HISD moves to open up an all-boys school modeled after Chicago’s Urban Prep Academy.
From the article:
We have to do something to save our young men of today," HISD Trustee Carol Mims Galloway said, noting that too many already have been in jail or are on track to land there.
Hard to argue with that. Still, there’s no denying that schools like this bleed off the academic leaders, leaving other schools with the hardest-to-educate students. Given the track record of those public schools in most big cities, where more than half of black males never even graduate, it’s hard to argue with the triage strategy.
Still, you have to keep that downside in mind. I see that factor playing out in Washington DC, where a third of the students attend charters. That left Michelle Rhee with an especially tough task.