Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America by Jay Mathews

Mar 23, 2009 Corey rated it 5 of 5 stars

this book was absolutely amazing. Seeing as how i am a kipp student and i know how the system works this book was a top notch book. I personally have met Mr.Feinberg and Mr. Levin and the story of how they got started is awesome. what they are doing makes so much of a difference and shows how America is the greatest country on earth.

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Jan 12, 2009 Stuart Nachbar rated it 4 of 5 stars

Work Hard.Be Nice is an account of the founding of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), a nationwide network of charter schools that was first founded in Houston, and first expanded in the Bronx, New York. The author, Washington Post education writer Jay Mathews, has written a largely supportive account of KIPP's progress; he writes about the founders, David Levin and Michael Feinberg with respect and awe.

Work Hard. Be Nice , combined with a personal visit to a non-KIPP charter school earlier...more Work Hard.Be Nice is an account of the founding of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), a nationwide network of charter schools that was first founded in Houston, and first expanded in the Bronx, New York. The author, Washington Post education writer Jay Mathews, has written a largely supportive account of KIPP's progress; he writes about the founders, David Levin and Michael Feinberg with respect and awe.

Work Hard. Be Nice , combined with a personal visit to a non-KIPP charter school earlier this spring, raises thoughts as to who can succeed within a charter school environment. Charter schools are publicly supported, however they receive less funding per-pupil than more traditional public schools. The school days are longer; presumably students from disadvantaged backgrounds need more instructional time and teacher-student contact. And the teachers are presumably given more latitude in their teaching approach, including support materials, in exchange for giving up the protection of tenure. Charter school administrators are caught in the middle. Teacher's unions oppose them because money and staffing are taken away from traditional schools. Private and parochial school administrators claim that public support of charter schools is taking students, and money, away from them too.

But what I learned most from this book is that it takes a special type of teacher to succeed in this environment. While there may be many teachers who would like the freedom to manage their classrooms as they want, they might not have the high energy level or the human relations skills required to work with elementary school students who have never been pushed to learn. KIPP and similar charter school networks rely on Teach for America as a pipeline to find such teachers; they prefer an experienced hand to someone who has never worked in an urban public school.

The book states that the founders sought assistance from highly accomplished teachers such as Rafe Esquith, who introduces elementary school students to Shakespeare. Teachers such as Esquith not only have energy in the classroom; they also have the patience (or is it impatience?) to deal with a public school system bureaucracy, which does not always want them to succeed at the expense of the rest of the system. However, some of teachers do get tired of teaching. Levin and Feinberg received the guidance of one such teacher, Harriet Ball, who later decides to become an educational consultant.

In the end the success of networks such as KIPP depends on the quality of teachers they recruit. I hope that Mathews or another education report will one day write a story about the competition for such teachers as charter school networks grow in popularity and size, as well as the futures of these unique individuals. Some might go on to start new schools, as Levin and Feinberg did, but others might enter new fields. The school system I attended K through 12th grade had an enterprising theatre arts coordinator and teacher who left teaching to become a movie producer. I'd love to know what makes these unique individuals stay, and what makes them leave. Any superintendent of schools or school board member would want to know the same.(less)

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Jul 25, 2012 Kristin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: be-the-change, education

This is an engaging and inspiring story of the founding and expansion of KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) schools. Founders Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin prove that low-income kids of color can achieve at high levels with really talented, interactive, and dedicated teachers who believe in their students and offer intensive support. KIPP teachers visit students at home, let kids call them with homework questions, and support former students in high school. Most importantly they are dedicated to c...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Paul Signorelli rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: education, learning, creativity

Jay Mathews, as a long-time education writer for the Washington Post, displays an enviable ability to produce a real page-turner on a topic far from the top of the average person's reading list. The narrative flow is far more engaging than much of what we find in contemporary novels; the emotional engagement he fosters has us rooting for his protagonists and feeling the occasional personal losses he documents. As he chronicles the story of Mike Feinberg and Dave Levinâ��s journey from being two...more

