KIPP and Me
Next school year (2009-2010) I'll be teaching at the KIPP Delta College Preparatory School based in Helena, Arkansas. After two years of teaching at Humphreys County High School I decided that I needed a change. I fully think that KIPP will be a good fit for me since in Humphreys County I often felt like like the outcast OCD teacher working 12-hour days, actually analyzing test data (or even grading tests...I've been laughed at by colleagues for even grading tests or classwork on a number of occassions) and targeting special skills for improvement, and trying unconvential things in the classroom beyond the standard worksheet/comprehension questions classwork and homework model. At KIPP Delta, everybody's like that. At least seemingly.
I'll be teaching two sections of 7th grade social studies in addition to one section of high school journalism. I'll be based at KIPP's middle school under a school director (principal, essentially) who definitely seems like someone who has a potent mixture respect and reverence amongst teachers, staff, and students alike as well as a heartfelt connection to his job coupled with know-how of what everyone under his leadership should be doing to give students the best education posssible. I'll be sending off my signed offer letter today or tomorrow and one part of it that made me a little nervous reads:
"...KIPP Delta may terminate your employment at any time, without
notice, and...you may similarly terminate your employment with KIPP
Delta at any time."
Not that I plan on getting fired from KIPP or that I plan to quit mid-year but since all KIPP schools operate as charter schools seeing the often talked about flexibility that charter school leaders enjoy in black-and-white on something I'm signing is a little scary. When I visited KIPP Delta last Thursday all of the teachers seemed to be enjoying their job, all of the students seemed to want to be there, and academic activities were going on in every classroom I entered. Mind you, it was the LAST DAY. I thought about the differences between the last day there and the last days of school at my alma mater, Trenton High, and how essentially the last three weeks of school attendance would drop below 25% and the last few days of school easily less than 100 students (out of nearly 3,000) would be in attendance. Even at Humphreys County High most students essentially had a free day the last day as most teachers shunned the school's exam schedule and had already given their exams earlier in the week or prior as oppose to on the last two days of school as directed. These were only a few of the differences I noticed.
Another differences I noticed on my visit included how respectful students seemed towards adults and each other. The KIPP motto of "work hard, be nice" seemed in effect all around. Additionally, every student was in uniform (including shirts tucked in and nothing on their body or head that shouldn't be). I can't tell you how much of a problems our uniform policy (more like "suggestions") are at Humphreys County High and how so many of our faculty meetings turn into griping sessions about something needing to be done about students coming to school out of uniform. It may seem minor but students coming to school out of uniform (very often purposely to dress similar to a friend, family member, or signficant other...or just to see what a teacher or administrator will do on THAT day) undermines the concept of having standards, whether behavioral or academic, at school. When this dies down we are on the road to destruction as students know what they can get away with an develop precedents to cite in the old "well, last week ____ didn't wear his or her uniform" that teachers and administrators rarely prevail against.
I'm sure that for now I'm in my honeymoon phase with KIPP and that in time I will develop a more holistic and, potentially (at least in part), critical perspective on the school but I'm happy where I'm at now. Further evidence that KIPP Delta is a real school was revealed when I called my school director yesterday to accept his offer of employment and he started listing things that I should do, documents that I should expect through postal mail, and other things that I should be mindful of immediately. He also told me that he'd need to have weekly, half-hour long phone meetings with me even though I was at home in New Jersey and the first one is today in about...nine minutes. Thus, I will have to cut this post off here and edit it/spice it up later. 'Til then, comrades!
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Comments
Still, I harbor a certain level of guilt about teaching at a school such as KIPP Delta. I know that these students are not the norm or the majority. They are not the ones who may benefit most from intelligent and dedicated teachers from Harvard or Amherst. Viewing KIPP schools' faculty bios is like viewing the recruiting schedule for a finance company. Top schools all around. What happens to the students who have to settle for teachers from Valley and Rust and Alcorn? They get less, their schools get less, and the need (?) for MTCs and KIPPs persists.
yeah, but I think there's a few reasons that it's still a valuable thing to do. First of all, these kipp-type schools seem to be the only schools that do an effective job of educating poor and majority-minority students who aren't chosen by aptitude tests. I think a lot of people still don't think that's possible.
I also don't think the kids at kipp schools are any less deserving than kids in regular public schools. I guess they have the benefit of a guardian that is proactive enough to enter a lottery and sign a contract, but that clearly wasn't enough to make them excel in a regular school.
I mean, the central problem is scarcity of highly-educated, motivated teachers. Until our society starts giving teachers the respect or lucre they deserve, that scarcity will persist. Given that, I think the idea of concentrating that talent in a few schools makes more sense than dispersing it. It's sad to say, but I feel like trying to be a good teacher in a crappy school is almost a futile endeavor. But, I think once you reach a critical mass or tipping point in terms of school culture, the benefits to all the students are exponential. Hopefully, over time the best and brightest will go to college, return and become community leaders or even teachers and we'll get the wheel turning.
By the way, it's very nice of you to mention Amherst and Harvard in the same breath. I thought that was sacrilege in Cambridge.
As for the sacrilege you speak of, I concur. Many Harvardians think that the world revolves around them and they are God's gift to society in every realm from the arts to the sciences to finance and everything in between. Most Harvardians would also think that me using my degree to go teach for under $35K a year in the rural south is sacrilege also. Most Trentonians and, honestly, most Americans would probably think the same though so...whatever!
In saying that students get "less" from teachers from the Alcorns, Rusts, and Valleys of the world I did not mean to put down all HBCUs in general or even those three (and others in Mississippi) in particular. I also did not mean to boost up Harvard and Amherst grads as if we're somewhow more capable and adept at teaching.
I meant that by students only being exposed to teachers from a select number of schools they often feel that their own prospects are limited. Many of my students were dumbfounded that I went to not only one "White" and "rich" school (Harvard) but floored that I now go to another one (Ole Miss). Perhaps I thought the same eight or nine years ago as a Trenton High student. Exposure to teachers or just alums from different and yes, sometimes, elite educational backgrounds who can relate to you can have a highly motivational effect on how you view your prospects for education and other parts of your life. You stop seeing people from these schools as demagogues and begin to view them as regular people who work hard and remained focused (and got lots of scholarship $, fortunately, in my case).
Secondly, the mentality and educational culture pervasive in a place like the Delta is generally only fanned by only having exposure to the same people, places, schools, and such. If people call equal educational opportunity the "civil rights movement of today," just like the 1950s and 1960s Civil Rights Movement in the south, people from the north--particularly those from quality schools--or people who have not been simply inclucated with local psychology will play a significant role in that movement. The Fannie Lou Hamers of the world had their Bob Moses'. The Medgar Evers' of the world had their military experience abroad. The MLKs of the world had their seminary degrees and Ph.Ds from northern schools. This outside influence can shake the complacency of people who are born and raised in an environment and motivate them to make changes they have long since seen in their community but have not had the time, energy, courage, resources, know-how, or what have you to change them.