Comments on Thoughts on Education Policy: What Should We Learn from Promise Academy? Part 1...

First of all, great recap! Secondly, it sadly sh...

2009-07-07T11:07:41.948-05:00

First of all, great recap!

Secondly, it sadly shows how expensive and labor-intensive it is to "correct" or "rehabilitate" children whose early founding educational years were essentially wasted (which leads to another day, another post!).

Lastly, although I support charter schools and innovative techniques, I think we are missing the point: early, early, EARLY educational preparation should be the first focus of educational reform; then we can build up to the secondary and collegiate levels!

Great post!

2009-05-26T12:28:37.951-05:00

Great post!

It is often said that spending doesn't make a diff...

2009-05-20T11:11:41.365-05:00

It is often said that spending doesn't make a difference in schools, but I think the lesson of Promise Academy and a number of other successful charters is that money alone isn't enough, but that most of the innovations are quite cost- and labor-intensive.

And it seems to me that this is exactly the *purpose* of charter schools -- to be a place where educators can try out new ideas on a small scale, often with private funding supplementing the public funds they get -- and see if they are successful.

But it seems much more tempting for education pundits to point to the Promise Academy and say "see, charters are the answer" than to point to it and say "see what a well-spent $18K per year can do."

Great post. I look forward to reading part two.

2009-05-18T08:19:00.000-05:00

Great post. I look forward to reading part two.

Just going focus on one point you made out of many...

2009-05-18T07:42:00.000-05:00

Just going focus on one point you made out of many great ones.

The cost!

The school spent vastly more per pupil than any state. The closest for 2006(the most recent compiled data I've seen) was NY State at $14,884. For the same year this Harlem school is spending almost $4,000 more per student! Even if this Promise School brought greater achievement than any other, which it has yet to show, how many states can afford that kind of spending? A relatively poor state like Maine, which spends $10,000 per pupil, could not afford to do what Promise does.

I'm also skeptical of people thinking they can just make a Promise mold and use it to make all schools successful. While some aspects of the Promise school can be applied to other institutions, we must remember how Promise was designed. Promise was designed to meet the challenges of it's community. The learning challenges in Harlem are vastly different from those in say Boulder Colorado or Oakland California. That must be taken into consideration.