![]() However, the piece includes little about why the schools are so popular or gives any context for the handful of critical anecdotes that accompany the piece.Īre retesting and limiting bathroom breaks not done at other schools? Are substantial numbers of parents exiting the school, compared to other charters or community mobility? Is staff turnover particularly high compared to other charters or schools in the area? On Twitter, Kamenetz defended the balance of the piece in traditional journalistic terms: “We quoted a happy parent and an unhappy ex parent.” I wrote about it several years ago. The Hechinger Report published a piece last year. Rocketship’s early adoption of a tech-heavy model - and later realization that it would have to change its model and lower its expansion goals - has been the subject of much attention in the past. “The long hours, high pressure, tight discipline and ritualistic classroom protocols aren’t out of line with those seen at other charter school networks, like KIPP and Success Academy, that also have high test scores and draw communities of fiercely loyal parents … But these practices, at charter schools across the country, have also come under increasing scrutiny.” The original piece, written by head blogger Anya Kamenetz, describes the 13-school Rocketship network as “among the most nationally applauded charter networks, hailed as an innovative model of blended learning.”īut the piece mainly relies on reports of problematic practices at the network - and suggests that these practices are common to other charter networks as well: “To qualify as ‘in depth’ don’t you have to compare Rocketship charters to neighborhood schools?” asked longtime journalist and Rocketship author Richard Whitmire. Where the 3,800-word story may be lacking, however, is in breadth and balance.Ĭritics (most of them Rocketship supporters) suggest that the NPR piece may not have painted a fair and complete picture of the network, focusing almost exclusively on the challenges it’s experienced without much context. Indeed, Kamenetz sheds new light on some of the internal practices of the charter network that have not previously been reported. The 6/24 story ( High Test Scores - But At What Cost?) has been admired and defended by many, including Audrey Watters, who Tweeted: “Great reporting by anya1anya on Rocketship’s chain of techcentric charter schools.” Commentary about NPR’s recent coverage of Rocketship charter schools continued unabated over the weekend on Twitter and Facebook.
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