KIPP pupils make rapid progress

The results are in. And they are impressive. A new independent study of the KIPP schools operating in 20 cities and states, including Memphis, shows without a doubt that the KIPP method of educating at-risk kids works. Here’s what the most recent research shows. Kids who go to KIPP are learning more and moving ahead faster than kids in the regular Memphis city and county public schools.

Fourth-grade KIPP students who stick with the program for at least three years move from trailing both city and county school kids in math proficiency to outperforming both city and county school kids in math by the end of seventh grade. Ditto for reading proficiency.

KIPP now has a higher level of both high school graduation and college enrollment than city or county public schools.

This is an important study for Memphis. Important because Memphis has thousands of at-risk kids who are struggling in schools.

Important because many Memphis parents have an uneasy feeling about what is, and isn’t working in education these days because there are so many reform efforts under way.

Important because KIPP has shown that you can move the needle on tough-to-educate Memphis kids.

These results were verified recently by an independent research group out of Washington known as Mathematica Policy Research. Solid research. No cooking the books. That’s not to say that KIPP makes it easy for kids. Indeed, kids at KIPP Academy in Memphis start school at 7:30 a.m. and go until 5 p.m. every day.

Then, the KIPPsters must commit to coming back to school on two Saturdays a month.

Their parents have to commit to making sure the homework gets done and sign a contract to that effect.

The obvious lesson? You have to do more if you want at-risk kids to catch up and then surpass other kids.

The KIPP school in Memphis is an open-enrollment, free school.

The KIPP students share the same socioeconomic profile as the larger Memphis population. KIPP Memphis is 95 percent African-American students; 94 percent of the students qualify for free and reducedpriced lunches because of their family economics.

Yes, the results are in about a remarkable, spectacular and immensely promising educational model for Memphis.