Special thanks to:

http://www.kippstl.org/

https://www.ceamteam.org/

http://www.mocharterschools.org/

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As a result, the class of fifth-graders who entered KIPP Inspire Academy in 2009, many with a third-grade understanding of reading and math, completed eighth grade last week, bound for some of the most prestigious college prep high schools in the region.

However, what struck me most about the story was the fact that KIPP puts its students on an entirely new trajectory.

One student, De’Ja Wood, might have been attending Riverview Gardens High School next year, a perennially under-performing school. Instead, she will attend Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School (MICDS), a premier private school, on a full scholarship. In fact, many of her classmates are bound for “some of the most prestigious college prep high schools in the region.”

For many of these students, an elite private education was out of the question just a few short years ago. That is what KIPP has done. It has taken these students who were performing at very low levels and raised their level of achievement dramatically; it has instilled a tremendous work ethic and drive; and it has put a great high school and college education within their grasp.

KIPP Inspire Academy is a young school and there is certainly much room to improve. Still, it is exciting to see a school making such an impact on the lives of so many students. To me, this illustrates the point that poverty does not determine a student’s future. It may be difficult, but schools and teachers truly can change a student’s path in life.

KIPP Inspire students will be attending a host of great high schools in our region. Below is a list of just some of the schools to which KIPP Inspire students have been accepted:

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Like KIA, City Garden is a charter school, but that is about all the two schools have in common. The instructional practices at KIA are markedly different than they are at City Garden, which uses a Montessori approach. Another notable difference is that KIA is an open enrollment charter school without an attendance zone. That means students from anywhere in Saint Louis can enroll at KIA. City Garden, on the other hand, does have an attendance zone. Like a traditional public school, this means only students who live in that zone are allowed to enroll.

There are interesting implications with having an attendance zone, which the Post-Dispatch piece discusses, but I will discuss at another time.

What strikes me about KIA and City Garden is that they are both able to have a tremendous positive impact on their surrounding community.

For cities with low-performing school districts, the infusion of a great school seems to make a tremendous impact. But what can suburban or rural areas learn from this? Most of those communities do not need to “transform.” Indeed, many of them are doing quite well.

If we continue to have a limited view of charter schools as “schools for failing districts” then we make a mistake. What I see from KIA and City Garden is the opportunity for choice that they bring. These two schools offer something very different to families.

As I have written before, school districts often cannot meet the needs of all families, especially when they implement the same policies and instructional strategies district-wide. The lessons we should take from KIA and City Garden is that there is no one recipe for success and that families throughout the state would benefit from having more educational options.

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I completely agree that poverty and family life have a tremendous impact on a student’s success in the classroom, but this does not mean that a school cannot improve a child’s circumstances. Across the country, and even here in our state, we are seeing examples of schools that are changing lives in spite of overwhelming obstacles.

IFF, a nonprofit that helps many charter schools in Saint Louis acquire facilities, recently released this video on KIPP Inspire Academy (KIA).

IFF- KIPP Inspire Academy from IFF CDFI on Vimeo.

IFF argues that KIA is having a positive impact, not just on kids, but on the community. In the video, Saint Louis Mayor Francis Slay says that he is seeing the benefits of KIA spilling over into the Fox Park neighborhood.

KIA certainly has a long way to go to reach the level of achievement of some Saint Louis County schools, but they are making great strides. Their success illustrates that we should not downplay the impact a great school or a great teacher can have. In fact, rather than denigrate them, evaluating teachers and schools based on their ability to improve student achievement recognizes their important role in protecting the future of this country.

We cannot put education reform on hold and wait to fix the issues of poverty and society, issues that have flummoxed mankind for literally thousands of years. Instead of waiting, we need to recognize schools that are making a difference and increase quality options for parents.

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Below I display a graph of KIA student achievement in math and communication arts. Please note, the graph has two separate figures for each subject, cohort and overall. The overall figure contains all students tested in a specific subject. The cohort figure follows one group of students as they progress through the grades. Thus it contains students in fifth grade in 2010, sixth in 2011, and seventh in 2012. I display the cohort figure because Kelly and others involved with KIPP believe students continue to grow the longer they stay with KIPP.

As it turns out, the cohort of KIA students have shown impressive growth in both math and communication arts for the past two years. As always, one must be concerned about selective attrition, where lower performing students leave the school at faster rates. Without having examined the attrition rates, I could not address that directly. Nevertheless, the test score results are improving not only for the cohort of students, but for all students.

