Front page story in the WaPo about the big gift for KIPP. I guess I’m jaded or too close to all of this because while I think it’s great, I wouldn’t have pegged it for front page news. But what do I know, I never thought DMB would make it big…
Anyway, I think very highly of KIPP. When the history of this era of ed reform is written I think Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin (and another Levin for that matter) will be well remembered for their hard work and the serial detractors will look even more ridiculous than they do now. When you spend time in KIPP schools you immediately sense that these are places where kids and adults are really dialed into what is going on. That’s great. But, a real system of public sector choice should be exactly that: A real system of public sector choice. I hope we don’t go down the road of merely replicating a few models like KIPP rather than building real portfolio systems with a range of options. Because while KIPP is great, it’s not for all kids or parents.