STOP THE PRESSES x 2: KIPP study by Mathematica

STOP THE PRESSES!!!  Mathematica just released the most comprehensive and rigorous study of KIPP ever (see www.kipp.org/mathematica) and the results are STUNNING!  Here are excerpts from a letter from KIPP's CEO, Richard Barth  :

 

The study is the most expansive to date on KIPP, including demographic and achievement data from 22 KIPP schools in 14 school districts.   It is also the most rigorous study of KIPP charter schools, as the Mathematica team used a conservative research design to measure KIPP's impact on student learning.

 

You can link to an executive summary and more information on this report here.  The report was also featured in stories in today's Houston Chronicle and Education Week.

 

The Mathematica researchers found that for the vast majority of KIPP schools studied, impacts on achievement are positive, statistically significant, and educationally substantial.  These gains are large enough in many schools to substantially close the achievement gap within three years.  

 

…The research team at Mathematica has also made it clear that the gains by KIPP students were not achieved by selectively recruiting students who are high performers, or by encouraging struggling students to leave KIPP after enrolling in one of our schools.   In fact, the study shows that KIPP schools most often enroll students whose average fourth-grade achievement is lower than the average achievement of students in local district schools and that KIPP students make truly significant progress.   And, importantly, attrition is not a contributing factor in achieving these gains.  

 

…We are still in the early stages of KIPP's development and of the Mathematica research study.  And as much as I want to emphasize respect and gratitude for what has been accomplished, I know that we can do even more, and KIPP can get better, even as we get bigger. 

 

This first report makes clear that we are serving higher proportions of children in poverty and students of color, though fewer special needs and ELL students.   As a national network, we know that there are KIPP schools that serve special needs and ELL students brilliantly, without any compromise in quality or expectations.   We know we are doing so right now in a number of our highest performing schools.   The message here is simple: we can do more and so we will do more.

 

…KIPP started 16 years ago as an idea.   The idea was simple:  to prepare kids to climb the mountain to and through college.  From the idea came a program serving 48 children.  And from there, two middle schools.   This summer, we will have 99 schools serving over 25,000 students in 20 states and DC.  This report should inspire all of us to continue to deliver on the sacred promises we make to children, even as the number of children to whom we are making those promises is growing dramatically.