The New York Times has a good article today on opportunity and experimentation in Harlem's schools. Students in charter school programs including KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) and Village Academies are earning higher scores than traditional schools, in addition to being in a much safer environment.

At Public School 125 at the top of Morningside Park, the article points out, "only 36 percent of the third- through sixth-grade students met city and state reading standards last year." 36 percent, as any third grader can tell you, is a big fat F. In comparison, students at the KIPP Star College Prep Charter School at West 123rd "earned some of the highest scores in central Harlem on last year's citywide reading exams."

Additionally, the new schools go beyond significantly higher test scores. Harlem's new schools are providing a safe place for children to learn. The story told by a Harlem parent about the abuse her daughter suffered at the hands of other students really caught my attention. "QuYahni Lewis said that she gave up on elementary schools in Harlem when her 9-year-old daughter came home with bite marks and a pencil stab wound. "Every day there was another story about this bully or that bully. I found that there were really no good options here outside of paying for school. Where else are we going to go? What else are we going to do?""

With the success schools like KIPP are having, it's understandable that even the critics are seeking to enroll their children: "Robert A. Reed, the president of a central Harlem council of parent associations, said, "They've picked this population as a guinea pig district." But he also acknowledged that he entered his young daughter in a charter school lottery and she won a seat for next year that she may take."