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March 6, 2012

Star Kids for the Children Left Behind

Justin Katz

From a new interview/profile on the Ocean State Current; for the complete article visit the page:

Rhode Island is "leaving behind a remarkably high proportion of the population," Beacon Hill Institute Senior Economist Jonathan Haughton told the audience at a February 28 conference hosted by the RI Public Expenditures Council. "But those who make it through high school get on to college and do rather nicely."

Over the past decade, addressing the problems of the American education system has become the subject of national political debates and high-profile documentaries. During that same period, the Star Kids Program, based in Middletown, RI, has quietly gone about building a 100% graduation rate for the disadvantaged children of parents dealing with drug addiction and incarceration.

Star Kids works with private schools, charitable organizations, and individual sponsors to offer students guaranteed financial and community support from the time they enroll through their college application process. “We’ll never displace any child,” says Executive Director Kathleen Burke. The result has been that not a single one of the 148 students who have begun with the program and stayed within its geographical area has dropped out. That includes 12 who have graduated, all going on college (one trade school), with the most prestigious being Notre Dame and Georgetown.

The program began in 2000, when Dr. Timothy Flanigan --- head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Miriam Hospital, Rhode Island Hospital, and Brown University --- applied his experience cofounding Providence’s Rhode Islanders Sponsoring Education (RISE) program to the East Bay, from Newport to New Bedford. Often at the suggestion of social workers, families approach Star Kids, and the organization assists them through the process of choosing and applying to private, mostly religious schools.

In the plainest terms, what Star Kids offers to parents and other legal guardians is a choice of schools and a way out of a detrimental environment. In that regard, it can be seen as part of a larger trend, a movement, in education. According to Stephen Nardelli, Executive Director of the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools, the latest round of lotteries for the state’s 15 public charter schools, held last week, sifted through 6,521 applications to fill 697 openings. “It’s clear that there is a demand for public school choice,” he says.

“The real root is one child,” says Burke. “If you can make one child’s life better, if you can break into one generation of a family that’s been ’round and ’round with issues, then that’s going to help the educational system as a whole.”

Comments
According to Stephen Nardelli, Executive Director of the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools, the latest round of lotteries for the state’s 15 public charter schools, held last week, sifted through 6,521 applications to fill 697 openings. “It’s clear that there is a demand for public school choice,” he says.

All those families are just brainwashed, elitist, racist, corporatist pawns. Don't they know that charter schools aren't any better? Or even if they are, it's not fair to the other children left behind and the teachers who deserve strong unions. They should have their choices taken away so that they don't make the wrong ones. We'll tell them where their kid can go to school.

Posted by: Dan at March 6, 2012 8:54 AM

Yep...it's all about the kids. Can you name a more hypocritical organization than the RI Teacher's Union?

Posted by: Mike678 at March 6, 2012 10:12 AM

Dan

Check out Gail Ciampa's review of Pane e Vino restaurant in the Providence Journal.

Posted by: Phil at March 6, 2012 8:52 PM

Phil - Perhaps you could summarize it for me. I'm not going to pay subscriber fees to read the e-edition of a dying paper about a dying city.

Posted by: Dan at March 6, 2012 8:59 PM

I love Hope Island oysters they are delicious and fresh. You should try some Danny Boy. You seem to have all the time in the world to post dozens of times per day, so sit back relax with an oyster or two. your partner may appreciate it as much as you.

Posted by: dude at March 7, 2012 2:33 PM

dude

The more the merrier. Try having them with a Muscadet.

Posted by: Phil at March 7, 2012 9:09 PM

Really? Fake accounts now, Phil?

Posted by: Dan at March 8, 2012 8:40 AM

Yes Dan it is true is a product called hope island oysters does indeed exist and if you knew anything about sea food you would know what top quality product they are. Dan if you are at work shouldnt you be doing something besides posting on multiple sites all day long. Like i said try the oyster your partner will thank you mucho.

Posted by: dude at March 8, 2012 12:00 PM

So we're all allowed multiple usernames. Awesome.

Posted by: Teachers Union Phil at March 8, 2012 1:15 PM

Dan... Dan Dan Dan... You already use multiple screen names... RightToWork comes to mind. You silly goose.

Posted by: David S at March 8, 2012 7:23 PM

David - I'm sure you're just being a jerk, as usual, but that's on a separate blog, so it's a completely different situation. I've never pretended to be two different users on the same blog.

Posted by: Dan at March 8, 2012 8:56 PM