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LeBron James school that was considered an experiment is showing promise

nytimes.com

31–40 of 209 posts

Re: LeBron James school that was considered an experiment is showing promise

#31

Amazing to see a privately funded school do so well, especially one that targets at risk children. I hope the lessons learned here inspire more private investment in education.

Or that it brings attention to neglected demographics and inspires greater demand and political will for improved public funding and resource allocation.

Privately funded white knighting should not be the answer.

Re: LeBron James school that was considered an experiment is showing promise

#32

Amazing to see a privately funded school do so well, especially one that targets at risk children. I hope the lessons learned here inspire more private investment in education.

It's more of a hybrid... It's publicly funded, per student similar to other schools in the area, but additional funding from James' foundation. Of course general school funding should probably be split with a bit more towards the lowest 20-25% on performance and the top 10-15% imho.

I wish more communities were more involved. I've often thought it would be great if every parent were able to participate in one day of class a month how much that could improve things overall.

Re: LeBron James school that was considered an experiment is showing promise

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is selection bias for sure; except it works in the opposite way regarding successful outcomes. IPS takes low-performing individuals and puts them in a lottery system. This differs from a charter school or other alternative schools that skirt responsibility of special needs kids... but it should bear mention that IPS is not without controversy. The lottery system causes a lot of strife in eligible-but-unpicked i…

> This differs from a charter school or other alternative schools that skirt responsibility of special needs kids This is illegal in a lot of places, and I doubt it is common.

It may be illegal ina lot of places, but not everywhere. In many states charter schools are not obligated to fullfill the same legal requirements for special education, standardized testing, or English as a second language placement.

Re: LeBron James school that was considered an experiment is showing promise

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At an individual level, no. At an aggregate, long term, country wide level, yes. At least good governance and planning and money distribution, possibly not actually more money.

That applies to a lot of things in life not just this so that feels like reaching imo. Sure parents need to be stable not the least financially but they need that to be good parents, good spouses, citizens etc.

But I think the point is that it's really incredibly hard to do any of those things unless you have financial stability; at the very least, it's a hell of a lot easier when you do.

Re: LeBron James school that was considered an experiment is showing promise

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in my state charter schools must accept any student that can attend a regular public school, and there's a lottery for everyone. Conversely, there's some charter schools specifically for kids with special needs. There's one in my city specifically for autistic kids.

It's nominally the law in my state too, but apparently it's fine to weed out the "non-performers" i.e. whoever you want. Public schools then have to take on the extra burden of the "undesirables". https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/nyregion/at-a-success-aca...

I went to a HS that strongly encouraged under-performers to go to the "alternative" vocational high school. (#1 in the nation my ass).

Re: LeBron James school that was considered an experiment is showing promise

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This differs from a charter school or other alternative schools that skirt responsibility of special needs kids This is illegal in a lot of places, and I doubt it is common.

It may be illegal ina lot of places, but not everywhere. In many states charter schools are not obligated to fullfill the same legal requirements for special education, standardized testing, or English as a second language placement.

It's not necessarily a bad thing. If the state or council can figure out how to set the incentives correctly it could work out better.

It really is a matter of opinion as to how to solve this issue, and the best answer may differ from place to place.

Re: LeBron James school that was considered an experiment is showing promise

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in my state charter schools must accept any student that can attend a regular public school, and there's a lottery for everyone. Conversely, there's some charter schools specifically for kids with special needs. There's one in my city specifically for autistic kids.

It's nominally the law in my state too, but apparently it's fine to weed out the "non-performers" i.e. whoever you want. Public schools then have to take on the extra burden of the "undesirables". https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/nyregion/at-a-success-aca...

In my county my understanding is that public school teachers are de facto not allowed to give failing grades if the student turned in literally anything. Like just put your name at the top and you will get passed. Charter schools have no such rule, so that is at least one way 'undesirables' are weeded out. I'm not sure the public school policy of passing out passing grades for free is providing a better education though.

Re: LeBron James school that was considered an experiment is showing promise

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This differs from a charter school or other alternative schools that skirt responsibility of special needs kids This is illegal in a lot of places, and I doubt it is common.

It was very common in my charter high school. For whatever reason they weren't concerned with the drop out rate, so they openly encouraged special needs kids to drop out. They had previously encouraged them to go to the alternative school, but budget cuts shut that school down.

> For whatever reason they weren't concerned with the drop out rate

Maybe this is related to the incentive system (at that time) in your region.

Re: LeBron James school that was considered an experiment is showing promise

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is selection bias for sure; except it works in the opposite way regarding successful outcomes. IPS takes low-performing individuals and puts them in a lottery system. This differs from a charter school or other alternative schools that skirt responsibility of special needs kids... but it should bear mention that IPS is not without controversy. The lottery system causes a lot of strife in eligible-but-unpicked i…

> This differs from a charter school or other alternative schools that skirt responsibility of special needs kids This is illegal in a lot of places, and I doubt it is common.

This is extremely common. It is just not done explicitly to do that. Much like many other things that are common but not designed to exclude protected classes like ageism, sexism, and so forth in hiring funnels.
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