What's Their Secret To Success?

[pineda]

YES Prep School story on KTRK

I don't know much about YES Prep School. Is it a school that students have to audition to get into, or is it the school that everyone within that zone goes to? We don't have magnet schools out where I live, so I'm unfamiliar with that concept. What have you heard about this school? What are their keys to success?

[musicman]

What are their keys to success?

the parents have to get involved as well. they both have to sign contracts in order for a child to be admitted. if more parents would even care about their child/children's education, things would be better.

[houstonmacbro]

YES Prep School story on KTRK

I don't know much about YES Prep School. Is it a school that students have to audition to get into, or is it the school that everyone within that zone goes to? We don't have magnet schools out where I live, so I'm unfamiliar with that concept. What have you heard about this school? What are their keys to success?

Am I confusing them with KIPP (which I hear was started here in Houston and has grown nationwide).

I think a lot goes into student success including parental involvement (probably one of the biggest factors in my opinion). Lately, so many parents just want to drop kids off and let the schools rear them. And then they blame the schools for why their kids turn out like (choose your own adjective).

[pineda]

KIPP committment form

KIPP has done an outstanding job! Their philisophy is "better teaching and more of it", meaning they get the best teachers to work there, which in turn keeps the students focused and eager to learn, and they also get the parents to participate by asking them to initial each page of homework the student does every night. The students go to school from 7:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and then again on every other Saturday, and then for three weeks in the summer. The result is that they spend on average 60% more time in the classroom than regular public school students. They are prepared to go on to elite prep schools and then 80% of them go on to college.

All this makes me wonder how my own Klein ISD stacks up against this? How many students are graduating and going on to college, what percentage of the total population receives diplomas at the four different high schools? How many drop-out, how many get GED's later, how many just fall off the grid? At a time when Klein is trying to sell us an almost $640 million bond proposal, questions like these matter more to me than whether Klein High should be re-built or not.

Edited February 12, 2008 by pineda