KIPP criticizes its college graduation record

Jay Matthews:

Many people, including commenters on this blog, say the people running the KIPP charter school network---the best known and most successful in the country---don't explain themselves enough. That may be, but KIPP provides more information about its efforts to raise student achievement than any other charter network, or most school districts for that matter.

One example is its report, just released, on how many KIPP graduates have so far graduated from college: "The Promise of College Completion: KIPP's Early Successes and Challenges."

The report is a bit of a stretch in terms of KIPP taking credit or blame, since the students surveyed left KIPP more than a decade ago at the end of eighth grade. But KIPP co-founders Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg made preparing kids for college their chief goal when they started the first KIPP middle schools in Houston and the South Bronx in 1995. That is still their main target. They say they are determined to report how that effort is going no matter what statistical qualms they may hear from people like me.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 1, 2011 2:38 AM
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