The Knowledge is Power Program, commonly known as KIPP, is a network of free open-enrollment

college-preparatory A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to state school, public, Independent school, private independent or parochial school, parochial schools primaril ...

schools in

low income Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little

income

communities throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. KIPP is America's largest network of charter schools. The head offices are in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

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, and

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KIPP was founded in 1994 by

Mike Feinberg Mike Feinberg is a co-founder of the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) Foundation. History Feinberg graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and later joined Teach For America (TFA), where he taught fifth grade for three years. While at ...

and Dave Levin, two Teach For America corps members, influenced by

Harriett Ball Harriett Jane Hill Ball (July 1, 1946 – February 2, 2011) was an American educator who inspired the KIPP program. Life Harriett Ball was born in Harriett Jane Hill in 1946 in Rosenberg, Texas. She grew up in poverty, living with her mother, brot ...

. KIPP was one of the charter school organizations to help produce the

Relay Graduate School of Education Relay Graduate School of Education is a private graduate school for teachers in New York City and other cities across the nation. It was established in 2011 after being spun off from Hunter College's Teacher U program. It is the first stand-alon ...

for teacher training.

History

KIPP began in 1994 after co-founders Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg completed their two-year commitment to Teach For America. A year later, they launched a program for fifth graders in a public school in inner-city

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. Feinberg developed KIPP Academy Houston into a charter school, while Levin went on to establish KIPP Academy New York in the

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

. In February 2018, Feinberg was removed from his position at KIPP due to sexual misconduct allegations involving a KIPP middle school student in the late 1990s and two KIPP employees in the early 2000s. Feinberg denied the accusation by the middle school student, and reached a financial settlement with one of the two KIPP employees.

KIPP Foundation

Doris and

Donald Fisher Donald George Fisher (September 3, 1928 – September 27, 2009) was an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He co-founded The Gap Inc. clothing stores with his wife Doris F. Fisher. Early life and education Fisher was born i ...

, co-founders of

Gap Inc The Gap, Inc., commonly known as Gap Inc. or Gap (stylized as GAP), is an American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer. Gap was founded in 1969 by Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The c ...

., formed a partnership with Feinberg and Levin to replicate KIPP's operations nationwide.

Operations

Application process

If there are more applicants than seats available, KIPP students are admitted through a lottery system. After a student is selected from the lottery and the 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 students to discuss expectations of all students, teachers and the parents in KIPP. Students, parents, and teachers are then all required to sign a KIPP commitment of excellence, agreeing to fulfill specific responsibilities, promising that they will do everything in their power to help the student succeed and go to college.

School structure

KIPP has extended school days to offer extra-curricular activities, and some schools add three extra weeks of school in July. Most KIPP schools run from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Students spend that time in the classroom—up to 50 percent more time than in traditional public schools, depending on the region—and doing activities like sports, performing arts, and visual arts. Many of the activities KIPP offers might otherwise be inaccessible to students because of cost or scheduling issues. Because of this, the extended day offers students and families opportunities they might not get elsewhere.

Controversy

In 2022, it was revealed the KIPP's director of technology had embezzled $2.2 million which he spent on cars and sports memorabilia which was intended for laptops and other equipment. The official killed himself as the investigation was underway. KIPP claimed that the fraud was an isolated incident. At a KIPP middle school in New York, a teacher was arrested after accusations of grooming and sexually abusing a student for years starting when she was in fourth grade. According to the complaint, the teacher had made other students uncomfortable with inappropriate touching. KIPP's Houston charter schools were found to have charged parents unallowable and impermissible fees. Parents said they felt they were duped into what they understood would be a free education. KIPP claimed that the fraud was an isolated incident.

