Transform Education: Does KIPP Push Students Out? Too Soon to Tell in New York

Transform Education

Our public schools help create the people of the future. The people of the future create the world. For there to be social and economic justice in our world, our goal must be to prepare all children for the conversations that create the future. We can transform education and we can close the educational achievement gap only if we are willing to address the real sources of this gap and only if we are prepared to stand up for free, high-quality education for all children as their civil right.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Does KIPP Push Students Out? Too Soon to Tell in New York

The data from NY apparently contradict what you see in CA. Maybe NY KIPP schools don't have the attrition problem that most CA KIPP schools do? In the end, there simply aren't enough data to come to a conclusion about NY and KIPP, i.e., it's too soon to tell.

There are enrollment data for 3 of the 6 KIPP schools in New York. According to these data, there is no large-scale attrition of the kind we see in California.

But we don't know if these are the same students from year to year. It's possible that a number of students left and were replaced by others, masking the fact that there was an exodus from the school. Such an exodus might be the result of students moving, students being "counseled out," students choosing to leave, or students being expelled. This is complicated by the fact that drop-outs, or at least transients, are a common phenomenon in low-income schools, even good ones. So attrition numbers would not be surprising if they were associated with your average public school. But KIPP is not your average public school. Many supporters of KIPP see it as the answer to the problems that vex inner-city schools. But from what we can tell from the California enrollment data, even KIPP cannot solve the drop-out/transient problem. And from what we can tell from the NY data, KIPP may simply be better at filling the spots left by students who leave. This would be consistent with what we know about KIPP and its "creaming" and recruiting practices.

KIPP enrollments, New York State (2004-2005 span is the most recent data)

KIPP Sankofa Charter School, Buffalo (opened in 2003)
5th grade (2003-2004) - 84
6th grade (2004-2005) - 85
0% decrease in enrollment in one year

KIPP TECH VALLEY, Albany (opened in 2005, so no data available)

KIPP Success Through Teamwork, Achievement and Responsibility College Preparatory Charter School (KIPP S.T.A.R.), Manhattan (opened in 2003)
5th grade (2003-2004) - 87
6th grade (2004-2005) - 84
.03% decrease in enrollment in one year

KIPP Always Mentally Prepared Charter School, Brooklyn (opened in 2005, so no data available)

KIPP Infinity Charter School, Manhattan (opened in 2005, so no data available)

KIPP Academy, Bronx (opened in 1995)
5th grade (2002-2003) - 69
6th grade (2003-2004) - 65
7th grade (2004-2005) - 63
.08% decrease in enrollment over three years

3 Comments:

At 1:03 AM, Caroline said...: I'm the one who posted the attrition data for California KIPP schools. Six of the nine California KIPP schools showed the attrition pattern (eye-poppingly, in some cases); the other three didn't. Since KIPP doesn't ever discuss this issue and never, ever gets asked about it by the fawning media, we have absolutely no idea what's going on.

It's also evident from the California figures, by the way, that some KIPP schools' numbers of incoming students are dropping, for whatever reason. The point there is that KIPP always claims that all its schools have waiting lists, but the numbers show that's not always true.
At 1:08 AM, Caroline said...: At KIPP Sankofa in Buffalo, I note that the incoming 5th grade was 84 one year and 61 the next year. What's that about? What about the long waiting lists that KIPP schools always claim to have?
At 12:29 AM, Anonymous said...: I think what's important to keep in mind here is that KIPP might not know the answer to the trends of the data as well. If you read the goals of the data collection, it is KIPP's intention to determine the patterns of the attrition results. Please remember that the goal of data-based instruction is to improve schools. I think that before we criticize KIPP and speculate the numbers, we need to praise them for reflecting on their own practice and be willing to change based on evidence. Remember that the study itself was initiated by KIPP leaders and funded by the foundation - I would be interested to see the trends as time go one.

-Annie, NYC