what's happening to the kids you grew up with who never went to a kipp school? >> they're not in school, they probably have their own kids at this point. they're living a very hard life. >> reporter: even among successful kipp alumni, george ramirez stands out. born and raised in the south bronx, a mediocre student pre- kipp, ramirez is now a senior at yale, majoring in history and physics. >> i think one thing that i learned at kipp really well is that a lot of your effort doesn't reap any success until way later in the future. there's another marshmallow if you wait just a little bit longer. >> reporter: kipp isn't the only path out of poverty, of course. teacher leyla bravo-willey also grew up poor, long before kipp began, yet she graduated from harvard. but she teaches self-control these days, sharing her own adult economic struggles with her students. >> you know that miss bravo has some issues with shopping. i like to shop and i'm trying to save money. so if, for instance, i come across a store i like a lot, then i will pretend that store has bed bugs, yea

the reasons i was always a big fan of charter schools is different charter schools, whether it was kipp or yes or whatever, they had their own systems of accountability, and what are the things you would look at? you would look at the way you observe people in the classroom. >> yep. >> you try to make sure you strengthen them, if you're a good principal and a good leader, your job is to constantly help people improve. over time you see how they're doing with their kids. you look at their kids, if they're good tests, you look at what kind of progress -- >> the test score is not the only thing. >> not only not the only thing, the evaluation, the ability to observe people, to watch them grow, or in the rare case where they don't grow, to take appropriate action. so i think but you need a certain amount of flexibility, unfortunately k-12, everybody is looking for one system, you know, you have lots of different industries here in texas, they all have their own accountabilities. >> on common core we do think that there's a way to have something if not one size fits all, a basic set of princi

police say a masked gunman forced his way into a house on kipp street around 2:00 this morning. he stole cash and jewelry and got away. police say security cameras, though captured the whole thing. no one was hurt. >>> also new from overnight, fire forced nearly a dozen people out of their home in north philadelphia this morning. it broke out just after 11:00 at the home on north lee street. nine people inside made it out safely. investigators are still trying to find out what caused the fire. >>> happening today, the man accused of that deadly ambush outside a pennsylvania state police barracks will appear in court this morning. eric frein will face charges of first-degree murder and possibly the death penalty. nbc 10's doug shimel reports from milford, pike county. >> reporter: when eric frein's preliminary hearing begins in just a little while this morning at the pike county courthouse, the prosecutor will no doubt bring up that that seven-week manhunt took the life of bryon dickson, forever altered the life of alex douglass and altered the lives of just about everyone else a

investigators searching for the man who forced his way into a house on kipp street.investigators say the man stole cash and jewelry, fortunately no one was hurt here. don tollefson decided he does want to proceed with a jury trial in his charity theft case. tollefson rejected a deal of two to ten years in prison plus restitution. the 62-year-old is accused of stealing more than $300,000 by selling fake sports-themed trips. >> he had high aspirations of helping people helping charities and helping young kids. and frankly, took on more than he could do and we look forward to presenting this to the jury. >> tollefson pleaded guilty in september but withdrew that guilty plea as he was about to be sentenced last month. >>> happening today, a judge in california could set a trial date for a south jersey native accused of a deadly shooting rampage at los angeles international airport. paul ciancia is originally from pennsville, salem county. on friday prosecutors announced they will seek the death penalty and that could push the trial into next year. >>> one of the most ant

police say pedro hernandez kipp kidnapped the boy in 1979 in new york city. he was arrested three years ago and living in maple shade when police found him. >>> a mercer county man is behind bars accused in at least five burglaries. this is 27-year-old kenneth price jr. over the past several weeks, residents in the laureldale section of the township reported their homes had been hit by burglarers. most happened during the day while victims were away from home. he had some of the victims' stolen property. he's in jail until his court date. >>> an inside job gone wrong. three delaware county teenagers are accused of planning a fake robbery at the taco bell where one of the teenagers worked. he claimed to be a victim of violent robbery. police spotted him and two others in the car, also seen in vaunt surveillance video. they say jeremy middleton and tormen acted as robbers. >>> you can now explore ancient panama and there's no passport required. today nbc10 got a sneak peek at a new exhibit at penn museum called beneath the surface: life death and gold in ancien