Quality,
not quantity,
is our
measure.
HOUSTON — Classrooms are festooned with college pennants. Hallway placards proclaim: “No Excuses!” Students win prizes for attendance. They start classes earlier and end later than their neighbors; some return to school on Saturdays. And they get to pore over math problems one-on-one with newly hired tutors, many of them former accountants and engineers. If these new mores at Lee High School, long one of Houston’s most troubled campuses, make it seem like one of those intense charter schools, that is no accident.
KIPP Academy alum Joana Cisneros still remembers her first day in 11th-grade chemistry.
"I remember being bombarded with 'what does electro-negativity mean.' I remember thinking 'What is this?,'" the current college junior told an audience of close to 1,000 Saturday night. "I wanted to change classes right that second, but my teacher at the time pulled to the side and said, 'No Joana, you cannot change classes. You will do great. I have faith in you."
When the Edutopia coverage team arrived at the campus of KIPP King Collegiate High School in San Lorenzo, California, I was carrying some extra baggage. About five years ago, I had viewed televised reports about the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) schools in Houston and New York City, showing sixth, seventh and eighth graders, mostly African American and Latino, dressed in school uniforms and expressing their devotion to KIPP and its intensive approach to learning.
AFTER a summer of budget cuts in Washington and state capitals, we have only to look to our schools, when classes begin in the next few weeks, to see who will pay the price. The minimum required school day in West Virginia is already about the length of a “Harry Potter” double feature. In Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Milwaukee, summer school programs are being slashed or eliminated. In Oregon and California this year, students will spend fewer days in the classroom; in rural communities from New Mexico to Idaho, some students will be in school only four days a week.
Regional Profiles and Results - Information is featured for each KIPP region that had a ratified executive director as of December 2010. Data includes number of schools, grades served, regional achievement data, student attrition, and teacher retention. Schools that have only been open for one year and that do not have results for the 2009–10 school year are marked with an asterisk
With her youngest about to start his senior year in high school, the 49-year-old is finally about to open her family's first college savings account. She plans to scrape together $20 a week, money that will be matched by an ambitious program being piloted by the KIPP charter school giant, the Corporation for Enterprise Development and the United Negro College Fund, now called UNCF.
Mike recently announced that he'd be shifting roles to focus on fundraising, advocacy, and external relations, while handing the superintendency of KIPP Houston off to a successor. If you're not familiar with Mike's story, you can check out Jay Mathews' KIPP book, Work Hard, Be Nice.
The birth of ‘Knowledge is Power Program’ (KIPP) can be credited to two teachers: Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin. In 1994, they launched a fifth-grade public school program in inner-city Houston, TX. In 1995, Feinberg remained in Houston, while Levin returned home to New York City to establish KIPP Academy in the South Bronx.
All parents want the same basic thing for their child — a chance at a great future. That future begins at home and leads straight to the local schoolhouse door, where a quality education gives every child a shot at a better future.
HOUSTON - Every child deserves a great education, but too often students are forced to attend failing school simply because of where they live; but a town hall meeting, inspired by the documentary film "Waiting For Superman," will take place in the hopes of encouraging change.
One-third of students enrolled in eighth grade at a KIPP charter school earned bachelor's degrees 10 years later — a revealing statistic that draws both celebration and concern from educators.
KIPP’s Co-Founder and KIPP Houston’s Superintendent, Mike Feinberg offers advice to our state policymakers:
With almost 20 years' experience as an educator in Houston's low-income communities, I have seen firsthand how transformative a great education can be for a child. I began my teaching career as a Teach For America corps member in 1992, and currently serve as superintendent of KIPP Houston, a network of 18 public charter schools serving over 6,000 students.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy, November 2010
Recognizing that giving money away smartly, so that it not only gets results but also gets more and better results over time, is excruciatingly hard, Nan Stone and Thomas. J. Tierney highlight the Fisher’s support of KIPP as both strategic and impactful.
