Len Lipkin

Charters Blemished

The Inquirer reported today on corruption cases at Philadelphia Academy Charter School among others.  Apparently, the limited oversight at charter schools has resulted in some abuses by some individual schools.  None of the schools listed in the article are ones that I am researching for my kids, but it does make you think about charters as a...

Len Lipkin

Paradox of School Choice

I have been contributing to this blog for almost a month now.  From the beginning, I was reminded of a podcast that I heard almost a year ago.  The podcast was an episode of WNYC’s Radio Lab.  Radio Lab is a fantastic program that asks very interesting philosophical questions about life (the afterlife, morality, sleep, stress, time, etc.)  and tries to present a scientific viewpoint on the...

Len Lipkin

K Through What?

I am having trouble getting my head around the organizational breakdown of elementary schools in the School District of Philadelphia.  Some are K-5, others K-8.  For students who go to a K-5 school, are they expected to go to a private school, a “Special Admission” a.k.a. ‘magnet’ school like Masterman (starts at grade 5), or transfer to an elementary school that offers up to 8th...

Len Lipkin

Philly Area School Statistics

Torture numbers, and they’ll confess to anything. –Gregg Easterbrook 98% of all statistics are made up.  –Unknown Statistics are like bikinis.  What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. –Aaron Levenstein Statistics can be made to prove anything – even the truth.– Unknown In case those quotes were too subtle, let me state it plainly.  I...

Len Lipkin

Regarding Henry

I just posted a couple of messages to local email lists and posted a few tweets on the new Twitter account for this blog, and as a result I have gotten a spike in traffic and feedback on and offline.  I hope that I can write insightful enough posts to sustain the interest.  Here’s some things that I have learned thus far. I reiterated the content of my first post into a blog mission statement.  A...

Len Lipkin

Fairmount's Babyhood & Parent's Forum

Just found another great blog for Philly parents.  This one is centered around the Fairmount neighborhood.  Take a look at Welcome to the Fairmount’s Babyhood.  Their home page includes a map of the ‘hood with markers for the neighborhood schools.  They also clued me in on another neighborhood resource, the Fairmount Parent’s Forum.  Pretty...

Len Lipkin

Join the Mount Airy Parents Network

I am always into sharing my own experience with others and learning from others experiences–hence this blog.  If you agree and live in Northwest Philly, I suggest joining the Mt. Airy Parent’s Network.  From their Website: The Mt. Airy Parents Network (MAPN) is an organization of approximately 350 families in the Northwest neighborhoods of Philadelphia. In addition to notifying members of...

Len Lipkin

Other Philly School Parents?

Are there other Philly parent bloggers out there documenting their experience with the school system?  The only one I have found so far is This Year at Jenks.  Know of others?  Let me know.