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Jun 07, 2011 di rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: education

My rating has to do with the writing, not the KIPP idea, although I will address that later. Mathews was all over the place, & there were chapters stuck in places that made no sense. He starts the book in the middle of Feinberg's class in 1995. Jump back to 1992, when Feinberg & Levin first met. No big deal. The transition was choppy, but it made sense. From there it mostly follows the narrative of two guys learning to teach, getting better, starting out on their own...then. 43 pages in,...more My rating has to do with the writing, not the KIPP idea, although I will address that later. Mathews was all over the place, & there were chapters stuck in places that made no sense. He starts the book in the middle of Feinberg's class in 1995. Jump back to 1992, when Feinberg & Levin first met. No big deal. The transition was choppy, but it made sense. From there it mostly follows the narrative of two guys learning to teach, getting better, starting out on their own...then. 43 pages in, we interrupt this program for a chapter on Feinberg's upbringing. Odd. Then one on Levin. Then, back to the story. 100 pages later Mathews does it again. In the middle of the story he interrupts with a chapter about Ball falling in love & getting married & losing her husband in a tragic death. All this happened several years before she ever met Levin, & had nothing whatsover to do with the KIPP story. Besides these weird chapters, the narrative was completely lost in the back & forth. Not only do you have to keep two sites clear, but he jumps from 1995 to 2005 & every year in between. I got sick of trying to keep all the vignettes in context. It was annoying.

Now for the KIPP idea itself (which I would rate significantly higher, but not a 5.) When I first heard of KIPP I knew Rafe Esquith HAD to be somewhat connected to it. The longer school days, the slogans, the belief that inner city children can achieve...so when I found this book about the KIPP story I had to read it. It turns out Esquith was one of two teachers that inspired two guys doing their Teach for America stints, and they created KIPP. I think there's a lot of merit for KIPP, & I look forward to actually visiting a school one of these days, but my reaction is somewhat mixed, & I think they failed to pick up on the aspects of Esquith's teaching that I was most impressed by.

Esquith has accomplished a great deal with his 5th graders. Unabridged Shakespeare shows every year, trips around the world, students in Ivy League schools, & high test scores. But what I like most about him is his approach to discipline & classroom management. He uses Kohlberg's Levels of Morality, & challenges his kids to be level six thinkers. (Level six thinkers have a pesonal code of behavior & follow it.) He expends tremendous amounts of energy teaching his children the meaning of character. Best of all, he teaches by example. He tries his best to walk the walk, (& tells about all the bumps in the road when he messed up) in spite of the crazy education bureaucracy he has to deal with. It is possibly the most important thing he teaches.

Feinberg & Levin picked up on all the outward aspects of Esquith's teaching: the trips, the glossy test results, the long school days, the lessons on decorum. But they come up short on Kohlberg's Levels of Morality. In short, they are level one thinkers, turning out level one thinker students. It's hard to teach students integrity & then teach them to lie & steal in order to get a better deal at a motel. They use intimidation & shame to bring their kids in line. They do not treat others well & make total nuisances of themselves, throwing tantrums & screaming at supervisors. Throwing chairs--& breaking a window--when students come up short on assignments!? (I find it intriging that they use Esquith's "Be nice. Work hard." mantra with their students when they fail to do so themselves.) Yes, they work hard (& I do give them credit), but niceness? Not by a long shot. I do believe that working in the system has its annoyances, but again, I credit Esquith for rising to that higher level. Mostly. (He was also known as a nuisance among colleagues, but I don't think he ever threw any chairs or screamed. I can't imagine he ever told his kids to lie or steal during one of his DC trips. He mostly just raises difficult questions at faculty meetings & fails to conform to ridiculous expectations.)

