as a condition for entering kindergarten. And let's insist that parents properly prepare their children for pre-school. There is no hope for the US is to compete internationally if we c... more »
Jane Watson: "Doublethink" is alive and well
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Schools Matter: Continuing Comments on "A Former KIPP Teacher Shares Her Story"
