Word: kipp
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...KIPP was born in 1994, the brainchild of “Teach for America” alumni Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin. It started as a program for fifth-graders at Houston’s Garcia Elementary School. In 1995, the first KIPP-only schools opened in Houston and the South Bronx...
These trailblazers eventually grew to include students in grades 5-8. Their triumphs have been incredible. Since its launch, KIPP Academy Houston has been dubbed an “Exemplary School” by the Texas Education Agency every single year. Its students invariably score well above the national average on standardized tests. Youngsters at KIPP Academy New York have likewise consistently outperformed—by a wide margin—the other pupils in their district and city on statewide exams...
...KIPP formula is very basic: its schools thrive on a culture of hard work, discipline, accountability and incentives. Students, parents and teachers are all required to sign a “Commitment to Excellence” form, in which they promise to fulfill their respective obligations. The school day is long, beginning at 7:25 a.m. and lasting until 5:00 p.m. “KIPPsters” (as they’re known) also typically put in four hours on Saturdays. This may sound excessively rigorous, but every director or teacher I spoke with emphasized how enthusiastically the students...
Today there are over 30 KIPP schools, several of which opened this past August. Not all are located in cities; some have been founded in impoverished rural areas. They generally start with a fifth-grade class and then add the next one annually until they have grades 5-8 filled. Most schools are totally independent of the districts in which they reside, and are thus freed from onerous administrative constraints...
Voucher systems are often disparaged, justly or unjustly, for selecting only the most talented children: for “creaming” the crop of students in the public schools. But KIPP schools are immune to this criticism: They are all open enrollment, and admit applicants (whom they recruit) through a merit-blind lottery system. As Witney points out, “We’ve got kids coming into fifth-grade who are still learning to read...