KIPP Foundation

KIPP: the Knowledge Is Power Program

KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program, is a nationwide network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory public schools in under-resourced communities throughout the United States. KIPP schools are usually established under state charter school laws.

Operating principles

The schools operate on the principle that there are no shortcuts: outstanding educators, more time in school, a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum, and a strong culture of achievement and support will help educationally underserved students develop the knowledge, skills, and character needed to succeed in top quality high schools, colleges, and in the competitive world beyond.

Over 95% of KIPP students are African American or Latino / Hispanic; over 75% are eligible for the federally-subsidized meal program. Students are accepted regardless of prior academic record, conduct, or socioeconomic background.

Overview

KIPP began in 1994 when teachers Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg completed their Teach For America commitment and launched a program for fifth graders in a public school in inner-city Houston, Texas. While only half of the students passed their fourth grade tests before enrolling in KIPP, more than 90% passed the Texas fifth grade exams in English and mathematics after one year at KIPP. In 1995, Feinberg's KIPP Academy Houston became a charter school, and Levin established KIPP Academy New York in the South Bronx. The original KIPP Academies have a sustained record of high student achievement. The Texas Education Agency has recognized KIPP Academy Houston as an "Exemplary School" for almost every year of its existence. According to the New York City Department of Education, KIPP Academy New York is the highest performing public middle school in the Bronx. KIPP alumni have earned over $21 million in scholarships for college-preparatory high schools and are continuing to excel in four-year colleges and universities.

KIPP Foundation

Doris and Donald Fisher, co-founders of Gap Inc., formed a unique partnership with Feinberg and Levin to replicate KIPP’s success nationwide. Established in 2000 with a $15 million grant from the Fishers, the nonprofit KIPP Foundation recruits, trains, and supports outstanding teachers in opening and leading high-performing college-preparatory public schools in educationally underserved communities. The foundation helps secure facilities and operating contracts while training school leaders through a yearlong KIPP School Leadership Program that includes an intensive program of coursework at Stanford University run in partnership with the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute (SELI), residencies at other KIPP Schools, and support from KIPP staff.

General information

Most KIPP schools run from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday and 8:30 am to 1:30 on select Saturdays (usually twice a month.) Middle school students also participate in a two-to-three-week mandatory summer school which include extracurricular activities after school and on Saturdays.

Each middle school student receives a paycheck at the end of the week of KIPP dollars they have earned based on academic merit, conduct, and overall behavior. KIPP dollars may be spent on whatever the student chooses, from books to laptop computers. End-of-year trips are also earned. They vary from school to school. KIPP Academy Middle School in Houston, TX, for example, sends 5th graders to Washington, DC, 6th graders to Utah, 7th graders to the East coast (NY, CT, NJ, MA) to see a Broadway play, go sightseeing or visit colleges, and 8th graders go to the West coast (CA) to places like Yosemite National Park, Disneyland and other tourist attractions, as well as visiting colleges.

When a student decides that he or she would like to attend a KIPP school, a home visit is set up with a teacher or the principal of the school, who meets with the family and student(s) to discuss what is required of the students, the teachers and the parents in the KIPP program. They all sign a KIPP contract promising that they will do everything in their power to help the student succeed and go to college. Once the contract is signed, the student is a KIPPster for life. KIPP follows the student's progress during KIPP and even after. The purpose of KIPP is for students to gain a college education; so even after they have finished KIPP, students maintain contact with their college counselor at KIPP. KIPP helps them go to private or boarding schools on full or mostly full scholarship, aids them in finding internships and/or summer progams, and even helps students prepare resumes, seek jobs and choose careers.

KIPP is in the process of developing new high schools throughout the nation. Students from well-established KIPP middle schools will have the opportunity to attend these high schools. While KIPP high schools will maintain KIPP's principles, they are focused on providing a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum that encourages increasing degrees of independent responsibility for learning.

Outside comment

A February 2007 strategy paper for the think tank the Brookings Institution commented favorably on the accomplishment of the KIPP program.

A research report published in March 2005 by the Economic Policy Institute in book form as "The Charter School Dust-Up: Examining the Evidence on Enrollment and Achievement," however, described the degree to which KIPP's admission process selects for likely high achievers:

Criticism

Some observers, such as the authors of "The Charter School Dust-Up," say that KIPP's admission process self-screens for students who are both motivated and compliant, from similarly motivated and compliant -- and supportive -- families. Parents must commit to a required level of involvement, which rules out badly dysfunctional families. Reports of KIPP's discipline policy, which involves shunning the miscreant student, and other KIPP policies such as teaching students how to "walk briskly down the hall" (according to one admiring description of KIPP practices), might further tend to discourage willful, defiant or simply independent-minded students from applying.

In addition, some KIPP schools show high attrition, especially for those student entering the schools with the lowest test scores. A 2008 study by SRI International found, "... 60 percent of students who entered fifth grade at four Bay Area KIPP schools in 2003-04 left before completing eighth grade." The report also discusses student mobility due to changing economic situations for student's families, but does not directly link this factor into student attrition. Six of California's nine KIPP schools, researched in 2007, showed similar attrition patterns. Figures for schools in other states are not always as readily available.