Founded in 2003, KIPP Chicago began with a single class of fifth graders at KIPP Ascend Middle School. As of 2012, KIPP Chicago consists of two schools, KIPP Ascend Middle and KIPP Ascend Primary, that will serve 550 students in grades K-1 and 5-8 in the 2011-2012 school year, and 300 KIPP Ascend alumni via the KIPP Through College Program.
KIPP Chicago serves students from the Austin, Garfield Park, and North Lawndale neighborhoods on Chicago’s West Side. One hundred percent of the students are African American and Latino who will be first-generation college graduates, and more than 90%live below the poverty line.