From the University's announcement:
What If charter schools could make a difference?I will be seeking leave to attend. Evening engagements often require side-payments. But this one's likely to be worth it. I'll hope to see Christchurch-based readers there.
Date: Wednesday 26 September 2012
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.Location: University of Canterbury
Contact: For further information regarding this event, please contact Shandley Wenborn by sending email toshandley.wenborn@canterbury.ac.nz or by calling 03 364 2346
Audience: The general publicPresented by Dr Mike Feinberg
Partnership Schools/Kura Hourua – known internationally as charter schools – are one of the Government’s initiatives aimed at addressing student underachievement. As a relatively late adopter of the concept, New Zealand has the advantage of being able to learn from the successes and failures of models in other parts of the world.
Join us for a discussion on what KIPP, a US network of 125 high-performing charter schools, has been able to deliver in terms of educational achievement and new ways for parents and communities to be involved in their children’s education.
Dr Feinberg co-founded KIPP, is currently Executive Vice-Chair of KIPP Houston, and serves on the board of KIPP Foundation. He has won numerous awards for educational excellence and public service/social entrepreneurship.
I'd have thought Charter Schools were an easy way for Hekia Parata to get out of the current Christchurch mess: the government announces that the economics mean the listed schools must close or merge --- but that any or all of them can go to Charter status if they can muster sufficient parental support.
ReplyDeleteI have no clue what's going on with the school mergers. The comms around it were a disaster. Some of the closures and mergers seem to make no sense: large schools at capacity supposed to merge with other large at-capacity schools. I can get that population shifts mean the optimal placement of schools will change. But it would have been awfully easy to put out the demographic data justifying stuff at the same time as the closures. I've no clue what's going on and, in teaching semester, I haven't time to try to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteSteve Sailer summarises:
ReplyDelete“Basically, KIPP is nonstop boot camp. This is an important point. What works best for poor people is order, discipline, shame, repetition, and all the other uncool stuff that liberals have worked for decades to remove from our societies. White liberals have done a great job of liberating themselves, at great expense to the poor.”
http://isteve.blogspot.co.nz/2009/03/kipp.html