Quote: Bringing Back The Idea Of Mixed-Income Education

Poor children can perform well if given the right educational environment, but almost 50 years of research suggests they perform better, on average, in middle-class schools than they do in high poverty schools. - TCF's Richard Kahlenberg on today's NAPCS diverse charter schools report (or whatever they're calling it).

Comments

[CarolineSF]

I think it's a universal fact that a school (School A) that enrolls a critical mass of low-income, high-need, challenged students becomes overwhelmed and struggles, thus becoming what we cruelly brand a "failing school."

(The "miracle" charter schools that overcome that do so by ensuring that they enroll only the high-functioning, compliant and motivated students from low-income communities -- and only students with compliant, motivated, high-functioning, supportive families. Obviously, that's not a scalable solution even if it works for those schools and the students who survive their winnowing processes.)

A school (School B) that serves a percentage of low-income, high-need, challenged students that falls short of that critical mass can function effectively. It seems highly likely that the same student would do better in School B than in overwhelmed, "failing" School A.

[Sarah]

A local high school here plans to eliminate all "honors/accelerated" courses (most of the students in those courses are from middle income or higher classes) starting next fall to turn more attention to teaching the slower, lower-income students with their "smarter" peers. Their thought is that the honors students can go off into a corner and learn at their own pace independently of teacher instruction or that they'll be so far ahead that they'll then step up and offer peer-to-peer tutoring in the class. I'm interested to see by next year how well this new idea works out.