Three cheers for North Star's new elementary school (part of the Uncommon Schools network).  KIPP is going in this direction as well -- there's already an elementary school open in Houston and the plan is to open four over the next few years in NYC, feeding into the four existing middle schools.

 

I'm excited to see the results when KIPP, Uncommon Schools and other top programs get kids for 13 (!) years, rather than four.  When the low-income minority kids these school serve don't enter good schools until 5th grade, they're on average a couple of years below grade level (and grade level is a pretty minimal standard to be sure), so there's a limit to what even the best programs can do.  While nearly all kids from these programs go to college (a miraculous, nearly unprecedented achievement), there's still plenty of room for improvement in terms of how many get 4-year degrees and how many attend the most elite institutions (only a small fraction today).  I'd bet a lot of money that the majority of students who attend KIPP or Uncommon Schools schools for 13 years will go to top-20 colleges.  Now that will truly be a miraculous, unprecedented achievement!

 

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Charter school grows to elementary level

North Star Academy's first class of kindergartners shows promise

Thursday, November 29, 2007

BY KATIE LOVELL

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-0/119631471958900.xml&coll=1

Newark Star-Ledger Staff

The 4- and 5-year-olds sit on the floor in a broad circle, with their legs folded "criss-cross-apple sauce," following as their principal leads them in counting.

Today, the students count to 100.

The 75 students are members of the inaugural kindergarten class at North Star Academy in Newark, which opened in September. .