How KIPP Schools Define Success
Today, Elliott Witney, formerly a leader in a KIPP charter school, begins blogging with Deborah Meier.
Dear Deb,
I feel incredibly grateful to be able to join you in this public discussion. I remember vividly the moments when Emily Gasoi reflected aloud how surprised she was to find such similarity between the schools you work with and the KIPP school she studied for her dissertation.
Before I respond in detail to your post, I wanted to clarify that I no longer work full-time for KIPP. I currently serve as an administrator for the Spring Branch Independent School District in Houston. Before coming to Spring Branch, I worked for KIPP starting in 1999—first as a teacher at the original middle school in Houston, and then later as the principal. I was also the girls' soccer coach for middle and high school for about a dozen years, a job I loved. I continue to teach a course on leadership to aspiring KIPP leaders, which takes me across the country to see an array of KIPP schools in action.
What's been particularly interesting in my transition from charter to traditional is how similar (I'd go so far as to
Dear Deb,
I feel incredibly grateful to be able to join you in this public discussion. I remember vividly the moments when Emily Gasoi reflected aloud how surprised she was to find such similarity between the schools you work with and the KIPP school she studied for her dissertation.
Before I respond in detail to your post, I wanted to clarify that I no longer work full-time for KIPP. I currently serve as an administrator for the Spring Branch Independent School District in Houston. Before coming to Spring Branch, I worked for KIPP starting in 1999—first as a teacher at the original middle school in Houston, and then later as the principal. I was also the girls' soccer coach for middle and high school for about a dozen years, a job I loved. I continue to teach a course on leadership to aspiring KIPP leaders, which takes me across the country to see an array of KIPP schools in action.
What's been particularly interesting in my transition from charter to traditional is how similar (I'd go so far as to