I also find the conversation it provoked to be very interesting. Our prime criticisms of KIPP are that their teachers are grossly overworked and underpaid, and that this sets a very bad precedent for our children. Our kids will have to work in the world they inherit from us (not to mention good results are attained without subjecting kids or working people to KIPP conditions).

Please don’t tell anyone, but I’m old enough to remember when a factory worker could buy a home and support a family on one income. Anyone who’s checked real estate prices lately knows the road to middle class is a lot rockier than it once was. That’s terrible, and the demise of unions has certainly contributed to it. As teachers are one of the very few areas where vibrant unionism exists, we’re regular targets for those who’d just as soon return to feudalism.

Our blog has been attacked by several KIPP fans over the net, and none of them have responded to our actual positions. I’ve been called “anti-teacher” by some for writing that their trip, aside from being questionably funded, hardly compensated them for what they do. KIPP defenders suggested to reporters it was not a vacation, but that they went to meetings and discussed work while there. Some perk.

Responses to diNapoli’s findings, which also strongly suggested a systemic indifference toward salary increases for KIPP teachers, called him “political.” However, none called his findings inaccurate, as far as I know.

All my students know they have to give details or examples to support arguments, like this: Bloomberg’s school grades are not only political, but also inaccurate, poorly-conceived, and highly misleading. Which parent in the world thinks, for example, that safety is only worth 2.5% of a score? Which parent values progress from one year to the next over consistent excellence, or lack thereof?