It's exciting to see KIPP Jacksonville launch – the 20^th state (plus DC) in which KIPP operates. Below is an article about it, here's a link to pictures (http://photos.jacksonville.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1057406&CategoryID=9088&ListSubAlbums=0) and here's a video about the music program (http://jacksonville.com/video/news/metro/2010-08-16/watch-music-builds-character-kipp-school).

I visited the school in January (see http://edreform.blogspot.com/2010/01/jacksonville-presentation.html and http://edreform.blogspot.com/2010/02/education-demand-better.html) and posted some pictures of the abandoned dog racing track that has been converted into a beautiful facility for KIPP Jacksonville: http://picasaweb.google.com/WTilson/KIPPJacksonville (I took the first four pics during my visit – that's Exec Dir Tom Majdanics in pics 3 & 4 – and the last two are before and after pics Tom just sent me).

The article highlights the usual KIPP creaming going on (NOT!):

KIPP Impact's incoming students now rank in the fifth percentile of the state in reading and in the 10th percentile in math, Hawke said. The school is testing the students to see how many grades some of them may be behind, and about 20 percent of the school's students are special needs students.

---------------------