FriarReb98: Okay. 107 students, getting into college after it was found most of the kids had horrible reading skills. Am I wrong for thinking to myself that some of them made it into for-profit colleges or community colleges at best? Or just cynical? Or yes?

From the damn article- All 107 seniors were accepted to a four-year college, a significant accomplishment considering they are from one of the toughest neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago.

Were you being willfully blind?

John Dewey: The Icelander: I think the benefit of longer school days is more pronounced in poorer districts. Keeping kids out of a bad home situation, or a home where parents work long hours and the kids are left unsupervised, will lead to better educational results.

I agree with your assessment of who it benefits more and why.

Rant continued: I just have been in education long enough to know that people in charge pick and choose what to take from research/articles/anecdotes like this. Extending the school day is an "easy" solution, so that's what they'll take, that's what they'll do (without asking for teacher input) and they'll expect the same or similar results. And then they'll wonder why it didn't happen. This guy and his staff created a culture of learning based on taking no excuses and working with students to overcome obstacles. That culture is what made the longer school day really effective.

you sound fat afraid of a longer work day.

Great story.

/it should be "has only 4 %," subby
//sorry

Selection bias of students and parents who actually care. Certainly helps the students to have them in a strong environment, but they wouldn't have gone there unless they already had people pushing for them.

Plus, "not reading at grade level" sounds a lot worse than it is. An 8th grader reading at 7th grade level is unfortunate but not a huge problem. More interesting would be the percentage reading substantially below grade level (that is, at least three grades behind).

Langston: There are a lot of good ideas in there, but the #1 most important thing, I believe, is that they set high standards and they rigorously pursued those standards without excuses.

I completely agree - high standards, let the students know they are responsible for their actions, but work with and support the students in their pursuit of their goals.

What a wonderful story. Yes the population was self selected and more likely to do well then the general population but it is still a huge improvement. Don't give up on kids and they can really amaze you. I hope they do well in college and make the most of the opportunities available.

Good for them. Holding students to high standards, and getting parents in on the ground floor (and as advocates) are must haves for success in all schools, but even more so in low income schools.

I used to teach in one of the worst schools in Edinburgh Scotland. Come parents night parents would promise everything "Oh yes Ill make sure my kid will do his homework and turn up for your after school tuition classes because im dteremined that they will succeed. Come Thursday evening I would be sitting by my self in an empty classroom. Kids wont try if the parents dont care and dont make the effort themselves

Frivolus lawsuits in 3... 2...

FTA: "Entire Graduating Class of Urban Prep Charter Academy Accepted to College"

That is easy - I can do that for any school by simply making 'college acceptance' a requirement for graduation.

How many students didn't graduate or were thrown out?

Langston: There are a lot of good ideas in there, but the #1 most important thing, I believe, is that they set high standards and they rigorously pursued those standards without excuses.

To hell with every school board who has ever voted to lower standards so as not to offend some angry parent with a big mouth and dumbass kid. To hell with everyone who has ever suggested we move the goalposts so that subpar students didn't fail and feel bad about themselves. Failure has a purpose. It pushes motivated people to try harder. The "everyone gets a prize" mentality cheapens the effort of the students who do bust their asses and focus.

Actually states set academic standards unless they are private schools, boards can make curriculum decisions but the state has the final say through state testing. The NCLB law from the Bush administration was all about tougher standards but left the path in most part to the schools themselves, they didn't even come close to this kind of success from the story.

I wouldn't dismiss the whole package that this school is selling, it all matters a lot.

Is there any such thing as an otherwise normal student with parents who care having a below grade level ability to read?
No there isn't.

Where's the OBVIOUS tag?

Teen girls gives teen boys cooties!
Cooties makes teen boys stupid!

Proof that girls have cooties.

With all the bad press the education system has been getting as of late(Providence and KC, for example), it's nice to see something positive happening. I hope Mr. King can keep this going for a long, long time.

No girls? Those racist bastards...

HairBolus: FTA: "Entire Graduating Class of Urban Prep Charter Academy Accepted to College"

That is easy - I can do that for any school by simply making 'college acceptance' a requirement for graduation.

How many students didn't graduate or were thrown out?

What about those of us who joined the military from high school?

HairBolus: How many students didn't graduate or were thrown out?

Even without the snark this is an important question. With a tiny student body and a "no excuses" attitude, I was wondering the same things.

- Three tardy slips and you're out?
- Disrupt class a few times and you're out?
- Don't turn in your homework and you're out?

I don't mean to be critical of the school's efforts, but there is a lot missing from this short article. More to the point, a small school with highly selective retention policies can show great improvement when it can flush its failures back into the mainstream school system.

John Dewey: I have to wonder, though, if the parents always gave a damn then why did a)only 4% of the kids read at grade-level and b)the school needed to buy the kids watches to take away the excuse of being late?

I'm not saying that parents who are involved and care about their child's education don't matter, and I'm definitely not saying that parents can't care and not know how to help their child, but having caring parents is, again, just one piece of the puzzle.

But a very important piece. You think any of these kids wanted to face Mama if they screwed up?

Looks like they were all accepted to Gryffindor.

