TEAM featured in Korean newspaper
By tdesimon on March 9th, 2009
Jong Park, a reporter from Chosun Ilbo, the largest and oldest newspaper in Korea (at a circulation of 2.3 million, bigger than any US paper), visited TEAM last week and wrote an article (see his blog has pictures).
Jong thinks that the lessons he learned from TEAM Charter Schools would be “valuable to teachers in Korea as well.” Korea’s problems are basically the opposite of TEAM’s: kids get too far ahead of their classes because they all go to private after-school tutoring and are thus bored in school all day. The schools don’t adapt because they are so intent on teaching the national standards and nothing else. Standards in Korea represent a minimum in student achievement, a contrast from the US where standards are state, not nation-wide, and – functionally at least – aspirational. Jong saw important lessons for Korea in the path KIPP and other charters have taken in changing urban education in America. Autonomy and accountability have created a path for great teachers to figure out how to do urban schools in America better, and the same formula could help Korea overcome the stagnancy that plagues their education system.
Tags: http://blog.chosun.com/article.log.view.screen?blogId=10497&logId=3773853