"KIPP" IT COMING: On July 1, charter school system KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) received the $250,000 Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools at the National Charter Schools Conference in Las Vegas, NV, beating out other finalists Achievement First and IDEA Public Schools. The Broad Prize website reports that after a thorough study of 20 charter systems and their student achievement data, "an eight-member review board of national education experts found KIPP Schools to have the best overall student academic performance."
Stephen Mancini, a spokesman for the KIPP Foundation, told the LA Times that credit for the award "goes to the teachers, the school leaders and the families who work hard to climb the mountain to get kids to and through college every day. They’re all supporting the kids as they climb.”
KIPP, a network of free, open-enrollment charter schools, currently serves approximately 50,000 students in 20 states and the District of Columbia, and more than 86% of KIPP students coming from low-income families.
