College Acceptance for this school is 100%

[SoCalDem]

The article is from August but the story is a good one that I had missed.

Several things jumped out at me:

uniforms
discipline
elimination of "sports " as a focus
elimination of "electives"
local companies supporting/hiring/training kids in school
pride
community involvement
concentrating on kids who previously had few if any choices

While it;s a religious school, it seems to have found the sweet-spot, and is turning lives around, and giving many boys a future



http://www.leadertelegram.com/features/religion/article_b983c580-f2d5-5094-9f09-373c01ba5cec.html

Posted: Saturday, August 24, 2013 12:00 am

By Angel Jennings Los Angeles Times | 0 comments

LOS ANGELES - The young man with braces and close-cropped hair as precise as a geometry lesson steps onto the stage at Verbum Dei High School, grabs the microphone from the lectern and introduces himself.

"My name is Ricardo Placensia," he says, then lets out a nervous laugh. "I interned at Locke Lord law firm, and this fall I will be attending UC Riverside."

The crowd at the all-male Catholic school in Watts erupts in applause.

Later in the ceremony, another teenager with precision-cut hair - but no braces - takes his moment in the spotlight.

"Hi. I'm Roberto Placensia," he says. "I've been interning for four years at Keenan & Associates, and this fall, I will be attending the University of California, Riverside."


snip

[Brickbat]

1. When you can select your students, it makes all the difference.

[SoCalDem]

2. They chose poor kids in gang-infested communities

they refused entry to affluent kids, which pissed off a lot of parents who could pay for the school

[Brickbat]

3. Which is great. But they choose poor kids in gang-infested communities who are likely to succeed.

They don't take just anybody.

ETA: Which, don't get me wrong. It's fantastic that the kids who are deemed most likely to succeed get a path out of their situation. Every little bit helps. But eliminating sports and establishing uniforms at a public school isn't necessarily going to send every kid to college.

[gopiscrap]

9. Yup I agree

that's how they do it and then brag about it. I went to a parochial school and they kept on telling the parents how high their test scores were and yes they were If you got a B- or less on any subject they kicked you out (no wonder they had high test scores) well 25 years later my wife started teaching their very early in her career and they needed the tuition money (birth rates dropped dramatically so they has slots to fill) and started accepting a much wider range of students and also didn't kick you unless you got less than a 2.00 AVERAGE well guess what? Their test scores wound up being only 2% higher than the public school scores.

[duffyduff]

21. And the grades are often cooked as well. If the teachers and principals don't do what parents want,

the parents take the kids elsewhere.

The tuition factor corrupts the whole practice of private education.

I always have to laugh at people who think private schools are "better" than public schools.

[duffyduff]

20. They cherry pick. That is what makes them private schools.

Clue to the clueless: Private schools are NOT better than public schools. Period.

[gollygee]

5. And they can choose who they want from that community

No kids with disabilities, for just one example. Or only the kids who seem motivated.

[kcr]

22. Yep.

I'm not joining the bandwagon to hold these schools up to be admired, either. It's not to take away from the kids themselves who are succeeding. But this isn't a model of education to be celebrated. It's a symptom of the war on education and the poor in this country.

[gopiscrap]

27. OMG I so fully agree

My wife has worked at both a private school and in an inner city public school and she says it's all about economics and the standard of life that child has at home.

[duffyduff]

19. Yeah, right. I have a bridge to sell you. n/t

[KamaAina]

4. Don't community colleges in CA have open enrollment?

The claim of "100% college acceptance" reminds me of a similar claim made by a charter school in inner-city Chicago. Turns out the City Colleges of Chicago have open enrollment. That is, all you have to do is be a Chicago resident, fill out an application, and voila! You're accepted to college. A similar situation applies to most community colleges in CA.

[SoCalDem]

7. UCR is not a community college

and community colleges around here have limited space, so it;s not a "slam dunk":.

Any "good thing" can be picked at like vultures on a fresh kill, but sometimes good things really can happen.....really.. they can..

[KamaAina]

10. Two students went to UCR that we know of

hardly 100%.

And just because you can't enroll for the classes you need at community colleges doesn't mean you haven't been accepted.

