The SEED school (Schools for Educational Evolution and Development) in Washington, D.C. - America's only urban charter boarding school - is the focus of this article in Time, which calls it "one of the most innovative and expensive experiments in educating low-income students." SEED is an excellent example of how the charter movement encourages innovation and experimentation - and of the need to monitor those innovations to determine how well they're succeeding. Three-hundred and ten 7th-12th graders live on campus from Sunday evening to Friday afternoon, and almost every waking minute is scheduled for them, from rising at 5:45 a.m. to lights out, with only a half-hour of "quiet time" before bed. Dorms are divided into "houses" of 10-14 students named after colleges, reflecting a focus on college preparation, and there are lots of extras like sports, clubs, and overseas trips in the summer. Students grouse about the stringent rules, but parents laud the safe and structured environment, and last year there were 213 applicants for 140 spots. But the school is extremely expensive - per-student costs are twice the District's annual expenditure of $12,000 per student - and is still struggling with achievement. SAT scores are only 34 points above the District's low average and retention is a problem - no doubt because the regimen is a lot tougher than most American teen-agers are willing to endure.
"Urban preppies," by Perry Bacon, Jr., Time, January 12, 2004