Award for Ivy Prep shows just how wrong Lowery and others crying ‘resegregation’ are
Dear Rev. Joseph Lowery: Before you agree to record another advertisement decrying state charter schools as a maneuver to reinstate segregation in Georgia, perhaps you should check out the news about Ivy Preparatory Academy.
Ivy Prep, to which the Gwinnett County school board refused to grant a charter, and which as a result had to resort to the state’s chartering process, was named one the state’s highest-performers among schools with a high proportion of low-income students.
This news ought to be of interest to Gwinnett voters, given that their school system has fought tooth and nail to prevent the state from having a process to approve charter schools in general, and Ivy Prep specifically. The Gwinnett system was one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that resulted in the old State Charter Schools Commission’s being declared unconstitutional, and about 20 percent of all the money donated to the anti-amendment campaign has come from administrators in the Gwinnett system alone.
But this news may be of particular interest to Lowery because Ivy Prep’s student body includes a much higher percentage of black students than the schools around it: 75 percent, compared to 46 percent for its nearest peer (Peachtree Elementary School) and 30 percent for Gwinnett’s entire public school system. (These and other data in this post come from the most recent Adequate Yearly Progress Reports available, those for the 2010-11 school year, on the Georgia Department of Education’s website.)
It may also be of interest to Lowery because black students at Ivy Prep were more likely to exceed state standards for both math (43 percent) and English/language arts (48 percent) than their peers at Peachtree Elementary (42 percent and 34 percent, respectively) or Gwinnett as a whole (36 percent and 38 percent, respectively).
And Ivy Prep’s black students were much less likely not to meet standards: just 6 percent on math and 2 percent on English/language arts, compared to 13 percent and 7 percent for Peachtree Elementary; and 12 percent and 5 percent for Gwinnett as a whole.
These students and their parents have chosen to attend Ivy Prep, rather than the traditional public schools Lowery defends as being better for black students — on what grounds and evidence, no one knows.
– By Kyle Wingfield
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
209 comments Add your comment
CharterStarter, Too
November 1st, 2012
5:36 pm
Ummm….JDW…. look at the poverty rates of FAMILIES in those areas (census data). The poverty rate of the area is not nearly as high.
The school system has long been segregated by black, minorities and they are failing these children and perpetuating the poverty cycle. What have they done to integrate?
Pataula still serves about 60% FRL and their minority students are outperforming their district minority peers, which means they serve a lot of poor white and poor black kids. And as I state, they are closer to representing these communities than any of these school districts.
You are basically saying that the white parents who paid taxes into the public education system should not be able to access quality education…and you are saying that the local school districts down there, who have been on a deseg order for 30 years, should have no responsibility for integrating their systems AND no accountability for failing the population they serve. Let’s continue to throw millions and millions to failing systems who churn our uneducated kids (those that graduate) that continue to delete the state’s economy due to dependence on social programs.
And BTW, we have several urban charters with nearly 100% minority and 80-90% FRL waaaaaayyyy out performing these southwest districts.
Hillbilly D
November 1st, 2012
8:11 pm
I’m against Amendment 1 but I think the re-segregation argument is pretty weak.
CharterStarter, Too
November 1st, 2012
8:57 pm
@ Hillybilly D –
How come? Maybe I can share some facts that might help you see how weak their other arguments are, too. Some are even worse than the de-segregation one. ;D
dixiedemons
November 1st, 2012
9:32 pm
Wow Kyle !!!!!!!
your sudden and unexpected concern for the welfare of black children certainly .overshadows
Rev. Lowery’s lifelong commitment to them… Mitt Romney should make you his press secretary spokesman…….No training would be needed. ………
DeKalbParent
November 1st, 2012
9:50 pm
I voted YES! My children go to Ivy Prep Kirkwood and I am seeing great results in their second year. Posters can spout all the rhetoric they want, but this is from a single parent that is underwater in her mortgage and can’t move. I need options! What I now have is working well, and with less funding than my “neighborhood school” that is failing. I will do WHATEVER it takes to get my children to Ivy Prep. Our Administration actively engages parents and has an extended school day and Saturday Academy. My children are engaged and have a positive attitude now. I have access by telephone and email to school administrators that actually respond to my questions. I no longer feel guilty about dropping my children off at a school that “doesn’t care”. If you are unhappy with your children’s’ educational options, Vote YES…there are options for you too!
tinkerbellsmama
November 1st, 2012
11:37 pm
I’m another Ivy Prep parent and I wanted to answer the question about what we’re doing differently…a lot of things, but the most innovative in my opinion is the focus on language arts and math. The girls have two classes of each, which makes for a longer school day, but they are able to break math into operations and analytics. That way the girls get a strong foundation in the basics to help them build the higher order skills. Same in language arts. They focus on writing, structure and reading comprehension. The girls have a longer day. They have Saturday Academies for girls who need extra help, homework support sessions ever afternoon for girls who need help…they really focus on intervention and keeping them on the right track from day one. Teachers are very proactive with following up with parents about grades. The kids have goals and they’re regularly evaluated. All the high school girls are very focused on assessing the colleges that will be best for them. There are many culture differences that add to the disciplined focus of most of our girls too.
Phil Lunney
November 1st, 2012
11:59 pm
Kyle-
Did you ever do the article to follow the money to see wh is paying for all these ads?
Or isn’t that news? Are you on their payroll too?
Tackling some more false claims about the charter school amendment | Kyle Wingfield
November 2nd, 2012
1:11 pm
[...] The Rev. Joseph Lowery isn’t the only person making dubious claims about the charter schools amendment. I wrote about some other misleading and/or false claims in my [...]
Amendment One: A chance at a choice for students who today have neither | Kyle Wingfield
November 5th, 2012
5:01 am
[...] a sense, the Rev. Joseph Lowery was right when he recently warned against modern-day school segregation. What he missed is that we’ve already segregated our [...]