The other bone I have to pick is that Levin & Feinberg concentrated on hiring TFA teachers rather than those of us with traditional teacher preparation backgrounds, as if we were inferior. Feinberg & Levin would have gone nowhere if it hadn't have been for Esquith & Ball, two teachers with traditional backgrounds. TFA has been criticized for putting ill-prepared teachers in front of the classroom, at poor kids' expense. I didn't see anything in this book that made me think otherwise. Feinberg & Levin themselves were poor teachers their first years. I found myself getting angry over the chapter when they fired the 6th grade math teacher after 3 months. They admitted he wasn't bad, he just hadn't found his rhythm. I guess they must have forgotten their own start! It's not that I object to firing bad teachers. And I understand the pressure they are under at KIPP to achieve high scores, but I just found their actions supremely hypocritical.

The chapter on KIPP critics was glossed over. It's a big deal that nearly half of the students drop out of the program before they finish eighth grade, the largest block leave after only one year in the program. (Mathews does not draw this conclusion.) Esquith comments in his book that he was aware of some teachers who he had mentored who are starting schools that are nothing short of Dickensian workhouses. I am pretty sure he was talking about KIPP, although I can't be sure. They use the trips, the fast-food, & the perks as rewards for hard work. But in Esquith's classroom it is the hard work that the kids become addicted to. Esquith is focused on the PROCESS, not the PRODUCT. At KIPP, I get the feeling that it's the other way around. After reading Esquith's books I found myself wishing I could be in his class, or at least teach next door! After reading this book I am scared to teach at KIPP. Way too much pressure! The part where Dippel breaks down after her kids' test scores come in...well, that says volumes to me. If there is that much pressure on the teachers, you have to know there is that much pressure on the kids too.

So these are my criticisms of KIPP after reading this book, but I'd still give it high marks. The jury is still out. KIPP seems to be doing good work out there, & it's still young. (less)

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Apr 29, 2010 Joanne rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people interested in alternative models of public schooling

Shelves: non-fiction

I've been interested in the KIPP (Knowledge is Power) schools as an alternative model, since they appear occasionally in the educational media. This book gives a great history of how two former Teach for America teachers developed a national organization of schools -- lots and lots of time invested, lots of challenges from bureaucracy, lots of unexpected bumps. It took a lot of energy and a lot of commitment, and it looks like it works really well for some kids. The critics jump on that "some ki...more

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Feb 09, 2010 Rick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, education

The accomplishments of Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg may fall a mite short of the full superlative of the subtitle but they are nonetheless inspiring and their network of schools promising exemplars of educational reform. Mathews crafts a speedy narrative with flashbacks and sidebars and personal touches to describe the two Teach for America prodigies, one from New York’s East Side and the other from Chicago, who are transplanted to Houston, where they come under the influence of Harriet Ball and...more

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Jan 16, 2010 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Detailed account of the co-founders of the KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) charter school franchise, which has mushroomed nationally incl. in my city (DC Key academy). I read the author regularly in Wx Post and online, so a lot of the slant he puts on it (all kids can learn if challenged sufficiently in school; administrators are mostly obfuscatory dopes who set out to squelch innovative teaching) was very familiar.

Longer on anecdotes, including on the love lives of the protagonists, than on c...more

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Aug 26, 2009 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Should school be organized more for the convenience of teachers and administrators or for the benefit of students? The answer might seem obvious -- for the students, of course! But one of the odd effects reading Jay Mathews' book about KIPP had was to prompt me to wonder, just a little in a back corner of my mind, just how far a "students first, students always" approach can unhesitatingly be endorsed. Yes, for both students and teachers, hard work and persistence in the face of difficulty have...more

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Feb 22, 2013 David Glad rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: child-development, biographies, exploring-society, education, achieve, civilization

Aside from a great history of an excellent program (Knowledge Is Power Program -- KIPP), it also has nice life lessons with -- as would especially be true of an educational bureaucracy -- power of persistence to push for results. Co-founders Mike Feinberg and David Levin really are the dynamic duo.

