Giving Oklahoma Students A Chance

 A freshman member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, Jason Murphey, visited the KIPP school in Oklahoma City and posted his thoughts on his web page.  This school is demonstrating some unbelievable improvement!

One of the most exciting and encouraging events of my first  year in the legislature occurred this week as I was privileged to visit the  Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) and meet with KIPP principal Tracy McDaniel. KIPP is an inner city charter school located on the second floor of the F.D. Moon Academy at 13th and Martin Luther King Blvd. in Oklahoma City.
 
A few years ago, I visited the F.D. Middle School to speak to  the students. I remember thinking how deplorable the conditions of the school were and observed the lack of discipline in the students. The school was the  lowest-performing in the state. Principal McDaniel explained that in the past,  the school was handicapped by inadequate staff, making it difficult to achieve  success. He indicated that of approximately 50 teachers, he believed 45 were  simply not up to the task of providing a quality education. As a result, F.D.  Moon remained one of the lowest performing schools in the state. That is when  McDaniel took action. He spent a year out of state in training with the KIPP  program and then returned to Oklahoma and the F.D. Moon school, where he now  runs the KIPP Charter School.
 
Now, despite the same tremendous social and economic  challenges, KIPP eighth-grade students dominated the 2006 Oklahoma Core  Curriculum Test (OCCT), with 100 percent passing both the state math and  writing tests and 97 percent passing the state reading test. This compares to  the statewide average of 72 percent of eighth graders passing the math test  and 59 percent of Oklahoma City students passing it. The average Academic  Performance Index (API) score for all Oklahoma students is 1180. The average  score for Oklahoma City students is 1006. Students attending KIPP averaged  1393 out of 1500, which surpassed even Oklahoma City’s Classen School of  Advanced Studies, the 17th best high school in the country according to  Newsweek. Records indicate that 73 percent of those who enter KIPP at the  fifth grade level read at a third-grade level or less, but by the time  students reach eighth grade, 97 percent are passing the state reading  test.

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Giving Oklahoma Students A Chance

OK State Rep. Jason Murphey

http://housedistrict31.com/wp/?p=47

One of the most exciting and encouraging events of my first year in the legislature occurred this week as I was privileged to visit the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) and meet with KIPP principle Tracy McDaniel. KIPP is an inner city charter school located on the second floor of the F.D. Moon Academy at 13th and Martin Luther King Blvd. in Oklahoma City.