Little did legendary Houston Public School teacher Harriett Ball know what she helped unleash when those two, eager teachers would periodically sit in on her classes. Ball had a unique teaching style in which she was able to draw out the potential in each and every student and was highly effective in reaching the most troubled kids, previously thought to be un-teachable. Having heard her from across the hall, newbie teachers David Levin and Mike Feinberg became fascinated by Ball's style and her indefatigable belief that all the kids who entered her classroom could not only learn math, but could also move on to college. Levin and Feinberg listened and learned. They embraced Ball's approach, added their own touches and lobbied then Houston Schools Superintendent Rod Paige to give them freedom to implement their unique style with the students they were teaching in the Houston public school district where they worked. From that auspicious, yet notable beginning, the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) schools were launched. The rest, as they say, is history.
The KIPP schools -- all 124 of them -- have emerged as the gold standard model for non-traditional public education in the country. Following the example laid by educators like Marva Collins, Jaime Escalante, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Harriett Ball and others, KIPP continues to prove that zip code, income and ethnicity does not need to be determinative of your educational attainment. Indeed, the KIPP results by any measure, are nothing short of remarkable. Nationally, more than 90 percent of KIPP middle school students have graduated high school, and more than 80 percent of KIPP alumni have gone on to college. And 100% of high school seniors classes on average consistently out-perform their district-wide SAT scores.
Lest we forget, there are still people who believe that poor people can't learn. That unspoken, yet pervasive point of view has crept into education policy and funding decisions for years. Not only have the results achieved by the KIPP network of schools disproved that notion, but a growing number of "mom & pop" schools around the nation have further debunked that myth. These include schools like Connecticut's Jumoke Academy, Philadelphia's Boys Latin, the Harlem Village Academies and most particularly the controversial, yet highly effective American Indian Public Charter School located in Oakland, California. And I have to mention Houston's own YES Prep Public Schools made up of 10 middle and high schools that serves almost all low-income and minority students, and recent Broad Prize winner for national excellence. They have managed to eliminate nearly all income and ethnic achievement gaps and are outperforming their higher income and white peers statewide in most cases.
All of these schools and many more, loudly demonstrate that all kids can learn. But to reach them, we can't force them all into the same box. Innovation and creativity are the key, qualities that KIPP prides itself on.
The real question that KIPP and other successful multi-school operators, like Silicon Valley's Rocketship Discovery Prep, Florida's Academica Charter Schools and Arizona's BASIS Charter Schools grapple with is this: How can we replicate to scale so we can serve more kids and have greater impact without losing the quality instruction results we have attained? Good question. Maybe the answer lies in these successful school operators continuing to do what they do well as judiciously and doggedly as possible, without worrying as much about scalability. And just maybe, running one great school at a time can lead to a hundred great schools, which, in turn, can lead to a traditional public education system that embraces change for positive and sustained results, while parents and community leaders demand excellence for all kids.
Follow Kevin P. Chavous on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Kevinpchavous
The misuse of disadvantaged students to promote these programs also needs to end. Shame on you fro using these children to promote this poor quality schools.
The Facts About KIPP That Kevin Chavous Ignores http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2012/08/the-facts-about-kipp-that-kevin-chavous.html
KIPP at Center of Corruption in Camden http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2012/08/kipp-at-center-of-corruption-in-camden.html
Regardless of whether or not the model is scalable (it isn't or the author wouldn't have dodged that one...), it is a model that would not work for a large segment of the population. None of the schools I have worked in would benefit from a KIPP style system.
Innovation and creativity are key to transforming education school by school, and not just to pass state tests. In my opinion, unless a high-scoring school can produce creative and innovative students, it is nothing but a test-taking factory. I wonder into which category KIPP falls?
When the charter school movement began it encouraged local community folks to start schools. This was the laboratory for innovation when concerned parents and educators could open a school and try something different. Today most charter schools are corporate, meaning they are operated by a for-profit or not-for-profit corporation in accordance with a developed model and where teachers are generally worked far more hours than most professionals in the U.S., for lower salaries, and where the CEO earns severalfold more than a public school district superintendent. This hardly amounts to innovation.
KIPP teachers work many more hours than most college educated Americans and do so for a tiny (perhaps 5%) increase over what teachers earn in typical public schools. While some folks might argue that associates in law firms,for example, work horrendous hours (and they do), they do so for 2 to 3 times the wages a KIPP teacher earns and with the possibility of earning a lucrative partnership, so a few years of being "worked into the ground" offers a substantial pay-off. KIPP teachers have a high turnover rate. What young couple, young 30 something parent wants to go home after a 10 hour workday to spend family time delivering homework advice to the same students you taught all day long?
KIPP is one of various businesses in the U.S. turning the clock back to the 10 hour workday for the American people. Sorry, I do not think that deserves applause.
1. Families sign contracts agreeing to stipulations, which enable the KIPP, or similar, school to "counsel" the child out, or to expel outright. This is not available to neighborhood public schools.
2. Getting your child's name into the lottery involves some amount "hoop jumping" so families that do not give a high priority to education will not pursue KIPP educations for their children.
4. The school year is increased by more than 40%, through a combination of a very long school day, a longer school year and some Saturday sessions.
5. Teachers work a mandated 10 hour work day, every school day, and then go home to the mandate that they accept homework calls from their students in the evenings, during a prescribed time frame.
To be con't.
Expulsions from New Orleans Charters http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2011/06/21/expulsions-from-new-orleans-charters/
A Retro-Rocketship to the Future: Corporate Education Reform Blasts Off in Silicon Valley http://truth-out.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=5054:a-retrorocketship-to-the-future-corporate-education-reform-blasts-off-in-silicon-valley
Jacobs on Meier on KIPP http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2012/02/jacobs-on-meier-on-kipp.html
Charles Murray, KIPP, and the Second Coming of Eugenics http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2012/02/charles-murray-kipp-and-second-coming.html
High Test Scores at KIPP Coupled with High Attrition Rates of Low Performers http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2008/09/high-test-scores-at-kipp-coupled-with.html
Former KIPP Student Remembers Humiliation and Culturally Unresponsive Pedagogy http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2012/03/former-kipp-student-remembers.html
Nashville School Board Puts the Brakes on KIPP Expansion http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2012/06/nashville-school-board-puts-brakes-on.html
By choosing the students they want, KIPP leaves no doubt that they are a dishonest and fraudulent organization. Not sure I'd be very proud to be working there.
Does it ever bother you to think of the kids KIPP won't touch with a ten foot pole? A real teacher, and a real school, would have some concern for them.
"Failure to adhere to these commitments can cause me to lose various KIPP privileges and can lead to returning to my home school."
So the neighborhood school gets back the disruptive kids, the chronically absent kids, and the kids who don't complete their homework. KIPP keeps the quiet, well-behaved achievers. Nice.
What kind of a shell game is this anyway, Mr. Chavous? You and your colleagues are snake oil salesmen and frauds, nothing more.