One of the early observations that stuck out was "Never settle for a bad product or service without complaint," where one of the co-founders instructed his students to begin calling up numbers of admin...more Aside from a great history of an excellent program (Knowledge Is Power Program -- KIPP), it also has nice life lessons with -- as would especially be true of an educational bureaucracy -- power of persistence to push for results. Co-founders Mike Feinberg and David Levin really are the dynamic duo.

One of the early observations that stuck out was "Never settle for a bad product or service without complaint," where one of the co-founders instructed his students to begin calling up numbers of administrative officials to push to find out where their school for the next year would be. (It was unclear if it would be continued at the time. The principal thought they were calling from a centralized location rather than going home and calling.) Served as a lesson in citizen democracy/advocacy by having the children demand it.

Like anyone looking to buck the dismal trend of education once they conceived the idea for KIPP (while they were still taking part in the Teach for America program), Feinberg and Levin's methods were a bit unconventional. Their early students (who often did not have cable or possibly even home phones) would call the teachers from payphones (calling collect) for homework help outside of school. They would come to the parents' houses, which was hugely frowned upon by the school system and yet the parents appreciated the face-to-face contact, especially the Hispanic ones who had a cultural preference for it. They were mentored by a Houston teacher Harriett Ball, who had superior abilities in engaging a class and appreciated young teachers looking to improve versus most teachers she was surrounded by who had no particular desire to get better but still were annoyed when she was named teacher of the year each year. (Lesson apparently being those who are more experienced and knowledgeable are usually willing to help.)

KIPP was unique in that it tried to be a full school year with 50 weeks of school, including summer sessions. During the regular school year it would run from 7:15 until after 5:00 in the late afternoon. Some parents signed their children up because it essentially was free daycare for them but with the added results. Employed song/rhythm and really engaged the 9 and 10-year-olds to make learning fun. (Among hiccups at start of a new year were getting students from other schools in to the habit of turning in homework.) Some of the teachers earned more than regular teachers, but they also worked a LOT more hours. The pitch to students was they would get McDonald's or Wendy's (I would like to believe the food was healthier back in the 90s.. probably not) for lunch on Saturdays (4 hour weekend session), while also having their breakfast and I think another snack provided for them throughout the day. If they were well-behaved and performed excellently, they would get to go on a class trip. (One was to DC where Feinberg spotted a busy Justice Breyer and managed to get him to say hi to the students for a brief moment, but he decided to let his meeting wait after finding the students exceptional after one asked him whether he ruled in Miranda v. Arizona -- before his time -- and asked a follow-up on how he would have voted. Another was a road trip to the Grand Canyon where the students were amazed when they were driving in the desert, which the teachers realized next time they should wake up early to fully see all of their students' reactions.) One of the early mishaps with this program was when they spent $1000+ of their own money to take the students to AstroWorld but due to scarce resources decided to rent a U-Haul truck to bring the students in which might have offended Hispanics in the neighborhood due to unintentionally perpetuating a stereotype. (Small consolation the teacher sat in the back with the students.) Also worth noting that a super-majority of the students performed excellently on standardized tests when previously teachers would try to get them exempted to prevent the school from looking bad or losing some funding.

They saw problems as usually being opportunities.. hard-fought opportunities, where they had to press the principal of their first school, the school superintendent and various other officials to try to get the class space needed for their program. (Including one year being forced into a rather small room for 50+ students after their intended classroom was stolen from beneath them by an art teacher who had a good-sized enrollment and due to some fire code rule that permitted easier exit from the school in event of emergency for the younger children. Another episode they were stuck getting a school 45 minutes away from the parents' homes, even if the benefit was it was in an affluent white neighborhood without the drugs or gang problems of being next to the inner-city high school as was originally intended.. initial pitch was the students would be in class when the high school students arrived and left so as to prevent any interaction among them.) Some schools did not explicitly discourage "rogue" behavior such as teaching students outdoors or in the school library when there was a lack of school space provided due to the schools often being consumed by more urgent matters.

