Len Lipkin

School Choice in Philadelphia: Myth to Reality

It bothers me when folks complain about a problem without offering a solution, or at least a direction for a solution. Last month, I was guilty. I wrote "School Choice in Philadelphia is a Myth" Well, how could we turn the myth into reality?

PSS Community

Going Where the Road Takes You

'Choice' is a term that makes my blood boil when you have a special son like mine, cause it only existent to the extent you want to play roulette with your child's education. I played.

Len Lipkin

Unfortunate School Choice Timing

The complexity of timing for families choosing a school means making a school choice without knowing all of your options. For parents choosing between public schools in your catchment or via the VTP, charter, and/or private school options, it is a real problem.

PSS

Choice Cuts Week Ending 2011-01-28: No Snow Stories, We Promise

News items of interest to parents this week, from all over the media.

Len Lipkin

Focus Shift…Temporarily

Up until now I have focused my school search almost entirely on trying to decide what the best school for my kids would be.  Since I determined that private school might be a viable option, however, things have changed.  Yes, school selection is still the end goal obviously, but now my attention, by necessity, turns to private school applications and entering ourselves in the charter school lotteries. ...

Len Lipkin

Crunch Time

Though I visited a lot of schools last year, there are about 10 schools that I would like to visit this year for the first time, and several that I visited last year that I want to visit again. I wish that I had done more last year, but I can't do anything about that.

Len Lipkin

Activists Like Me

Thomas Friedman, columnist for the New York Times wrote in a recent column entitled Steal This Movie, Too that “there is a movement stirring in this country around education.”  I like to think that I have not only noticed this movement myself (in South Philly and West Philly, specifically) and, in the creation of this blog, been an active participant.  I also wrote a story about an upcoming...

Len Lipkin

When School Choice is Not About School

I have written about the factors involved in my family’s school choice extensively.  Still, trying to figure out the best school is a decision that doesn’t take place in a vacuum of school characteristics.  A slew of other factors have to be accounted for, especially when adding a potential relocation into the mix.  Financial considerations, commute length, neighborhoods, buying/selling/renting a...