It seems safe to say, at least from this snapshot, that KIA has a positive impact on student achievement. I hope to see these numbers grow even more in the coming year.

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St. Francis de Sales, where KIPP Inspire Academy is located.

Photo Credit: (CC) Phillip B. Roussin

At the corner of Lynch Street and Ohio Avenue in South Saint Louis stands one of the city’s most beautiful buildings, St. Francis de Sales Oratory. Walk just past the church’s exquisite edifices and I believe you will see something just as wonderful: students learning.

In the adjacent building, students of KIPP Inspire Academy are working hard to “climb the mountain to college.” The school, part of the national network of public charter schools known as Knowledge Is Power Program, opened in 2009 and is now in its fourth year. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of visiting KIPP Inspire Academy. The school’s executive director, Kelly Garrett, took me on a tour of the renovated facilities, pointing out upgrades that KIPP has made and introducing me to faculty. We popped into several classrooms and saw students and teachers hard at work. As is characteristic of KIPP schools, classrooms were well-managed and full of learning.

After our tour, I had a chance to sit down with Mr. Garrett. He had been pouring over recently released achievement data from the state. I have yet to examine these data myself, but he showed me numerous graphs he had made and noted on several measures that the students of KIPP Inspire were outperforming state averages. Though, he always paused and reminded me of the long road ahead and how the school must continue to improve. That constant desire to evaluate, celebrate success, and continually improve is also a hallmark of every KIPP school I have visited.

Today, KIPP Inspire serves students in fifth through eighth grades and is the only school from the nationally renowned KIPP network in the Saint Louis area, but that may change because Garrett has plans to expand. The biggest obstacle to growth, as he sees it, is finding talented individuals to staff the classrooms. Hopefully, the success of KIPP Inspire will inspire more individuals to take up the mantle of education and will increase the pool of talented teachers in Missouri.

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The National Center on Time and Learning reports that more than 170 schools around the country have extended their school year to more than 190 days, including at least two schools in Missouri. Both schools in Missouri and the majority of schools across the country that are opting for longer days or longer years are charter schools. For example, the renowned national charter network Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) lists “more time” as one of their strategies for delivering a high-quality education to their students. Students at KIPP Inspire Academy in Saint Louis attend school from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every other Saturday. Additionally, students are required to attend summer school. Having visited several KIPP schools, I commend their efforts to improve education outcomes for disadvantaged students. Nonetheless, I do not believe their strategy should be mandated everywhere.

As Hess notes, many families are able to provide enriching activities for their children in the summer, like vacations and summer camps. For these families, summer school may stifle their learning. On the other hand, some students may benefit from the additional learning time. Too often, researchers and policymakers develop a “we know best” mentality. When they believe a program or solution will benefit individuals, they attempt to mandate that strategy for everyone. In reality, people are different and need different solutions.

When we mandate solutions, we stifle innovation. Rather than dictate how, when, and where students must attend school, we should give families the ability to choose the school that best meets their needs.

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I think he’ll learn that the only way to compete with KIPP is to beat it at its own game. Parents are impressed by KIPP education, not by promotional materials. The pictures in the article show the KIPP principal advertising the school by just walking around with a signup sheet and talking to people — hardly cutting-edge marketing. (I know, KIPP puts out advertisements, too, but its work canvassing neighborhoods is what really gets parents involved.)

The fact that advertisements alone won’t work doesn’t mean the district’s hands are tied. There’s nothing to prevent SLPS from starting its own KIPP-style school, accepting fourth graders. It could offer long hours, accelerated academics, and Spanish classes— like this KIPP elementary school in Houston. If families like it, they can stay on for fifth grade — no need to switch to the “real” KIPP middle school.

SLPS actually has an advantage over brand-name charters — it accepts students at all grade levels. The charter school startups are limiting enrollment to a few grades: KIPP is only taking fifth graders, and the language immersion schools are accepting kindergartners and first graders. SLPS just has to open comparably themed choice schools for a wider range of student ages, and the charters will be left scrambling to catch up.

I know SLPS can do it — I was so impressed by its Career Academy that I unquestioningly believed a report that it was a charter. District schools that look and act like charters won’t have trouble competing, because no one will be able to tell the difference.

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