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LeBron James school that was considered an experiment is showing promise

nytimes.com

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

#181

Post by Ari_Ugwu »

pja wrote: post #156
_qbjt wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great question. I can't speak to AVID's practices today (it's been over 10 years... damn I'm old) but for me it created a much-needed structure. Students within the program could take AVID variants of core classes similar to how they might enroll in Honors or AP. The curriculum favored collaborative exercises like group projects and peer review. The idea was to encourage many of the social and professional tools we o…

So it’s trying to create for at-risk students some part of the support networks that other students get from their peers or family? Makes sense.

I think it's exactly this. We have something similar in RVA called "Open High School" https://www.rvaschools.net/OHS

And apparently it's doing very well and is sought after.

What a time to be alive! We have quite a few impressive elementary schools in the city but that often means that affluent people leave for the suburbs for middle/high school.

It takes a village.

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

#182

Post by jtuente »

robbiemitchell wrote: post #163
peteretep wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is in the article, but the budget is $2m from the state, which is standard, plus $600k from LeBron, which is not

That $600k is where a well-funded PTA steps in for many schools in well-off areas and is a big difference between seemingly similar schools. Wealthier parents can afford to donate, which turns into a bunch of benefits.

Just want to jump in here and mention that it doesn't even have to be a PTA, it could be any community organization focused on local student welfare and community building. The extracurricular programs at my school were/are heavily supported by the community and focus on student welfare.

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

#183

Post by ikeyany »

codebolt wrote: post #152
azernik wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The inclusion of a barbershop is very much an African-American cultural thing - these are traditional male social gathering places in that society. So this is probably not just providing a haircut, but also some things a bit higher up the Maslow hierarchy like that belonging you mentioned.

As a white male, the barber shop is one thing I always envied African-Americans. Seems nice to have a place where you can always drop by for some loose banter with the local guys.

What a strange stereotype...is this something people get from TV? How many black people do you know that use their barbershop as a place other than to get a haircut?

Black people go to their friend's house or a bar, just like white people do.

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

#184

Post by c0vfefe »

ikeyany wrote: post #183
codebolt wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a white male, the barber shop is one thing I always envied African-Americans. Seems nice to have a place where you can always drop by for some loose banter with the local guys.

What a strange stereotype...is this something people get from TV? How many black people do you know that use their barbershop as a place other than to get a haircut? Black people go to their friend's house or a bar, just like white people do.

I would guess that's fiction imitating reality. I'll only generalize about my own race's behavior here, by saying that most people reading this are probably white and therefore less likely to have useful input into your question.

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

#185

Post by c0vfefe »

externalreality wrote: post #144
istjohn wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I can ask, how do you feel about the program that bussed you across town, overall? Do you feel you benefited on net despite the exposure to the racism, or would you prefer to have stayed in your neighborhood school if you could do it all again?

istjohn, I deeply appreciate your question. I've been sitting here for over an hour trying to answer so I'll just answer simply. Yes, I would rather have gone to a school in my neighborhood. I would have rather been around other African American and LatinX students than to have learned what it is to be neglected and to feel inferior @ 4.5 years old. No question. Please don't use my response as an argument in support…

Do you believe that forced integration is more often worse for individual nonwhite children, but a net improvement for both the minority community & society as a whole?

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

#186

Post by ikeyany »

c0vfefe wrote: post #184
ikeyany wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a strange stereotype...is this something people get from TV? How many black people do you know that use their barbershop as a place other than to get a haircut? Black people go to their friend's house or a bar, just like white people do.

I would guess that's fiction imitating reality. I'll only generalize about my own race's behavior here, by saying that most people reading this are probably white and therefore less likely to have useful input into your question.

On what basis do you say it's imitating reality?

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

#187

Post by somethoughts »

jrumbut wrote: post #102
somethoughts wrote: post #79

I've often wondered about the effectiveness of donations to supplemental after school/summer time tutoring/coaching in under-performing school districts [1][2] versus donations to full time, private charter schools such as this one. It seems supplemental after school/summer time solutions would build on the existing public school system and fill in the gap between 3pm-6pm and during summer where they are likely to be…

This is not a charter school or private school, it is a public school that received additional money on top of its usual funding from Lebron James.

Thanks - missed that - I guess I must have skimmed the article too fast. In that case, this is a great example of a very full featured supplemental program versus the replacement program.

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

#188

Post by socrates1998 »

It's great to see this. The only issue I have is how replicable this formula is.

I think you can apply a couple of programs and concepts on a large scale to whole communities, but this is a very expensive school with a lot of resources behind it, not to mention a very powerful celebrity endorser who has a lot to lose if this school fails.

There is a small private school that just opened up in my area (about 4 years old). It has a powerful businessman who is the founder. Class sizes are less than 10 kids with two teachers per class. That's about a 5:1 ratio, most public schools would kill for anything better close to 10:1 with most academic classes are 20-30 students for one teacher.

This small private school also has a lot of amenities, like a ton of tech for the students.

While this is a great school, it's just a place for elites to educate their students.

I applaud everyone in this private school and Lebron's school.

I hope we can use some of their ideas and programs to a larger scale.

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

#189

Post by socrates1998 »

collective-intl wrote: post #128
b_tterc_p wrote: post #41

I like the concept. I’m not sure their stats check out. Maybe someone more knowledgeable can chime in. The article suggests a lot of the kids here were bottom percentile performers on standardized tests (literal 1th percentile). I do wonder if the test is valid at scores that poor. Could it be that the bottom percentile is just the kids who guessed randomly and had bad luck, as opposed to, say, the ninth percentile w…

I think there is a major flaw which you are getting at. If you take the students who performed at the 10th-25th percentile in any school in one year, on average they would do better the next year because of reversion to the mean. The way to understand it is that the population they chose did so poorly on their test last year, it is likely that they did worse than they usually do. They are more likely to have had an o…

>average they would do better the next year because of reversion to the mean.

I don't think it works like that. Students who do poorly often do WORSE the next year. They tend to get more and more behind and eventually just drop out.

The only way to reverse this trend is to identify them for more academic instruction, like an extra math or reading class.

Even then, it often doesn't work. It's really really hard to turn a low performing student into even an average one.

"Reversion to the mean" has no meaning when you are talking about one student from one year to the next.

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

#190

Post by externalreality »

istjohn wrote: post #180
externalreality wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

istjohn, I deeply appreciate your question. I've been sitting here for over an hour trying to answer so I'll just answer simply. Yes, I would rather have gone to a school in my neighborhood. I would have rather been around other African American and LatinX students than to have learned what it is to be neglected and to feel inferior @ 4.5 years old. No question. Please don't use my response as an argument in support…

Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm sorry you had to go through that. I believe the racial segregation in our country is an enormous injustice that gets short shrift in public conversation. It's so pervasive in our society that we don't even see it anymore. It's role in education is particularly pernicious. I live in Columbus, Ohio, which like many northern cities has an underfunded, poorly performing, mostly…

I agree with you, but I don't have too much more to add. From birth non-blacks (and blacks alike) are classically conditioned by numerous socio-environmental stimuli to believe that blacks are inferior. I believe that all other issues discussed in this thread are based that unfortunate foundation. And that foundation is, of course, based on the tragic history of our country with respect to race relations.
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