As for the expansion to the South Bronx, the mostly black residents were cynical of authority figures versus the Houston Hispanics who perceived themselves as upwardly mobile and welcomed chances to provide the best opportunities for their children. The book did chronicle the nice evolution of the program and being somewhat aggressive in getting the students. (As they offered more grade levels, they would even get siblings of children to join the program.)

When some students initially moved on but struggled at the new school not being as powerful an experience, Levin and Feinberg would try to give encouragement on how they needed to take charge of their own education. (Even as they realized it a bit of a cop-out for a struggling student.)

Since everyone's a critic: Among criticisms KIPP would face would be selection bias for the students they admitted. ("Not enough successful blacks", siphoning money from the cattle err children of public schools despite how KIPP receives less funding per pupil.) Barely any union presence. (One of their boards did have a labor union leader who thought the KIPP model was excellent.)

As for added notes on parents' perceptions, a lot of them thought of KIPP as being like inner-city Catholic schools with warm but strict teachers. Every so often in subsequent years, some parents would pull their children out of KIPP and claim they would be stellar students back at regular schools. (Author analogized it to American Idol where friends and relatives of failed contestants had always been told how great they are. Meanwhile, they were screened out at the preliminary stage.)

So overall an excellent book on battles within the past two decades to improve inner-city education, even if this clearly is an ongoing process even if they sure have a lot of KIPP schools these days. Relatively quick read on my part and even this review -- as of this writing -- was somewhat hastily assembled from notes scribbled as I made my way through. I will refine it somewhat in the coming days.(less)

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Jul 24, 2009 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: learning

I always love to read about schools where kids do well. This is one such story.

It’s the story of the KIPP program that began in Houston in 1995, started by two committed Teach for America teachers.

Here’s a brutal fact: If poor children are going to learn at the same rate as affluent children, they need more school days. Ugh. That hits me where it hurts. This is a brutal fact teachers can’t bear. One of the perks of being a teacher is summers off. Summers kill poor children’s achievement. Eek....more

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Mar 18, 2009 Kirstin rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Washington Post’s Jay Matthews recently released a new book on KIPP charter schools called Work Hard, Be Nice: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America, It tells the story of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) which has grown from a classroom in Houston to a program of 66 public charter schools serving 17,000 children in 19 states and the District of Columbia. More than 90 percent of KIPP students are children of color and 80 percent are low income. Students...more The Washington Post’s Jay Matthews recently released a new book on KIPP charter schools called Work Hard, Be Nice: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America, It tells the story of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) which has grown from a classroom in Houston to a program of 66 public charter schools serving 17,000 children in 19 states and the District of Columbia. More than 90 percent of KIPP students are children of color and 80 percent are low income. Students who have completed three years of KIPP’s four-year middle school program demonstrate dramatic achievement gains in math and reading. Eighty percent of KIPP alumni from KIPP’s first schools have now gone on to college, compared to less than 70% of students across the nation, and less than 60% of Hispanic and African American students.

How does KIPP accomplish this? Longer school days, school on Saturday and in the summer, a rigorous curriculum, emphasis on teaching the behaviors of discipline and respect, high parent and family involvement, and recruitment and retention of dedicated teachers who must be available to answer student homework questions at all hours (and quick transition out of the classroom for those teachers who don’t raise student achievement).

Matthew’s style is journalistic with no references or bibliography, and he follows the personal journey of the schools’ founders, Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, in parallel to that of KIPP. Most of the book’s evidence is anecdotal, though a few chapters are dedicated to KIPP skeptics and outside evaluations from groups like SRI International and Mathematica.