Students from KIPP Houston were on hand at Texans practice Tuesday to accept a $100,000 grant from the team. The money will be used to help build a new grass football field at KIPP Houston's Northeast Campus.
In January 2009, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, "I think the school day is too short, our week is too short, our year is too short." And he was referring to a five-day week, 180-day school year, let alone the truncated version that many cash-strapped districts will provide this year.
Take away time, take away learning. As the co-founder of the Knowledge Is Power Program, a national network of extended-day public charter schools, I know there is no substitute for the hours a student spends with an effective and inspiring teacher.
Bill and I see evidence of this every time we visit a school. The 82 schools across the country that have implemented the Knowledge Is Power Program invariably get excellent results from the very same low-income students who tend to struggle at traditional high schools.
The resemblance to executive training-an intense, communal focus on goals-is no coincidence. KIPP's two founders, Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, drew lessons from some of America's top companies, including Gap (GPS), FedEx (FDX), and Southwest Airlines (LUV), as they built the program.
We looked at more than 21,000 public high schools in 48 states and the District of Columbia. The following are the 100 schools that performed the best in our three-step America's Best High Schools ranking analysis.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Wednesday announced it is making $30 million in bond guarantees to high-performing charter schools in Houston. It is part of a new two-year, $400 million push in so-called program-related investments, which can consist of direct loans, equity investments, bond guarantees and other non-traditional forms of financial support.
The first bond guarantees are going to the Knowledge Is Power Program, or KIPP, to help its schools in Houston secure funding in tax-exempt bonds.
First, all children can learn if they have the right resources and support. Second, the quality of teaching a child receives is the most important factor in determining his or her educational future. And third, great teachers are made, not born. In other words, together we have the ability to turn the phrase "All children can learn" into "All children WILL learn."
Imagine this: You're an 8th grader doing your math homework one night and need help. So, you dial your math teacher's cell phone number and bingo. You get all the help you need. Pretty farfetched, right?
I mean, what kid calls their teacher at home? Well, it happens if you're a student in the KIPP public charter school program, like Gabriel Gomez. He lives in the Bronx and travels an hour and 15 minutes every day, riding a bus and two trains to get to school in Harlem by 7:00am. He's there until 5pm.
Five-year-old Isaiah Hall can't write his own name yet, but he knows what year he'll start college — 2022.
From the day Isaiah enrolled at Galveston's newest charter school, the Knowledge is Power Program Coastal Village, he learned, not only did teachers expect him to excel in school, they also expect him to graduate high school on time and attend college.
Houston philanthropists Nancy and Richard Kinder handed out $225,000 to 15 teachers as part of a new effort to reward outstanding educators at the city's two largest charter school chains.
Through the partnership with KIPP and YES Prep Public Schools, the Kinders awarded $20,000 to 10 charter school teachers. Five high-performing Teach for America corps members were also awarded $5,000 each.
Hello, summertime! No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' — wait, actually, yes, there may very well be more of each of those. Sorry, kids. A vacation-crushing theory on how to improve student performance is gaining traction: more time in class. Longer days, longer year. Goodbye, summer.
Conscuqlia Jackson waited on edge for months before getting word that KIPP's new Sunnyside primary school would open this summer for kindergartners — perfect timing for her young son.
With a 12-year-old daughter already attending KIPP, Jackson is sold on the Houston-based charter system, which opened a decade ago with the mission of setting low-income middle schoolers on a course for college.
She's thrilled that KIPP is expanding to include more students as young as 3.
In 1994, we founded KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program, by starting one middle school in the South Bronx and one in Houston. Today, KIPP is a growing network of 66 public charter schools serving 17,000 children in 19 states and the District. Eighty percent of our alumni from those first two schools have now gone on to college. More than 90 percent of KIPP students are children of color, and 80 percent qualify for the federal free or reduced-price meal program.
At KIPP, we believe that "the actual proves the possible." Barack Obama's election embodies this credo.
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