Charter Schools Make Gains On Tests

At Friendship's Blow Pierce middle school in Northeast, parents are asked to sign a statement promising that they will get their children to school on time each day, make sure they wear the uniform, complete homework on time, and attend classes on Saturdays and in the summer if their grades fall below a C average. The parents also agree to attend conferences and school events.

The extra staffing and resources help charters achieve one of their prime goals: interceding in the chaotic home lives of poor children to keep problems from derailing learning.

At Thurgood Marshall, junior Mark Greene said the teachers helped him get into counseling and catch up on his studies this year after his family split up and he became homeless.

Demetrius Suggs, also a Thurgood Marshall junior, said the teachers and administrators "call my home all the time. 'He missed school,' or 'He missed detention.' They send alert notices. They devise a plan. There are no excuses not to get your work done."

Many charter directors said success, especially with poor children, depends on creating a cohesive and uniform environment. Without unions and seniority rules, they can decide who to hire and fire. They try to ensure that all of their teachers are committed to the same approach, and they provide several weeks of teacher training over the summer.

"The school culture is essential," said Schaeffler of KIPP. "It's the same language, the same terminology, the same tactics, room to room. The cool teacher who lets them chew gum and put their feet up on a chair: You're not being a team player. You think you're connecting with the kids, but you're undermining all the other adults in the building."

Discipline and Structure

At many charters, teachers use a meticulous system of punishments and rewards to shape behavior.

Students at KIPP middle schools get a paycheck of "KIPP dollars" every week for getting work done, being prompt, wearing their uniforms, helping out and participating in class. The paycheck also shows deductions for being rude or noisy or missing homework.

The concept is not exclusive to charters. Some of the District's regular public schools have introduced monetary rewards, as well as Saturday classes and programs to involve parents. But charter directors said their ability to design their own programs and then focus staff and students on those efforts has made them more effective.

Tasheanna Johnston, an eighth-grader from Anacostia, earned extra KIPP dollars by helping a teacher clean up after class and more when a teacher saw her carry books for a "teammate" whose hands were full. With her earnings, she bought colored pencils at the school store and won the right to wear jeans to school on a Friday and to go on camping trips and on trips to Disney World and New York.

When she was tardy, she lost a dollar, which was noted in the contract her parents have to sign each week.

Eighth-grader Kem Harris said he lost a dollar once because his shirt was untucked. It was a Monday, and the violations piled up. He looked down when he was supposed to be listening to a teacher -- another dollar. He did not speak up loudly when asked a question -- $1.

"I lose all my money on Mondays," he said. "I'm grumpy, and I don't want to do any work."

Kem said he fought regularly at his traditional public school. "They would just separate us for the rest of the day." But if he fights at KIPP KEY, he said, "I would either get the bench or suspended." Each classroom has a "bench" for teenage-style timeouts. Students who are benched can hear the lesson but not participate, a punishment that is lifted only when their parents go to the school for a meeting with staff members.

Kem earned extra dollars for trying to improve his handwriting. But he feels the sting of missing the big trips. "I've been two people away or three people away," he said, but he didn't make the cut.

D.C. Prep's middle school has similar rules and rewards.

"In the discipline policy, we enforce little things: If you roll your eyes at me, you lose a dollar. If you talk back, $2. Then we call your parents. Then you get suspended," said Executive Director Emily Lawson. "First you lose money. If a behavior escalates, the discipline escalates."

She said the strict rules are needed because most of her students do not have the advantage of middle-class backgrounds.

"This is what our kids need to learn to be successful in life," she said. "Kids in the suburbs might slouch, but they know not to do that in a job interview. Some of our kids have a hard life. They have to do this to succeed."

Some of the city's charters are less rigid. Two Rivers Charter elementary in Northeast encourages students to work out their problems in pairs. The school sets up quiet zones in classrooms with a "peace rug" and a "calm-down chair."

The Howard middle school charter emphasizes building relationships between teachers and students. Still, said teacher Kimberly Worthy, "we have to reprogram them, stop them from disrespecting each other, telling each other to shut up. . . .When that is done on a consistent basis, students feel safe here."

For many charters, the rigorous structure also applies to the teaching.

At the E.L. Haynes charter school in Northwest, fifth-grade teacher Brigham Kiplinger uses a stopwatch to keep his lessons on track.

He began a reading lesson one day this fall by clicking his watch: the 1 1/2 -hour class was planned down to the minute. Kiplinger spoke for exactly 10 minutes. Every student was quiet. When one boy answered a question correctly, Kiplinger said, "Two snaps for Derrick on 1-2-3," and all the students snapped their fingers in unison.

"Now, do a turn and talk for two minutes," Kiplinger said, prompting the students to face a partner and talk about the books they were reading. Two minutes later, he wrote "10:58" on the board. It was time for the students to read independently. At the end of the lesson, Kiplinger told the students exactly what to do. "Put your book down. Pencils up. Take out your agenda books, and write down this evening's homework."

This year, 53 percent of the students classified as economically disadvantaged at Haynes passed the reading test, and 63 percent passed the math test. That was nearly double the rate in reading of two years earlier and triple the rate in math.

One of the goals at E.L. Haynes and many other charters is to break the cycle of poverty, which has kept many students from succeeding.

Deserhie Henson stepped into the charter community in 2001 when she enrolled her daughter at KIPP's first D.C. charter school in the basement of Garden Memorial Presbyterian Church in Southeast.

"I said, 'I'll just try it,'" she remembered.

Henson had bounced between Eastern and Ballou high schools, got pregnant and didn't graduate. Years later, as a charter parent, she struggled to keep up with KIPP's demands: Students have to be in uniforms every day. Homework must be completed every night. Papers must be signed promptly every week.

But she adjusted and watched her daughter make the honor roll and win admission to Banneker, the city's elite public high school. She has another daughter at a different charter, and her son is at KIPP KEY middle school.

Henson decided to return to school herself and received a diploma last year from Ballou High's program for adults.

"I was showing them that they can do it," she said. "Don't make the same mistakes I did."