schools

KIPP New Orleans plans for Baton Rouge expansion

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In addition to the two new schools KIPP New Orleans plans to add to its portfolio of seven in the city, the charter-school network has been cleared for an additional high school in New Orleans plus seven other schools here or in Baton Rouge — part of a trend of charters expanding from New Orleans around Louisiana, reports Jessica Williams of The Lens. Firstline Schools, which operates Samuel J. Green Charter and four other campuses, has also been cleared for a sixth school in New Orleans.

schools

High-performing RSD schools worry that return to OPSB will mean funding cut

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High-performing charter schools in the Recovery School District — such as Sophie B. Wright, Lafayette Academy and several KIPP campuses in Uptown — are concerned that the Orleans Parish School Board will take an administrative fee out of their federal grants if they return to the district, amid broader issues of trust and autonomy, reports Jessica Williams of The Lens.

colleges

Tulane creates scholarships, openings for KIPP students

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Tulane University will reserve 10 spaces in its freshmen class each year for students from the KIPP system of charter schools and provide them with scholarships to meet their financial needs, officials announced Tuesday. KIPP schools — which include a campus on South Carrollton and two in Central City among its nine in New Orleans, as well as 100 other schools in about 20 other states — focus on preparing underprivileged children for a college education, co-founder Mike Feinberg told a Tulane audience in September. As part of this new agreement, KIPP will adjust its curriculum to better match Tulane’s first-year coursework, and provide opportunities for students in Tulane’s teacher-training courses. The full news release follows:

Tulane University, KIPP New Orleans Schools, and the KIPP Foundation will sign an agreement today to enroll more graduates of KIPP K-12 schools at Tulane and facilitate their successful transition from high school through college.  The agreement will also have Tulane and KIPP partner to assist Tulane students interested in pursuing a teaching career as part of the university’s teacher certification program. The agreement, the first of its kind in the nation, will be signed by Tulane President Scott Cowen, KIPP Foundation CEO Richard Barth and KIPP New Orleans Schools Executive Director Rhonda Kalifey-Aluise in the library on the second floor of KIPP Believe College Prep middle school, 1607 South Carrollton Ave.  With this partnership, Tulane promises to enroll and provide scholarships for 10 KIPP students annually beginning in the 2012-13 academic year.  These students will be selected from KIPP schools throughout the country.

recovery

KIPP on South Carrollton headed to Gentilly, Banneker to Hollygrove, RSD says

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KIPP Believe College Prep on South Carrollton is headed to a new school building in Gentilly, and Benjamin Banneker Elementary in the Riverbend is slated for a new campus in Hollygrove, according to school assignment plans being aired publicly by the Recovery School District this week. Those two changes are the most significant for Uptown campuses among the recommendations that the RSD will be hosting public hearings on this week. Many other RSD schools around Uptown will essentially be unaffected, and some of the higher-profile schools run through the Orleans Parish School Board are not included in the list. KIPP’s highest-performing middle school, KIPP Believe College Prep, is slated for the old Stuart Bradley site on Humanity Street just off Interstate 610, where one of the city’s new $22.5 million school buildings will be constructed from FEMA money. The move will leave its current site, the McNair High School campus on the corner of South Carrollton and Birch, as an “opportunity” campus — suitable as a temporary site while another campus is being renovated, but not slated for any renovations or long-term assignments itself.

colleges

KIPP co-founder: “We need to get rid of the government monopoly” on education

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The idea of society providing a quality, comprehensive education for all children is inspiring and attainable, but the old model for delivering that education — a monolithic government entity led by politicians with a captive audience of students forced into grossly unequal schools — has got to go, one of the nation’s pioneers in public school reform told a Tulane audience on Thursday. “We need to get rid of the government monopoly,” said Dr. Mike Feinberg, co-founder of the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) Foundation. Charter schools in general and KIPP’s model in particular have drawn their share of criticism, but the system’s results in New Orleans have been worthy of consideration. KIPP Central City Primary’s 2010 school-performance score of 120 was just higher than some of the most sought-after schools in the city (including Audubon Charter, Hynes Elementary, “Baby Ben” Franklin Elementary and the International School of Louisiana). KIPP Believe on South Carrollton posted a 106, also among the city’s upper echelon, and the scores in the high 80s of KIPP Central City Academy and KIPP McDonogh 15 are lower-performing by state standards but still well above “failing” and in the top 20 percent in New Orleans.

recovery

Reports show disparities in quality, openness of Uptown schools

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Uptown schools vary widely in both the quality of their instruction and their openness to the public, according to a pair of reports released this week. Schools run by the Recovery School District in Baton Rouge – originally designed to take over the state’s worst-performing schools, and the governing body of many New Orleans schools since Hurricane Katrina – still show far worse results than those run locally in Orleans Parish, according to results released by the state Department of Education and compiled for the New Orleans area by the Times-Picayune. Uptown schools run directly by the Recovery School District, such as Walter Cohen High School, and even some of its charters, such as the Sojourner Truth Academy, were rated “academically unacceptable.” Uptown New Orleans is also home to some of the best schools in the city, the results show. Lusher charter schools’ five-star rating marks it as among the absolute highest-scoring in the state.