The book has gained momentum. Bill Gates recently provided a copy for all attendees at the TED talks, where he outlined his take on the biggest challenges facing the world and the United States today: infectious disease and public education. Gates suggested that schools like KIPP and the teachers KIPP attracts are likely to be the key to solving our nation’s biggest education challenges. Malcolm Gadwell’s newest book The Outliers, devotes a chapter to KIPP schools as well. (less)

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May 08, 2013 Jeremy Scheller rated it 4 of 5 stars

A good story. Needed stronger editing. Could have benefitted from Pedagogy.

Things I liked:

* it was told as a story including successes and failures
* it was inspiring to think that hard work pays off (A bit American Dreamish, but oh well)

Things it lacked:
* A strong editor. It was jumpy chronologically and could have used some help straightening that out.
* It was a great story, but there isn't a strong evidence for why these schools are successful. If you were to try and make a road map based on t...more

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May 17, 2009 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Writers looking to introduce info in the right order, educators

Insane writing. Hemmingway said the writer must know everything about the fishing village, if that's where the story takes place, because anything he doesn't know will show like a hole. You don't have to say how they prepare the fish, what the size of the homes are, or the width of the roads. But what you write does not neglect. Mathews here really knows.

The first priority of good non-fiction is to relate the "what it's like." Mathews re-conjures the heart behind the effort that created KIPP. Th...more

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Jun 06, 2009 Donura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

RATING: 5 out of 5

An absolutely engaging, amazing “listen” about the formation and execution of a middle school design known as KIPP by two teachers driven by their thrill of seeing kids learn.

This is an inspiring story of two young men who find their mission in life early, and don’t waiver from it no matter how many obstacles are placed in front of them. As their story unfolds, you find yourself cheering for them at each triumph, and ready to jump in and help them fight off the naysayer who thr...more

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Mar 15, 2009 Ryan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was very interested to read the book since I'll be teaching at a KIPP school next year. I enjoyed the basic journalism aspect of the book that told the story of how these two guys, Levin and Feinberg, started the Knowledge is Power Program with a lot of hard work and will power. What I didn't really enjoy much was how the author adored the two guys--seriously in love with them. A serious man crush this man had. This book partly presents a factual account of how these guys started a very powerf...more

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Feb 09, 2009 Oliver rated it 4 of 5 stars

Writing is not the best, but I love the school. Made my first donation to the KIPP Foundation about 45 minutes after finishing.

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Dec 07, 2009 Tensy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

What's the recipe for educational excellence? First you get two inexperienced college graduates, send them to an inner-city school, have them observe an innovative teacher in action, and throw in a pinch of idealism, energy and enthusiasm and what you get is KIPP (knowledge is power program). Levin and Feinberg straight out of Yale and Penn decided to join the, then brand new, Teach for America corps. They met at the training sessions and found an immediate connection playing basketball. Soon th...more What's the recipe for educational excellence? First you get two inexperienced college graduates, send them to an inner-city school, have them observe an innovative teacher in action, and throw in a pinch of idealism, energy and enthusiasm and what you get is KIPP (knowledge is power program). Levin and Feinberg straight out of Yale and Penn decided to join the, then brand new, Teach for America corps. They met at the training sessions and found an immediate connection playing basketball. Soon they were thrown into a Houston inner city school to sink or swim. They survived that first year thanks to Ms. Ball, a wonderful teacher at their school, who took them under her wing and taught them her creative chants for learning math and reading. They soon came up with the idea of starting a charter school which would incorporate some of the ideas they had discussed in their first two years as teachers, mainly (1) high expectations, (2) choice and commitment, (3) more school time, including longer days and Saturdays, (4) power to lead their own schools, and (5) focusing on results.

