KIPP Charter School

Mark Groth · PostApr 03, 2014#12014-04-03T12:28+00:00

Expansion on the horizon for KIPP, starting in West End at former Mitchell School.

KIPP, an acronym for Knowledge is Power Program, forged a partnership over the summer with St. Louis Public Schools that is helping its expansion efforts. The arrangement paves the way for KIPP to have access to empty school buildings, potentially removing one of the largest stumbling blocks to opening a charter in St. Louis. In exchange, all attendance, enrollment and test score data collected at KIPP schools would be reflected in the school district’s data, potentially strengthening the performance of the city school system.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/educ ... ed953.html

Ebsy · PostMay 06, 2014#22014-05-06T00:22+00:00

Their attrition rates are horrifying, especially for black students.

innov8ion · PostMay 06, 2014#32014-05-06T01:49+00:00

Ebsy wrote:Their attrition rates are horrifying, especially for black students.

Not necessarily a bad thing, depending on the circumstances.

Ebsy · PostMay 06, 2014#42014-05-06T01:57+00:00

innov8ion wrote:
Ebsy wrote:Their attrition rates are horrifying, especially for black students.
Not necessarily a bad thing, depending on the circumstances.

I definitely don't agree.

innov8ion · PostMay 06, 2014#52014-05-06T02:16+00:00

Ebsy wrote:
innov8ion wrote:
Ebsy wrote:Their attrition rates are horrifying, especially for black students.
Not necessarily a bad thing, depending on the circumstances.
I definitely don't agree.

http://www.kipp.org/news/education-week ... tudy-finds

The report also found that KIPP schools have similar attrition rates as traditional district schools (37 percent over three years for both sets of students).

"It's a credible way to deal with the criticism that [KIPP] is selectively counseling out kids who aren't doing well," said Jeffrey Henig, a professor of political science and education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

A study published by Gary Miron from Western Michigan University in 2011 found that while KIPP's attrition rates were comparable to traditional public schools, the network did not replace low-performing students who left KIPP, which could have a positive impact on its schools' overall academic performance.

A working paper released by Mathematica in September 2012 found that "in 7th and 8th grades, KIPP schools were less likely to replace those students who did leave early. Thus, this could affect the composition of students at KIPP schools during the latter years of middle school, but not in 5th and 6th grade, when the impacts of KIPP on student achievement are strong," said Philip Gleason, a lead author of the working paper as well as the new study, in an email interview. Another researcher on the study, Brian Gill, added, "lower backfill rates in 7th and 8th grades cannot 'inflate' the [academic gains shown by students in the new study] anyway, because we are measuring impacts on individual students and including the kids who leave KIPP."

As noted by Education Week in a recent series on charter school discipline polies, KIPP officials say they have circulated data on the attrition of schools within their network in recent years, a step they believe has called attention to the issue and resulted in schools taking steps to keep more students in school.

Presbyterian · PostMay 06, 2014#62014-05-06T04:14+00:00

Kipp does a great job. They absolutely wear out their teachers with expectation of long hours, hard work and constant availability to kids and parents. But the result in the students is measurable.

So long as there are young, healthy and (for their sake) *unmarried* new teachers ready to sacrifice night and day to change students' lives, Kipp will be effective.