Getting our children ready for school, college and work

 

 

Kudos to Bill Gates for continuing to speak forcefully and sensibly on school reform -- and for plugging KIPP!

Finally, our foundation has learned that great school systems are able to try promising new approaches. Unfortunately, Washington is one of the most inhospitable states in the country for educators who want to give new ideas a chance.

Our foundation works with an innovative group called KIPP — the Knowledge Is Power Program. KIPP is active in 16 states and has become one of the most accomplished school-reform organizations in the country. It operates the highest-performing middle school in Washington, D.C., and the eighth-graders in KIPP's Newark, N.J., academy score in the 91st percentile in math.

KIPP would like to work in Washington state, but it can't. Unlike 40 other states in the country, Washington does not allow charter schools — so the government can't give KIPP permission to run its model here.

Getting our children ready for school, college and work

Guest column by Bill Gates

Seattle Times, November 15, 2006

http://www.seattletimes.com

My wife, Melinda, and I have heard the tragic stories time and again. In Washington and other states, we learn about talented high-school students who don't fulfill their promise — not because they fail at school, but because our schools fail them. They study hard, do well and get into college. But in college, instead of the good grades they're used to, they get D's and F's. They take remedial classes, but still they can't keep up — so they quit.