Len Lipkin

Friends Schools Mystique Part 1: An Outsider’s Perspective

If you are from Philadelphia, you probably know about the Quaker-backed Friends Schools.  Depending on how widely you define the Philadelphia area, there are about 30 Friends Schools here, I believe among the highest concentration of Quaker schools in the world.  Growing up, the closest one to my house was Moorestown Friends. Though I did not attend, I did take music lessons from one of their teachers...

Len Lipkin

Counting on Masterman? Think Again.

The Inquirer reported yesterday that Philadelphia School District Superintendent Arlene Ackerman is proposing radical changes to the way that special admission schools, like Masterman and Central, admit students.  The Inquirer reported, The plan would take admissions decisions away from principals and their committees, and select students for magnet and citywide-admissions schools centrally, using a...