KIPP Moving into Early Education

KIPP, a network of high-performing charter schools serving low-income, predominantly minority students, recently announced plans to dramatically expand the number of KIPP schools operating pre-k and elementary programs.

Founded in 1994 by Mike Feinberg and David Levin, KIPP has focused primarily on serving disadvantaged students in the middle school years–grades 5-8–where Feinberg and Levin saw kids slipping through the cracks in the public education system. But, like a growing number of high-performing charter networks, KIPP has realized that many of the youngsters it serves arrive at fifth grade already behind grade level, and has begun focusing increased attention on the early elementary school years. Currently, the KIPP network includes seven elementary schools in Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C. Schools in Houston, New Orleans and Washington operate programs starting in pre-k. And that number’s about to get a lot higher.

This week, KIPP announced the receipt of a $5.5 million grant from the Rainwater Foundation to expand the number of KIPP early elementary programs. By 2011, there will be 30 KIPP elementary schools, many beginning in pre-k, and one out of every four KIPP schools will be an elementary school. The Rainwater grant will accelerate the expansion of KIPP’s early education work, and fund specialized early elementary training for new school leaders participating in KIPP’s Fisher Fellowship principal training program. The expansion will begin next year, with the opening of nine new KIPP schools in Baltimore, Newark, and other high-poverty communities.

The acceleration of KIPP’s early education program is an exciting development that will help expand access to high-quality early education for disadvantaged students in the areas KIPP serves, building a pipeline of quality education starting in pre-k and leading through the middle school years. KIPP’s original elementary school in Houston, which uses a variety of funding streams to begin serving children as early as 3 years old, already has a strong record of student achievement, and other KIPP elementary schools are also showing promise.

We hope KIPP’s and Rainwater’s investment in early elementary schools will encourage more states to revisit policies that make it difficult for charter schools to offer high-quality early education programs. Most of the existing KIPP elementary schools begin with pre-k, an important strategy for closing the achievement gap early. But states vary considerably in the extent to which they allow charter schools to offer pre-k, as well as whether or not they provide enough funding to offer quality programs. While KIPP schools in Washington, D.C., get full per-pupil funding for pre-kindergarten through the District’s school funding formula, KIPP schools in Texas receive less from the state pre-k program than it actually costs to operate high-quality pre-k. And some states, like New York, don’t allow charter schools to offer pre-k at all (despite a shortage of pre-k spaces in New York City). States looking to build high-quality pre-k capacity could expand the supply of quality providers, and possibly attract proven operators like KIPP, by eliminating barriers that make it difficult for charters to offer pre-k, and by incorporating pre-k funding into their state school finance formulas on an equitable basis with other grades.