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How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

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Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#51

Post by yardie »

Invictus0 wrote: post #32

I'm wondering if this school will be sustainable in the long term. Given the correlation between low-income neighborhoods and poor school performance, how is I Promise going to be supported by taxpayers? Many school districts scrounge for basic supplies; how long will they be able to keep this free bike program going?

I assume as long as the benefactors continue to stump up more money. Or wishfully, a program like this is no longer considered necessary.

How long can the Nobel Prize continue? Rhodes Scholarships?

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#52

Post by JoeAltmaier »

Retric wrote: post #40
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation? Its not about reputation (irrelevant) but accomplishment. And in the OP case, we're talking about one school helping one demographic. I wish this new school all the best luck in helping these kids.

the predominance of such studies in the United States does not show positive impacts on average for the charter school sector. https://www.brookings.edu/research/on-negative-effects-of-vo... Recent research on statewide voucher programs in Louisiana and Indiana has found that public school students that received vouchers to attend private schools subsequently scored lower on reading and math tests compared to similar…

And are charter schools about reading and math? Cherry picking results is easy to show whatever you like.

Charter schools are about - whatever each is constituted to be about. Like you can't go to a hardware store and grab a random tool and rate it on how well it drills holes. You shouldn't rate charter schools on your favorite metric. Some are about upper-class folk raising their kids with better music and art appreciation. Others are about escaping backward school boards. Sometimes they are in areas so backward, that the charter school still underperforms the national average. But if its an improvement for that area, its an improvement.

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#53

Post by bradenb »

mkirklions wrote: post #2

Open question that wasnt really discussed in the article- Why are charter schools demonized? My local area HATES them, and I'm not sure if its politics or worthwhile. EDIT: Why did I get 5 downvotes?

A few years ago we put my daughter into a new charter school. We were really excited because on the surface it seemed like she would get a much more tailored and personalized education with better facilities and staff. The only problem is that my daughter has ADHD.

As soon as there were social issues between my daughter and her teachers or her and other students (bullying by other students), the staff quickly turned against us. We met with the principal several times about specific students bullying her but all they wanted to talk about was how she wasn't showing up often enough to school (she often faked being sick to avoid her bullies).

We quickly realized that the school was only concerned about losing funding because of attendance metrics and we pulled her out. It was a horrible experience for us.

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#54

Post by rory096 »

mliker wrote: post #30
rory096 wrote: post #14

This "normal public school" line is bizarre to me. Yes, it's a part of the school district. But it accepts specific students and has its own expanded curriculum. It's a magnet school.

Yes but it's a magnet of underprivileged and at risk students. Not your typical magnet. Props to LeBron for starting the school.

No doubt! I definitely don't mean to denigrate the project at all, it's an incredibly philanthropic move by LeBron and he deserves every ounce of the praise he's been getting.

I just see a lot of people using the "public school" line as a cudgel to bash charter schools, but charter schools are exactly the mechanism to accomplish something like this for people who aren't revered/rich enough to exercise the kind of influence over their hometown that LeBron did to get them to agree to incorporate novel facilities and practices directly into their district.

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#56

Post by jstewartmobile »

untog wrote: post #49
chrisseaton wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The British term makes so much more sense to me. British public schools are run by members of the public for any members of the public (who can pay and pass the exam). American public schools are run by local government only for people the local government wants to admit (based on where you live etc).

> American public schools are run by local government only for people the local government wants to admit Eh? Everyone is admitted to public schools in America. You often don't get the choose the specific school, but everyone has the right to a place in a school.

Not being able to choose the specific school is a huge deal though.

In the same school system, some of the schools are out-of-this-world, while others are zoos.

If I had the choice between sending my kids to some of the schools I went to growing up, or letting them stay home and watch cartoons all day, I'd choose the latter. At least they're not going to get shivved watching Adventure Time.

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#57

Post by brightball »

elsherbini wrote: post #6
mkirklions wrote: post #2

Open question that wasnt really discussed in the article- Why are charter schools demonized? My local area HATES them, and I'm not sure if its politics or worthwhile. EDIT: Why did I get 5 downvotes?

I worked for 2 years as an AmeriCorps volunteer in Atlanta Public Schools. I'll preface this by saying I don't know if I believe charter schools are bad or good, but here are some arguments against them: - Charter schools take money away from neighborhood public schools. Most schools are funded per-capita, so fewer students means less money. But many costs are fixed/discrete (e.g. school nurse costs N thousand dollar…

In the area where I live, there is a lot of anticipation for a Charter school to open because the county school board is so terrible. There are 6 regional seats for a single county wide school district and 3 of the seats vote against ANY improvements or expense increases. In a tie vote, nothing happens. It's been an issue for years at this point.

There is a charter coming to the highest population area of the county and people are excited simply because it's managed by a state level school board instead of the county.

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#58

Post by pjmorris »

koolba wrote: post #12
mkirklions wrote: post #2

Open question that wasnt really discussed in the article- Why are charter schools demonized? My local area HATES them, and I'm not sure if its politics or worthwhile. EDIT: Why did I get 5 downvotes?

Because it's not in the interests of the teacher's union to fracture the public school system. The larger, more faceless and immeasurable it gets, the harder it is to isolate individual teachers as the cause of children not learning on pace and then fire them. Charter schools (usually) do not have unionized teachers that are part of the larger teacher's unions. That means they have their own standards for hiring and…

> the harder it is to isolate individual teachers as the cause of children not learning on pace and then fire them

The Gates Foundation spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the 'Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching initiative' [0], only to find that teacher evaluation isn't an effective way to improve student outcomes.

Maybe there's more to improving student education than isolating individual teachers as a cause.

[0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickhess/2018/06/25/5-less...

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#59

Post by andrew_ »

untog wrote: post #49
chrisseaton wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The British term makes so much more sense to me. British public schools are run by members of the public for any members of the public (who can pay and pass the exam). American public schools are run by local government only for people the local government wants to admit (based on where you live etc).

> American public schools are run by local government only for people the local government wants to admit Eh? Everyone is admitted to public schools in America. You often don't get the choose the specific school, but everyone has the right to a place in a school.

Many states, and even local municipalities, have "school of choice" program that, while somewhat restricted, allow children to attend a school they would prefer between districts and many times between different geographical regions. (I presently live in one such state that offers this). There are a lot of factors at play there, but being able to choose the school you want to attend is available in the states.

Re: How LeBron James' new public school is the first of its kind

#60

Post by gremlinsinc »

Invictus0 wrote: post #32

I'm wondering if this school will be sustainable in the long term. Given the correlation between low-income neighborhoods and poor school performance, how is I Promise going to be supported by taxpayers? Many school districts scrounge for basic supplies; how long will they be able to keep this free bike program going?

They could make it self-sustaining by adding some business model to support it. As others have said, maybe buy up and renovate/rent out homes near by driving up property costs (and taxes), or 'encouraging' college alums down the road to give back from their success.

Maybe the model itself proves something on a national level, and the government decides this is the 'future' and earmarks more money for schools like this...

Or maybe they just get more donations from wealthy people who want to help. Either way, I'm sure there are ways to offset the costs and keep it going long-term.

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