What Is KIPP?

Vision
Every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities.

 

 

Together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose—college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world.

 

 

Every student walks through the doors of school bearing gifts. Talent. Perspective. Drive. Inspiration. So at KIPP Public Schools, we support every student to see those gifts, then build the skills and confidence they need to thrive.

 

We see each student as an individual, matching what sparks their curiosity with what and how we teach. We challenge their minds while nurturing their joy of learning -- whether they are working to read their first word or solve their first calculus problem. We prepare every student for college and celebrate all paths to a fulfilling life. And we join together with families and communities, partnering to pursue the more just world we all want to see.

 

We are a network of 270 schools with nearly 10,000 educators and more than 160,000 students and alumni. Together, we continually raise the bar for teaching and learning, then ensure success in one classroom travels across our network to hundreds more. And while each of our schools reflects the community to which it belongs, we are united around a shared commitment: a future without limits.

 

Every day, KIPP students and alumni across the country deploy their smarts and heart to break through any barrier that dares stand between them and the future they want. Because KIPPsters know they have everything they need inside, and a KIPP family at their backs. Together, they are lighting ever-wider paths to opportunity and change. For themselves. For all those who will follow them. And for us all.

 

 

KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) began in 1994 with 47 fifth-graders as a college-preparatory program housed within a public middle school in Houston, Texas. The following year, two new public charter middle schools opened

in Houston and New York City. By 1999, these original KIPP schools were among the highest performing schools in their respective communities.

 

In 2000, Doris and Don Fisher, founders of the Gap, committed philanthropic support to replicate the success of the original KIPP schools. The non-profit KIPP Foundation was established to recruit and train outstanding school leaders to open and run new KIPP schools, develops tools to support excellent teaching, and facilitates the exchange of ideas across the KIPP network.

 

The first new KIPP middle schools opened as public charter schools in 2001. In 2004, KIPP opened its first elementary and high schools, which paved the way for KIPP to become a full PreK–12 school system. All KIPP schools are locally-run, non-profit organizations and are governed by a board of directors.

 

Today, we are a network of more than 250 schools, 6,000 educators, and 140,000 students and alumni. Together, we continually raise the bar for teaching and learning, then ensure success in one classroom travels across our network to hundreds more. 

 

 

In pursuit of our mission, we commit to model the world we wish to see by centering equity and racial justice in our work and building a diverse, inclusive, anti-racist organization. We believe that achieving racial justice is a pathway to dismantling all oppressions in service of collective liberation.

 

Our strength and resolve, our health as a team and family, our productivity and effectiveness, and the quality of the decisions we make — are all rooted in our diversity. We strive to create an environment in which every member of our team can bring their full identity and experience to the work.

 

We embrace, honor and celebrate our differences and similarities across race, gender, age, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, gender orientation, physical abilities, socio-economic class, and other characteristics that construct our unique identities.