School Vouchers

[KillarneyRose]

ktsnake, I agree that Charter schools are intriguing ideas.

My county schools have designated two of the "not as good" high schools as "IB" schools, meaning that they offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme. It is an intense two-year curriculum, aimed at students in grades 11-12 and it leads to a qualification that is widely recognized by the world’s leading universities. ie: it's considered a higher designation than our high school diploma.

A difference from your girlfriend's situation, though, is that these schools aren't not "inner city", but they are both feeder schools for the county's many housing projects and the school population is low because most parents have put their children in private school because of problems with weapons, a shooting at a football game, etc.

I guess the county is looking at how they can revive these schools and I give them a lot of credit for not caving into pressure from the parents at the "elite" public high schools and putting the IB programs there.

[alum]

Originally posted by KillarneyRose
ktsnake, I agree that Charter schools are intriguing ideas.

My county schools have designated two of the "not as good" high schools as "IB" schools, meaning that they offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme. It is an intense two-year curriculum, aimed at students in grades 11-12 and it leads to a qualification that is widely recognized by the world’s leading universities. ie: it's considered a higher designation than our high school diploma.

A difference from your girlfriend's situation, though, is that these schools aren't not "inner city", but they are both feeder schools for the county's many housing projects and the school population is low because most parents have put their children in private school because of problems with weapons, a shooting at a football game, etc.

I guess the county is looking at how they can revive these schools and I give them a lot of credit for not caving into pressure from the parents at the "elite" public high schools and putting the IB programs there.

First of all, I think the IB Curriculum is excellent and I'm glad it is being recognized by more and more universities in the US.

However....
In our area, the most highly ranked high schools in our school system refused to have the IB curriculum installed and consequently the "poorer schools" with greater Free and Reduced Lunch rates and ESOL rates are the ones with the IB programs. This has NOT helped attract students to these schools. What it has done is exacerbate the situation between the "have" and "have-not" schools. People are trying to get their neighborhoods redistricted from IB school boundaries into AP school boundaries.

You want to see a good fight? Click on the following. Lee is the IB School. WSHS is the AP school.

http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/fair...first_of_.html

[Kevin]

Originally posted by hoosier
Nice report. Hopefully next year OKC will do five more similar schools, and five more the following year.

Is you fiancée a teachers' union member? How powerful is the union there?

She's a union member -- it's actually done some good things for her. In her present school, the union has absolutely zero sway though. There's no district administration to answer to. The school has its own school board which 'technically' answers to the OKC school board (although, the OKC school board probably could care less because they're too busy spending bond money with their buddies' construction firms).

The union provides some pretty desirable benefits like legal protection. For example, if a kid sues her for some bogus claim, it's not going to cost us a penny. The benefits don't stop there, but as to influence, at last in charter schools, it's virtually nil.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by KillarneyRose
[B]ktsnake, I agree that Charter schools are intriguing ideas.

My county schools have designated two of the "not as good" high schools as "IB" schools, meaning that they offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme. It is an intense two-year curriculum, aimed at students in grades 11-12 and it leads to a qualification that is widely recognized by the world’s leading universities. ie: it's considered a higher designation than our high school diploma.

The difference is that this is not a curiculum that is forced on anyone. They compete for the kids they get, and the kids have to really want to stay in (the academic expectations are very high). If a kid doesn't have the will to get through their academic programs, they will absolutely fail. This is not a school where a teacher will get in trouble for letting kids sink or swim on their own. If they can't cut it, there are always the public schools.

In Oklahoma, we measure our school's performance for NCLB by an index called the API. The highest scores in teh state were in the 1350 range. There are OKC schools (near here) that are in the 350 range. In the second year it was open, this charter school did 1280 beating MANY of the rich suburban schools. Not too shabby considering the majority of the kids receive reduced or free lunches.

Hoosier, I don't think the 5 more next year, and 5 more the year after that is going to work. The only thing that's kind of sad about this situation is that there isn't a waiting list to get into this school. It's open enrollment -- whoever enrolls will at least get a fair chance to remain and succeed academically.

[Rudey]

At some point I believe I saw something that tlked about how charter schools have underperformed regular public schools.

I am pretty happy I took AP classes instead of the IB.

-Rudey

[KSig RC]

Originally posted by Rudey
I am pretty happy I took AP classes instead of the IB.

Me too, although it was at a magnet school

[hoosier]

Charter schools - IB - AP - BS - something needs to be done (and GA has nothing to brag about):

Stats:

Atkinson County: 64.5% of '05 graduates qualified for our "Hope Scholarship" program (free college tuition and fees for 3.0 average or better). 53.8% of Atkinson's grads (receiving 'Hope' $$$) who enrolled at a GA public college required remedial courses.

Confronted with the above stats: "We've discarded that grading system," say school officials.

Evidence of grade inflation caused by 'Hope': 61.1% of all GA grads get 'Hope' with 3.0 or better GPA.

It's not money, say reputable studies:

GA's teacher compensation: highest in the nation (adjusted for cost of living - costs less to live in GA than most blue states). Gov. is proposing 4% raise for all teachers, and most get an addl. 3% step.

School enrollment up 9.8% '95 - '02. Property tax collections up 70.9%.

We need change. We need a new model.

PS: I am a member of NEA for the benefits, not the politics.

[KillarneyRose]

Originally posted by alum
[B] This has NOT helped attract students to these schools. What it has done is exacerbate the situation between the "have" and "have-not" schools. People are trying to get their neighborhoods redistricted from IB school boundaries into AP school boundaries.

Sadly, I think this will prove to be the case here as well. I think a lot of people will say, "Is it worth it for my child to get an IB degree if he has to worry about getting robbed/knifed/inert your crime here in school?" Definitely not worth the trade off.

[Tom Earp]

Go To Public Schools that We as Tax Payers are sending Our Kids To or Pay Extra to go to Private Schools!

I dont have any Kids thank goodness but, I am paying for Public Schools and Community Colleges.!

Treat them like the business that they are, pay their own way or close!