Getting Young Lives In Line
While the nation still struggles to fulfill the promise of Brown , these schools are proving that high achievement can also be colorblind
KIPP's success also comes from its extended schedule and a complex set of incentives and rewards. School days last from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with half days on Saturdays and three weeks of summer school. Teachers catalog infractions--from talking out of turn to failing to hand in homework--on each child's weekly "paycheck," redeemable in the school store. Students with average or better paycheck scores are rewarded with skating or bowling excursions and end-of-year trips to places like Utah's canyon lands. Students with low scores face consequences: They must eat lunch in silence, stay an extra hour after school, and forfeit field trips. Each child also takes part in extracurricular activities like music or martial arts. KIPP Academy New York's 160-piece orchestra is one of the finest youth ensembles in the country.
Still, it's not all discipline and hard work. Teachers use chants, singing, and poetry to make lessons fun. There's also a lot of affection and individual support from KIPP staff, who tend to be young, energetic, and willing to be on call 24-7 (because of the extra hours, they typically earn 15 to 20 percent more than regular public-school teachers). At nights and on weekends, they carry cellphones and encourage kids to call them with problems--academic or personal. Once, Levin got a call at home at 1:30 a.m. from a worried parent whose child was missing. He got out of bed, tracked the student down in a nightclub, and delivered her safely home. Martin Robinson says the belief that Levin and other teachers personally cared about him is what changed him from idler to honor roll student: "I had someone telling me I could be good!"
KIPP expects to open seven more schools this fall, including a preschool and a high school in Houston--mass-producing a formula that's proved effective. "The culture and high expectations of the original schools can be replicated," says Steve Mancini of the national KIPP Foundation office in San Francisco. "KIPP is showing that demography is not destiny." -Lynn Rosellini
Reading By The Numbers
When Annette Saccomano's oldest son attended Beulah Heights Elementary in Pueblo, Colo., he didn't learn how to read very well. While his test scores were adequate, once he got to high school, he had to rely on audiobooks to complete research papers.
It turns out he wasn't the only one with reading problems. In 1997, when Colorado released the results of its first statewide test of reading and writing skills, Pueblo was close to the bottom of the list. Conventional wisdom dictates that Beulah Heights--where 68 percent of the students (including Saccomano's children) are Latino and the majority qualify for free or reduced-price lunches--would find it nearly impossible to dig itself out of that hole.
So when Saccomano noticed three years ago that her youngest son, Gregory, a second grader, was struggling with reading, she feared the worst. This time, however, teachers said they knew exactly what skills he needed to work on and how to help him. Gregory had to stay after school for an hour and give up a semester's worth of physical education and music classes for extra literacy training, but in a year and a half, his skills solidified. "Now," says his mother, "the first thing he does when he gets home is grab a book and read."
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