The book reads like a novel (I would even venture to predict a movie option), and Mathews does a wonderful job of mixing up the chapters with descriptions of Levin and Feinberg, anecdotes about particular students, and the major battles the duo encountered in establishing their charter schools. Since the establishment of the first Houston and Brooklyn schools, KIPP now has 66 schools nationwide, most of them performing as well as the first ones. About 80% of KIPP students have family incomes low enough to qualify for federal lunch subsidies. The success of the schools is evidenced by improvement in test-scores. Within three years the student's test scores improved on average from the 34th percentile to the 58th percentile in reading and from the 44th percentile to the 83rd percentile in math.

The school's motto: "Work hard, be nice" seems to be working for these students. I especially enjoyed the chant that Ball would make her students recite, which Levin and Feinberg appropriated for the name of their school:

You gotta read, baby, read
You gotta read, baby, read
The more your read, the more you know,
'Cause knowledge is power,
Power is money, and
I want it.

(less)

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Jul 15, 2012 Clint rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: education

The book itself was well written by Jay Mathews, an education reporter from the Washington Post. Regarding the content and the idea of KIPP ( charter school) I did not like as much. The two teachers who started the charter school KIPP came from the Teach for America program, which places teachers (who don't normally get a education degree from college) into low economic and poor testing schools. After a few months of working in these schools, Levin and Feinberg come to the conclusion that the pu...more The book itself was well written by Jay Mathews, an education reporter from the Washington Post. Regarding the content and the idea of KIPP ( charter school) I did not like as much. The two teachers who started the charter school KIPP came from the Teach for America program, which places teachers (who don't normally get a education degree from college) into low economic and poor testing schools. After a few months of working in these schools, Levin and Feinberg come to the conclusion that the public school system doesn't care about the students. So they adventure off into creating this charter school where they spend 24/7 all for their time dedicated to their students. KIPP is set up for students to go to school from 7:30am to 5pm every day and every other Saturday for half a day. They also go for 3-4 weeks every summer, are assigned 2 hours of homework every night. So why would any student want to do this.... well many of the parents put them in the class (started out as a 5th grade class and eventually expanded to cater to 8th grade as time and resources became available) because it was free after-school daycare until 5pm, free meals and daycare every other Saturday and 3-4 weeks in the summer. What low economic parent struggling with finances wouldn't take advantage of this situation. Now what about the kids themselves. They did improve their learning and test scores (moving from below average to above average within the year) but it was coerced by the teachers with bribes, like lunches from McDonald's, and week long trips to Washington D.C. Well some might say, that's not so bad, trips can be educational. The teachers also used punitive methods as well, like bullying students by getting in their faces and belittling them in front the other students, and then turning around and telling the student that they need to show everyone respect... I guess they were modeling the "Do as I say, not what I do" method. For the most part, I was really put off on how these two guys showed little respect for other teachers in the public school system, administrators, their own students, and the education field in general. There methods might result in the numbers, but are these students going to grow up and be inspired to learn new things on their own for their own self-gratification or will they continue to need someone yelling in their face and telling them what to do? (less)

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Jan 19, 2009 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: education, nonfiction

This book was really excellent and did a great job of describing the origin of KIPP schools, which I think are tremendous and fascinating.
The only reason I went with four stars instead of five is that I wish Mathews had spent more time investigating and rebutting (or, if necessary, agreeing with) critiques of KIPP. He spent a few pages on it, but I'd like to know more. I think I'll get that, though, in the follow-up book he said he's planning to write about the expansion of KIPP. While the origi...more

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Aug 23, 2010 Jeff Manassero rated it 3 of 5 stars

Matthews paints a pretty full picture of KIPP, it's origins and founders, but his writing feels a bit awkward and out of place sometimes. I questioned his colloquial commentary on topics that didn't need commentary, and ultimately felt like the personal narratives were unnecessary and distracting from what I really wanted to learn: what KIPP was all about and where it came from. Since Matthews wasn't there for much of the history he writes about, the quotations and stories feel contrived and sem...more