[hedgehog]

6. The Jesuits have very quietly set up a group of these high schools

aimed at poor kids. The irony is that the older Jesuit high schools have become the schools of choice for upper class families. (my brothers could never afford the current tuitions - $9, 950 - for their own kids!)They feature athletics, which I would guess is meant to attract alumni dollars.

The older schools pushed the children and grand children of peasant immigrants solidly into the middle and upper class. Look at the program of the Cristo Rey schools - they give a rigorous academic program plus training in what it takes to succeed plus contacts.

[liberal_at_heart]

8. my son struggles in school but there is no way I would enroll him in a school like that.

[SoCalDem]

11. Unless you are poor & in Watts, it's unlikely to be a choice

This is ONE school in ONE place, but their formula seems to be a bright spot on a very blighted map.

They seem to have figured out a way to motivate kids, and a part of it may be to instill a zeal for learning as a way OUT of a bad situation.

Many kids are stuck in a bad place no matter where they live, and school is no longer a safe/fun place for many kids.

Schools are getting larger, more impersonal and so many students get lost in the shuffle

The rich kids, the cheerleaders & jocks will always breeze through school, having fun as they go, but most kids struggle and too many zone out...

The outside world they all go to when 12th grade ends, is not a very accommodating place.

[Nine]

12. $15,000 tuition

No, the families don't pay it themselves. But someone does. This is hardly a model that can be applied widely.

[Scuba]

13. This is great. Now, let's make our public schools the best in the world!

That doesn't mean privatizing them.

http://upload.democraticunderground.com/10023644172

[gopiscrap]

28. DING! DING! DING! We have a winner!!!!

[bobclark86]

14. So... what happens to the C students at the local high school?

Oh, they don't get in? They're left to squalor in their shithole school where they'll never get into college and have a choice between Walmart and dealing?

[Recursion]

15. Should those C students drag Ricardo and Roberto down with them?

At some point you have to save the people you can.

[bobclark86]

16. Yeah, those horrible C students... who do they think they are bothering with an education...

just cut them loose, huh?

[kcr]

17. Good for them.

I think you're inviting the comments you are because of the bit about 100% college acceptance rate. The dismantling of our public education system by the right is particularly hitting poor communities hard. Schools like the one you're posting about aren't doing those communities any favors.

[SoCalDem]

23. A dear friend once loved this phrase

"Some people would gripe if you shit in their lunchbox".



These days at DU, any story about something good about ANY school sends out vibes to a certain crowd who must have a steno pad by their keyboard with talking points to negative-ize (new word..new word) any positive.

This story appealed to me because these young men could just as easily be on the nightly news, having been arrested, but they are instead, starting down a path to success.

I guess if a few poor kids succeed here and there, it's a slap in the face to everyone else who did not get that chance..

oh well.. Olive Garden, public breastfeeding, corn flake chicken..schooling ..it's all part of the new DU..

[kcr]

24. LIke I said

It was the 100% college acceptance part. It struck a chord with me, too.

"I guess if a few poor kids succeed here and there, it's a slap in the face to everyone else who did not get that chance.."

Yeah, I guess it's easy not to feel the sting when you've never been there, huh? I think when you gush about graduation rates like that, without thinking about how that happens, and people point out to you exactly how that happens? Maybe you should listen.

[SoCalDem]

25. Copied the headline of an article.. did not write the headline

..

on to my laundry now

[kcr]

26. Oh, I see.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I can't tell you how many times that GD rule got the best of me, and I've posted a headline that didn't really convey my meaning well because you know, it's the headline. Don't you hate that? Stupid GD rule.

[gopiscrap]

29. Yup I agree with you!!!

[duffyduff]

18. Big deal. It's a private school. They cherry pick who attends it.

Private schools are overrated; people are under some crazy belief that because they pay extra for something, it must be better.

Those schools are NOT better. Few teachers last long in those schools because the pay and benefits are so terrible. Most wind up taking public school jobs.

[gopiscrap]

30. Yup when my wife worked in a private school the admin treated her like shit

and paid like shit. They were always trying to get free work out of her. Also the parents, because it cost a good sum to send your kid there, treated her like a servant. In addition, those little fuckers could do no wrong in their parents eyes, so they went around acting like they were untouchable. My wife went from being a flat salary of 23,800.00 to a salary of 49,200.00 in addition every time she had to some thing extra she was paid for it.