Peer group

KIPP and similar operators of multiple charter schools are known as ''charter management organizations'' (CMOs). KIPP is the largest, with 270 schools. Some for-profit rivals have shied away from managing any brick-and-mortar schools and offer online curricula and other services. These companies, including

Stride, Inc. Stride, Inc. (formerly K12 Inc.) is a for-profit education company that provides online and blended education programs. Stride, Inc. is an education management organization (EMO) that provides online education designed as an alternative to tr ...

and

EdisonLearning EdisonLearning Inc., formerly known as Edison Schools Inc., is a for- profit education management organization for public schools in the United States and the United Kingdom. Edison is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. School districts hire th ...

, are known as ''education management organizations'' (EMOs). Stride was the largest in the US in 2011–2012.

Outside comments

In June 2010,

Mathematica Inc. Mathematica, formerly Mathematica Policy Research, is an American research organization and consulting company headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey. The company provides data science, social science, and technological services for social polic ...

produced the first findings"Student Characteristics and Achievement in 22 KIPP Middle Schools"

Mathematica Policy Research
, June 2010 from a multi-year evaluation of KIPP: "Using a matched comparison group design, results show that for the vast majority of KIPP schools in the evaluation, impacts on students' state assessment scores in math and reading are positive, statistically significant, and educationally substantial." A February 2007 strategy paper for the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

commented favorably on the accomplishment of KIPP. A research report published in March 2005 by the

Economic Policy Institute The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit American, left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C., that carries out economic research and analyzes the economic impact of policies and proposals. Affiliated with the labor mov ...

in book form as ''The Charter School Dust-Up: Examining the Evidence on Enrollment and Achievement'',The Charter School Dust-Up: Examining the evidence on enrollment and achievement
Teachers College Press, March 2005 however, described the degree to which KIPP's admission process selects for likely high achievers: The authors of ''The Charter School Dust-Up'' said that KIPP's admission process self-screens for students who are motivated, compliant, and come from similarly motivated, compliant and supportive families. The 2010 Mathematica Policy Research study found that KIPP schools had a "lower concentration of special education and limited English proficiency students than the public schools from which they draw". Some KIPP schools show high rates of attrition, especially for those students entering the schools with the lowest test scores. A 2008 study by

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic d ...

found that while KIPP fifth-grade students who enter with below-average scores significantly outperform peers in public schools by the end of year one, "60 percent of students who entered fifth grade at four Bay Area KIPP schools in 2003–04 left before completing eighth grade", although research on attrition at one KIPP school in Massachusetts differs. The SRI report also discusses student mobility due to changing economic situations for student's families, but does not directly link this factor into student attrition. Figures for schools in all states are not readily available. While KIPP's goal is that 75% of KIPP students graduate from college, a report they released in April 2011 stated that the college graduation rate for students who completed the first middle school program in 1999 and 2000 was about 33%. The report states that 95% of the students completed high school, 89% of the students went to college, and 33% of the students earned a degree. For comparison, for students in a similar economic background to that which KIPP draws from. only 70% complete high school, 41% go to college, and 8% earn a four-year degree. April 2011, (see page 9 of the report (page 11 of the issued document)) Overall in the United States 83% of students complete high school, 62% enroll in college, and 31% complete a four-year degree. For the overall graduation rate for students entering college in the United States one study found a 56% result (Pathways to Prosperity Study), and another study found 54% graduated (American Dream 2.0 Report). KIPP's goal of a 75% college graduation rate is close to the 82% college graduation rate for students coming from the highest income quartile. April 2011, (see page 7 of the report (page 9 of the issuu document)) Jay Mathews, writing for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', was encouraged by the results from the KIPP report, although he pointed out that the sample size was only 200 students, and that after graduating from the KIPP middle school the students were no longer attending a KIPP school. Both Matthews and

Kay S. Hymowitz Kay S. Hymowitz (born December 25, 1948) is an American author. Early life and education Born in Philadelphia, she earned her B.A. at Brandeis University, and her M.A. in English literature from Tufts University. Career She taught English lit ...

writing for ''City Journal'' found the 75% goal to be ambitious.

References

External links

KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program
the KIPP Foundation website. {{Authority control Charter schools in the United States Education reform Organizations based in San Francisco 1994 establishments in California Educational organizations based in the United States Charter management organizations