Visits to two charter schools, KIPP Summit and Leadership Village Academy

I was in the Bay Area on Friday and visited the KIPP Summit Academy in San Lorenzo (about 13 miles south of Oakland) and yesterday I visited the Leadership Village Academy on 113th St. and 2nd Avenue. 

 

Both schools have all of the characteristics of a great schools (strong leadership, teachers, culture, discipline, etc.), so I'll focus my comments on other things...

 

KIPP Summit is -- SURPRISE! -- doing great (see the test scores in the 4th image below).  It's by far the most diverse KIPP I've ever seen: 33% Asian, 28% Latino, 19% African American and 16% Caucasian (in my previous visits to roughly 20 KIPPs around the country, I'd seen a grand total of ONE Caucasion student!).  The school will soon be expanding to include a high school.

 

The Leadership Village Academy is in its second year, with 60 5th and 6th graders.   It is the second Village Academy school (the other, also in East Harlem, is called the Harlem Village Academy, which has been in existence for four years and has grades 5-8).  Last year's Leadership Village 5th graders did very well on the state tests, with 66.1% and 79.7% above grade level in reading and math, respectively.

 

Like many successful schools, the Village Academies regularly test students to see how they are doing and so teachers can adjust what they're teaching.  Interesting, Deborah said there are a number of off-the-shelf math tests that can be used for this purpose, but none for reading, so over the last three years, she's developed her own.  She's happy to share it (though cautions that she doesn't have time to train anyone) and it's already being incorporated into the training program at New Leaders for New Schools.  If you'd like to see it, contact her directly at dkenny@villageacademies.org

 

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