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Feb 15, 2009 Jeanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Raced through this book unlike many about school reform. Mathews did a great job of developing the characters and a narrative around them, so you were invested. He also explored the flaws in his protagonists, so that their achievements felt less out-of-reach for the rest of us mere mortals. Still, I was dissatisfied that the book failed to answer many of the biggest questions about KIPP, such as how well it moves to scale, and what are the programmatic aspects that seem to have the greatest impa...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Yingtai Zhu rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: education

I am not sure I really liked them by the time I finished the book. I guess they are not that different from a younger Rafe Esquith, but I think I agree with him that such rigid discipline takes the joy out of the classroom. But really, what bothered me more was this "Knowledge is Power" slogan. They really think in terms of power, or at least the book focused on that motivation. With Esquith's books you hear more about his pedagogical decisions and the reasoning behind them. In this book there w...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Carol C rated it 3 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars. I read this book because my son told me his teacher's heroes are the two guys about whom this book is written. I'm not an educator, but it was good to read about people taking a new approach to educating impoverished, urban kids. The author spends a bit of time on controversy and criticism by some of their approach (long hours, strict discipline, summer and Saturday school, plenty of homework, and teachers always available by phone for answering homework questions), but comes to the c...more

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Sep 04, 2011 Ng rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: education

I am not sure I really liked them by the time I finished the book. I guess they are not that different from a younger Rafe Esquith, but I think I agree with him that such rigid discipline takes the joy out of the classroom. But really, what bothered me more was this "Knowledge is Power" slogan. They really think in terms of power, or at least the book focused on that motivation. With Esquith's books you hear more about his pedagogical decisions and the reasoning behind them. In this book there w...more

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Feb 22, 2009 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kippreading

This is a very easy read, most likely because I feel so connected to the story. I finished it on my plane ride home from Chicago, after attending our KIPP leadership conference. (Thanks Maisie for letting me borrow your copy!) With KIPP being such an important part of my life, it was nice to be able to learn about how it all started. It's also interesting to see how things have evolved and how school leaders truly have the "power to lead" and make their KIPP school unique. Now having a better un...more

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May 09, 2012 Rachelle rated it 3 of 5 stars

This account of KIPP founders Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin is honest, personal, and realistic. Mathews points out Feinberg's and Levin's flaws, doubts, frustrations, and questionable shortcuts (such as lying about a teaching license), as well as their tremendous passion to teach kids, their determination, and their unwillingness to give up. While I don't expect a chronological narrative, the chapters seem disjointed, jumping between times and people's stories. I found it hard to relate to them;...more

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May 31, 2009 Alli Poirot rated it 2 of 5 stars

finished this yesterday after starting it during april vacation from shauna every so often when she wasn't reading it. i don't much care for the way it's written- reads like a news magazine article; the details about who feinburg and levin ended up marrying and what they liked to eat at the fast food places don't thrill me. i guess it is serviceable as a record of how KIPP was started and grown, but as a fellow charter school educator, i wanted to know more about what KIPP was like for the kids...more

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Sep 13, 2009 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

So I couldn't put this book down and I'm a KIPP skeptic (cliche, I know--public school teacher weary of charter) but I think that the underlying vision of KIPP is amazing, their accomplishments, amazing, and the amount of work that goes into the original conception and the overall program now is what it takes to establish and maintain successful schools; the idea that there are periods where we "put" more into schools is a misnomer--the work is hard and always will be. I was inspired, I'll admit...more

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Mar 28, 2009 Annette rated it 5 of 5 stars

A very entertaining and inspiring read. Not that I want to become a teacher in the inner city, but it's good insight into what it takes to become a good teacher to troubled youth. I was a little troubled to learn about the red tape and politics of public school, but was glad to see that some people have been able to work around these things to become effective teachers. KIPP has also been so influential to other charter schools, that it's good to understand where some of the new teaching philoso...more

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title link	preview: Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5182673-work-hard-be-nice?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348306163l/5182673.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5182673-work-hard-be-nice?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America by Jay Mathews[/url]

Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America

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