Schools Matter: WaPo Editorializes on KIPP Study and Forgets to Report the Findings

Schools Matter: WaPo Editorializes on KIPP Study and Forgets to Report the Findings:

WaPo Editorializes on KIPP Study and Forgets to Report the Findings

by Jim Horn

When Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. presented the final piece of a study commissioned by KIPP, Inc. the other day ("KIPP Middle Schools: Impacts on Achievement and Other Outcomes", WaPo’s Editorial Board was quick to announce “KIPP Doubters Proven Wrong.”

OFFICIALS OF KIPP(Knowledge Is Power Program) have become accustomed to the doubters who think the success of the fast-growing charter-school network is too good to be true. KIPP’s positive outcomes are the result not of its unique learning approach but rather, so the familiar critique goes, of its ability to attract the best students with highly motivated parents. Now comes rigorous research that should put an end to those suspicions and hopefully prompt discussion of what other schools might take away from KIPP’s experience in working with low-income students.

A study conducted by the independent firm Mathematica Policy Research, which analyzed data from 43 KIPP middle schools, found that students in these charter schools showed significantly greater learning gains in math, reading, science and social