KIPP Coastal Village

KIPP Coastal Village opened in August of 2009 just 11 months after Hurricane Ike devastated the Gulf Coast. Opening with 320 students in PreK4-1^st grade, KCV has grown to nearly 900 students in PreK3-7^th grade. As a district partnership with Galveston Independent School District, KCV was created as an educational choice for families living on or near Galveston Island. From a “barely heard of” charter school to a well-respected educational choice for parents within the Galveston Independent School District, our students have already made deep impressions across the Galveston community with regard to college readiness, parental involvement, premiere early childhood education, fine arts performances, and a WHISPER culture that is pervasive! 

The research-based curriculum that includes The Daily 5 & CAFÉ (K-1^st), Reader’s & Writer’s Workshop (2^nd-7^th), project-based inquiry learning, and Harvard University’s “Making Thinking Visible,” engages students in authentic literacy, mathematics and science experiences that require critical thinking and problem solving from even our youngest KIPPsters. Teams of teachers within grade levels or content areas engage daily in Professional Learning Community Work, where collaboration, action research and data analysis assure that their focus is on student achievement and professional growth.

The KCV WHISPER culture is framed through the lens of our Core Beliefs and 7 Values aligned with the work of Martin Seligman in positive psychology. Those school wide values--Wisdom, Honor, Internal Control, Spirit, Persistence, Excellence and Relationships--are lived out by adults and students across all grade levels. The common language aligned with KCV’s WHISPER values ensures a consistency with classroom management and student expectations across grade levels. Any visitor to KCV can ask a KIPPster what the values mean and what it looks like to “live them out” and will be blown away with how these values have been internalized!

KIPP Coastal Village is one of the most diverse populations across the KIPP Network. Our students are 35% Latino, 34% African American, 25% White and 6% Asian/Other, with 86% qualifying for the federal Free & Reduced Lunch Program. Our PreK population makes up 35% of all 3 and 4 year olds enrolled in public schools on the island. Across PreK3-7^th grades, KCV has 20% of the student population across those grades enrolled in public schools.