Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2011

Keywords

school choice, educational approach, school comparisons

Abstract

The Obama administration has encouraged "high quality" charter school networks to improve the achievement of disadvantaged students, viewing this as a struggle for civil rights (Maranto and McShane 2011; Paige and Witty 2010). The best known of these is the 109 campus strong Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), which started in Houston in 1994. KIPP now serves 32,000 students in 20 states and the District of Columbia, more than 90% African American or Latino/a, and more than 80% low income (KIPP Foundation 2011). Journalists (Mathews 2009; Guggenheim 2010) and scholars (Thernstrom and Thernstrom 2003; Maranto and Maranto 2006; Macey et al 2009; Maranto and Shuls Forthcoming) find that KIPP prepares disadvantaged students for college. The first national, methodologically sophisticated evaluation found that KIPP students learn far more than counterparts in comparable traditional public schools, with student turnover similar to that in comparison schools (Tuttle et al 2010).1 Yet KIPP's "paternalism" offends progressive critics (e.g., Horn 2011). In contrast, the Houston based Harmony charter school network has attracted little notice until recently, even though its 37 Texas schools now serve 16,000 (mainly disadvantaged) students, with academic results comparable to KIPP. The Texas Education Authority ranked 16 of the 28 Harmony campuses operating in 2009 as excelling, and only two as merely average, despite the organization’s rapid growth (Maranto 2011; Saul 2011). Each model seemingly succeeds, but how do they differ? In contrast, the Houston based Harmony charter school network has attracted little notice until recently, even though its 37 Texas schools now serve 20,000 (mainly disadvantaged) students, with academic results comparable to KIPP. The Texas Education Authority ranked 16 of the 25 Harmony campuses operating in 2009 as excelling, and only two as merely average, despite the organization’s rapid growth (Maranto 2011; Saul 2011). Each model seemingly succeeds, but how do they differ?

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