Pa. Kids are Learning ZIP!

You’ve heard of A Tale of Two Cities?  Well, how about the tale of two city blocks?  For 82,000 kids trapped in violent and failing schools, the opening and closing of their school days can read (even if they can’t), “It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times.” 

That’s because at more than 140 Pennsylvania schools, seven out of 10 kids cannot reach proficiency in reading and math.  In some, that number climbs to nine out of 10.  Their ‘Three Rs’ have turned from reading, writing and arithmetic, into run, report and recovery and in some cases rape, robberies and riots.

They are trapped in failure factories not by their lack of desire or inability to learn, but by the digits in their ZIP code.  Just a few blocks down the street, kids with different numbers on their mail are learning, growing and achieving in a safer environment.  Should the difference between scholarship and failure be a matter of learning ZIP?  Watch and decide for yourself.