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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Those Who Can't Do, Profess |
| 2010-04-24 |
| It sounded like a great idea: Stanford education professors would create a model school to show how to educate low-income Hispanic and black students. Or, as it's turned out, how not to. In March, Stanford New Schools (aka East Palo Alto Academy) — a charter high school started in 2001 and elementary grades added in 2006 – made California's list of schools in the lowest-achieving five percent in the state. This month, the Ravenswood school board denied a new five-year charter. The elementary school — now with K-4 and eighth grade — will close in June. Another year or two wouldn't be enough to improve poor student performance and weak behavior management, Superintendent Maria De La Vega told the board. The high school will get two years to find a new sponsor: the local high school district has said “no,' but there are other options. How did it happen? Stanford New Schools, run by the university's school of education, seems to stress social and emotional support over academics. Stanford New Schools hires well-trained teachers who use state-of-the-art progressive teaching methods; Stanford's student teachers provide extra help. With an extra $3,000 per student raised privately, students enjoy small classes, mentoring, counseling and tutoring, technology access, field trips, summer enrichment, health van visits, community college classes on campus, and community service opportunities. The goal is to send graduates to college as critical thinkers, lifelong learners, and “global citizens.' But other schools with demographically identical students are doing much better. The top-scoring school in the district is East Palo Alto Charter School (EPAC), a K-8 run by Aspire Public Schools, Stanford's original partner. An all-minority school, EPAC outperforms the state average. Rather than send EPAC graduates to Stanford's high school, Aspire started its own high school, Phoenix, which outperforms the state average for all high schools. All students in the first 12th grade class have applied to four-year colleges. Aspire co-founded East Palo Alto Academy High with Stanford, but bowed out five years ago. There was a culture clash, Aspire's founder, Don Shalvey told the New York Times. Aspire focused “primarily and almost exclusively on academics,' while Stanford focused on academics and students' emotional and social lives, he said. Deborah Stipek, Stanford's dean of education, says the elementary school is too new — in its fourth year, but with only two years of scores — to be judged. Stanford considers the high school a success. Hilarious, if tragic for the kids. Liberals will never, ever, accept the idea that their ideas stink on ice. Instead it is everybody else's fault. They have been ruining minority students English skills since the 1960s, courtesy of Noam Chomsky; and are now trying to ruin their math skills as well. These people should be as prohibited from venturing on school campuses as are serial sex offenders. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #3 and are now trying to ruin their math skills as well trying nuthin... they are doing it. and not limiting themselves to the minority kids neither. |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2010-04-24 18:22 |
| #2 well, at least all the former students have high self esteem. We are all winners! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-04-24 16:20 |
| #1 well that's testing to destruction... Now it's time for a few republicans to step up to the plate, and show a different way, and see if it's a success. Laughing at the lefts inevitable failure gets us nowhere. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2010-04-24 16:03 |