John Dewey: I have to wonder, though, if the parents always gave a damn then why did a)only 4% of the kids read at grade-level and b)the school needed to buy the kids watches to take away the excuse of being late?

Motivational trick to make the kids accountable, not the parents. Both of my parents worked so pretty much from 7:30am-5pm my time was up to me. I got dropped off before school started, and it was up to me to actually show up in the right classroom at the right time.

You know, in reading these comments, there are a whole lot of really crabby glass OMG ITS FARKING MOSTLY EMPTY people on fark.

To the school, great job. It is not so much where the 4-year degree comes from, it is that you have one. I have never seen a job posting that listed must have Harvard or Yale 4-year degree.

/BA, MBA
// Those and $3.54 will get me a grande latte at Starbucks.

Verrai: Plus, "not reading at grade level" sounds a lot worse than it is. An 8th grader reading at 7th grade level is unfortunate but not a huge problem. More interesting would be the percentage reading substantially below grade level (that is, at least three grades behind).

You touch on a very key point here. I'm sure many only hear "below reading grade level" and don't understand what exactly is going on.
Here is a link (new window) for people who wish to learn more about Early Literacy Development which is one of the systems that reading grade levels are based off of.
From the link above "Keep in mind that the grade levels associated with each phase described below are only approximate. In each grade there are likely to be children in all phases of literacy acquisition. Also, remember that within each phase there may be a range of learners who are developing in different ways."

To expound here is a list of characteristics of books at different text levels (new window)

cross reference with this chart (new window) to show what level matches what grade.

What matters:

1. Self selection -- students who want to succeed (probably with parents who want the same) all going to one place.

2. Having high standards and kicking out troublemakers to foster a learning culture. After such a culture is established, peer pressure will work in a positive way, because the students won't want to get left behind by their peers.

Everything else is much less important. A long school day might amplify these effects a little, or help bootstrap the learning culture; but it's not the primary difference.

I'm not really convinced about the "smaller class size" mantra at all. It probably helps marginally (if at all). The reason teachers push so hard for smaller class sizes is because it makes their jobs easier, and it increases the total number of teaching jobs (in other words, they are likely to get more money).

As a child of public high school teachers and a product of public schools until I went to an all-girls high school (the boy's school was across the street) I can honestly say the huge difference I noticed was the social dynamics of the classroom. Without the distraction of boys (or girls as is the case at the boys school) the class becomes more focused on the tasks at hand instead of the socializing (flirting, showing off etc.) that natural happens between the sexes. And study after study shows remarkable improvement in math and science for girls when they are at gender-segregated schools (unfortunately our society places a higher standard on boys in math and science and in a co-ed classroom it is easy to let girls fall behind)

Klingon Penis: ZAZ: #1 reason for success -- the school was populated by lottery from students who wanted to attend a good school and whose parents wanted them to attend a good school.

This.
To suggest that this can be applied everywhere and it will work would be nonsense.
Motivated kids with motivated parents = successful education.

I know a number of teachers who work at this school and from what I hear most parental involvement stopped at signing their kids up. The basic attitude seems to be, "I give up. I don't know what to do with this kid, you fix him."

FYI - all this media attention, according to the teachers (who really hate it), seems to be hurting the kids. A lot of energy was put into making this senior class successful and the attention is going to their heads. Some of them apparently think they have it made and their motivation level has dropped. This could jeopardize their college admissions.

soze: John Dewey: I have to wonder, though, if the parents always gave a damn then why did a)only 4% of the kids read at grade-level and b)the school needed to buy the kids watches to take away the excuse of being late?

Motivational trick to make the kids accountable, not the parents. Both of my parents worked so pretty much from 7:30am-5pm my time was up to me. I got dropped off before school started, and it was up to me to actually show up in the right classroom at the right time.

/this this this
//if the system depends on accountable parents then only the kids with accountable parents succeed regularly
///if the system depends on accountable kids then all the accountable kids succeed regularly

Langston

There are a lot of good ideas in there, but the #1 most important thing, I believe, is that they set high standards and they rigorously pursued those standards without excuses.

..which is a welcome departure from how the left/liberal government school system has been running things for years, especially in big cities like Chicago.

It's also interesting that they have sex segregated schools, which the left got rid of years ago throughout the country. They have some toleration for all girls schools, in line with their female supremacist component, but a publicly funded all boys school?!? I'm guessing that it helped that this is a largely black district, as it's harder for them to play their "girls are being oppressed card" in that case.

Saw an interview with the head master and some of the students, great story and the students being interviewed had been accepted to some pretty impressive schools. Hope these guys have a lifetime of success.

Langston: There are a lot of good ideas in there, but the #1 most important thing, I believe, is that they set high standards and they rigorously pursued those standards without excuses.

To hell with every school board who has ever voted to lower standards so as not to offend some angry parent with a big mouth and dumbass kid. To hell with everyone who has ever suggested we move the goalposts so that subpar students didn't fail and feel bad about themselves. Failure has a purpose. It pushes motivated people to try harder. The "everyone gets a prize" mentality cheapens the effort of the students who do bust their asses and focus.

Boobies in thread and best to this point.

Hats off to this school. May it be cloned across the nation. High standards, no excuses.