LeBron James' STEM-Based School Is Showing Promise (goodnewsnetwork.org)

Last year, NBA superstar LeBron James opened an experimental school that focuses on teaching a STEM curriculum to students who have a higher probability of failing academically or dropping out of school. The New York Times is now reporting that "the inaugural classes of third and fourth graders at [the I PROMISE School] posted extraordinary results in their first set of district assessments. Ninety percent met or exceeded individual growth goals in reading and math (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source), outpacing their peers across the district." From the report: The students' scores reflect their performance on the Measures of Academic Progress assessment, a nationally recognized test administered by NWEA, an evaluation association. In reading, where both classes had scored in the lowest, or first, percentile, third graders moved to the ninth percentile, and fourth graders to the 16th. In math, third graders jumped from the lowest percentile to the 18th, while fourth graders moved from the second percentile to the 30th.

The 90 percent of I Promise students who met their goals exceeded the 70 percent of students districtwide, and scored in the 99th growth percentile of the evaluation association's school norms, which the district said showed that students' test scores increased at a higher rate than 99 out of 100 schools nationally. The students have a long way to go to even join the middle of the pack. And time will tell whether the gains are sustainable and how they stack up against rigorous state standardized tests at the end of the year. To some extent, the excitement surrounding the students' progress illustrates a somber reality in urban education, where big hopes hinge on small victories.

Comments

FD: Not an LBJ fan, but:

[rmdingler]

The numbers aren't staggering, but often the exponential growth from last to bottom tenth, sixth, or third is a more important improvement threshold than the move from 70 t0 80, or, 80 t0 90 percentile.

The radicle comes before the tree.

Re:FD: Not an LBJ fan, but:

[Areyoukiddingme]

The numbers aren't staggering, but often the exponential growth from last to bottom tenth, sixth, or third is a more important improvement threshold than the move from 70 t0 80, or, 80 t0 90 percentile.

It is indeed considerably more important. According to the site that tracks these things, the fourth graders who managed to climb to the 30th percentile can now be considered functionally literate. They were illiterate before. That's a major qualitative difference. Fourth grade is pretty late for learning how to read, but better late than never.

Calling it a "STEM-based school" is a joke in poor taste though. This is remedial instruction of the most fundamental kind, and a damning indictment of the previous three to five years of schooling. A school that can't teach a child to read is not a school—it is a kid warehouse. And these kids can learn to read, as they have now demonstrated.

If LeBron James lending his name is what it takes to break through, more power to him. Unfortunately, as InterGuru points out below, that's not scalable or sustainable. There's only one LeBron James, and once his name is lent out too much, it's diluted and doesn't mean anything anymore. And it ages fast. How many of GenZ even knows Michael Jordan's name?

Re:FD: Not an LBJ fan, but:

[bradley13]

"This is remedial instruction of the most fundamental kind, and a damning indictment of the previous three to five years of schooling"

This. The thing is: effective schooling requires (a) commitment from the families and (b) discipline within the school. If you have families who don't care that their kids aren't learning, who don't care that their kids disrupt school for everyone else, you're screwed. If you have a school that tolerates disruptive behavior, that moves kids to the next grade despite failing grades, you're screwed.

The progress in a school like this comes entirely from the fact that you've solved the two problems above. The disruptive kids from don't-care families are mostly elsewhere. The question will truly be: can they sustain this progress against the cultural pressures the kids are under? And they are under pressure, from a self-destructive black subculture that says studying and learning is "acting white".

This school will help some individual kids, but that cultural problem is the real problem, and someday it is going to have to be addressed.

Re:FD: Not an LBJ fan, but:

[e3m4n]

Most importantly it gives them a chance at a normal life. When your kid scores in the bottom percentiles a proactive parent begins to investigate medical reasons such as dyslexia, ambliopia, etc. there is often something cognitive at play. Just sticking a kid in front of PBS would get them to 20% if there was not a cognitive factor. A less engaged parent, either by selfish choice or merely working 3 jobs as a single parent, will put these same kids in a situation where its just daycare. They grow up to be functionally incompetent to live on their own. By getting them to functional literacy, they now have a chance of a normal life; wife, kids, picket fence. It may not be a lavish life but being independent and not a street thug goes a long way toward self respect.

Re:FD: Not an LBJ fan, but:

[Areyoukiddingme]

The thing is: effective schooling requires (a) commitment from the families and (b) discipline within the school. If you have families who don't care that their kids aren't learning, who don't care that their kids disrupt school for everyone else, you're screwed. If you have a school that tolerates disruptive behavior...

That all sounds so reasonable, and got you a +5 to boot, but while part a) is fine, part b) is a disaster. Schools all over the country have tried that. Zero Tolerance is an unmitigated disaster. It is NOT working. I would bet a nickel that a good many of the kids in the LeBron James school were "zero toleranced" out of their regular school. You don't get to be 2nd percentile by accident.

Some of this is personal observation, but most of it I got from my mother, who was a high school English teacher off and on for 40 years. One of the schools she taught in was University City in St. Louis. U. City was very nearly majority black, at the time, with a population 48% African American. My mother was an extremely popular teacher, specifically because she was NOT a disciplinarian. She kept control of her classrooms, but she didn't rule with an iron fist like these Zero Tolerance morons.

She remembers specific students quite well, as you might expect. One of the kids couldn't sit still. He'd pop out of his chair and wander around the room. She'd let him do it. If he was white, he'd have been diagnosed with ADHD and dosed to the gills on designer pharmaceuticals today, but this was the late 1980s, and he was black, so ADHD didn't exist yet. In a Zero Tolerance authoritarian dictatorship so commonly found today, he'd have been endlessly sent to the principal's office, stuck in detention, and eventually suspended, with some bullshit line about how "disruptive" he is. When in fact it's the authoritarian moron who is being self-disruptive by making mountains out of molehills. When she really needed him to sit, my mother could get him to quite easily. There's a certain jocular tone you can take that will get you "ok, ok, I'm goin'..." obedience, and my mother knows how to use it. The authoritarian "Siddown right now or you're outta here!" approach gets you nothing but defiance from the same kid.

This school will help some individual kids, but that cultural problem is the real problem, and someday it is going to have to be addressed.

There are two cultural problems to be addressed. Yes, Black culture needs to accept that in the modern world, education is a necessity. But school culture also needs to finally realize that the nightmare that is Prussian Factory Education doesn't work especially well for anybody, and really doesn't work for black kids. You only get perfectly still rows of silent children sitting at their desks with perfect posture with their hands folded in front of them when they're all white and scared[1]. You don't get that from black kids ever, and there's an argument to be made, rather eloquently by J. T Gatto, that getting it from white kids is a terrible choice too.

----

[1] You aren't going to scare the black kids. Their mommas are a lot scarier than you.

Another successful program doomed to be forgotten.

[InterGuru]

There are many examples of schools that succeed with low-income students. The problem is they are neither scalable nor sustainable. They are not scalable because they require talented teachers and principals. There are not enough of them to go around.
They not sustainable because the teachers burn out.

The late teacher's union leader, Al Shanker said it best: "programs that are doomed to succeed and be forgotten."

Re:Another successful program doomed to be forgott

[alvinrod]

The school system and its idiocy are what's responsible for a lot of teacher burnout. Dealing with that ugly machine is enough to suck the life and joy out of anyone.

Re: In before...

[Cmdln Daco]

When you call somebody a fake Conservative you have to capitalize the 'C'.

Re: In before...

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Actually, according to this administration, "science is a Democrat thing". So, no.

Re:Another successful program doomed to be forgott

[e3m4n]

The biggest obstacle for low income, inner-city students, whom are cognitively capable, is that they enter the school system at 5 or 6 not even knowing their alphabet, or how to tie their shoes. The parents will often drop their kids off and if the kid is sick you can’t even find the parents. They deliberately give bullshit contact phone numbers because “that’s their free time“. They don’t give two shits about that kid except for the first and the 15th of the month. The school districts that implement an early start program, basically half-day preschool, have a better chance of getting these kids up to speed before they enter the primary education levels. And since they either feed them breakfast or lunch, it also guarantees they get at least one real meal a day.

  Disclaimer: my wife was an elementary teacher for about eight years and primarily worked at inner-city schools.

From someone that lives in Cleveland

[pgmrdlm]

yes, Lebron is contributing a lot of money and effort to this school. But it is a public school. Personally, I believe his public support is as important as the money he is providing. But there are those locally that do not feel that way.

The point being though, he did not start this school. It is a public school. He is helping to support and promote it.