Work hard. Be nice.

SPOTL IGHTnewsletter • winter 2012

Though Webb Elementary was damaged in a fire this past July,

KIPP DC expects to have the building renovated and ready for

students in time for the 2013-2014 school year.

KEY Academy • AIM Academy • WILL Academy • LEAP Academy • Promise Academy • College Preparatory • Discover Academy • Grow Academy • Heights Academy • Lead Academy KEY Academy • AIM Academy • WILL Academy • LEAP Academy • Promise Academy • College Preparatory • Discover Academy • Grow Academy • Heights Academy • Lead Academy

in this issue...KIPP DC Will Open a Fourth Campus . . . . . . . . . 1KIPP DC Schools Earn Tier 1 Status . . . . . . . . . . .2Nice Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2KIPP DC Hosts its First College Fair. . . . . . . . . . .2 KIPP DC and TFA Join Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Mary K. Bush Visits KCP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3KIPP DC’s Shaw Campus Says Thank You . . . . . 3Save the Date for March Madness . . . . . . . . . . .4

what is kipp dc?KIPP DC is a network of high-performing, public, college-preparatory charter schools in Wash-ington, D.C., which serves the city’s under-re-sourced communities. At KIPP DC, there are no shortcuts. Outstanding educators, more time in school, a rigorous college-preparatory curricu-lum, and a strong culture of achievement and support helps our students make significant aca-demic gains and continue to excel in high school and college. KIPP DC currently serves more than 3,000 students at ten schools throughout the District of Columbia.

contact us.kipp dc headquarters:1003 K Street, NW | Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20001 202-223-4505 | www.kippdc.org

benning campus:4801 Benning Road, SE Washington, D.C. 20019

douglass campus:2600 Douglass Road, SE Washington, D.C. 20020

shaw campus:421 P Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20001

1003 K Street, NW | Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20001 202-223-4505 | www.kippdc.org

SPOTL IGHTn e w s l e t t e r • w i n t e r 2012

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Stay connected and get the latest KIPP DC news!

This November, after a thorough public proposal and evaluation process, the Office of the Depu-ty Mayor for Education and the Department of General Services recommended that the Council of the District of Columbia award the Webb El-ementary School at 1375 Mount Olivet Road NE to KIPP DC.

KIPP DC will open up three new schools at the Webb Elementary School site. The campus will open in July 2013 with a founding class of PreK3 students at an early childhood school and a founding class of Kindergarten students at an elementary school. A middle school serving students in grades 5-8 will open with a found-ing fifth grade class in July 2014. At capacity, the 100,000 square foot facility will allow KIPP DC to serve an additional 1,000 students each year.

“KIPP DC has more than 3,000 students on its waiting list this school year, so the release of the Webb Elementary School site is an important first step on our path to offering more students access to a high-quality education in this city,” said KIPP DC President and Chief Operating Of-ficer Allison Fansler. “We are eager to negoti-ate the terms of the lease, secure financing for renovations, and execute our vision for a fourth campus.”

The Webb Elementary school site is located in Ward 5 in the Trinidad neighborhood of North-east Washington, D.C. As identified in the Mayor Gray-commissioned IFF study, this neighbor-hood has a “service gap,” with students lacking

access to high-quality seats in neighborhood schools.

“We are excited about KIPP DC’s plans to enrich and enhance the Ward 5 community by offering students a high-quality educational opportunity at a state-of-the-art facility,” said Ward 5 Coun-cilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie. “The Webb El-ementary School site will once again become a fixture in our community.”

Though KIPP DC is one of the highest performing networks of schools in the city, access to facili-ties has been the biggest barrier to KIPP DC’s ex-pansion. KIPP DC remains committed to serving students in the most under-served communities in Washington, D.C. and is pleased to be working with the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Educa-tion and the Department of General Services to do so.

kipp dc will open a fourth campus in northeast d.c.

SAVE THE DATE!

On November 14th, all three schools at KIPP DC’s Shaw Campus had a chance to say thank you to some very special guests at a Thanksgiving Assembly and Rib-bon Cutting. The event honored Mayor Vincent Gray, City Administrator Allen Lew, Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, Director of the Department of Gen-eral Services Brian Hanlon, Chief Operating Officer of the Department of General Services Scott Burrell, and community advocate Martin Moulton. All six honorees played a role in the acquisition and renovation of the Shaw Campus and Bundy Athletic Field. Teachers, staff, and students in PreK3 through eighth grade had a chance to express their thanks for their gorgeous campus and field.

kipp dc’s shaw campus says thank you

KEY Academy • AIM Academy • WILL Academy • LEAP Academy • Promise Academy • College Preparatory • Discover Academy • Grow Academy • Heights Academy • Lead AcademyKEY Academy • AIM Academy • WILL Academy • LEAP Academy • Promise Academy • College Preparatory • Discover Academy • Grow Academy • Heights Academy • Lead Academy

This September, KIPP DC College Preparatory stu-dents got to hear an incredible personal narrative from financial executive and federal government of-ficial Mary K. Bush. This special visit was coordinated through The HistoryMakers, a non-profit group work-ing to preserve and share the life stories of thousands of African Americans.

Ms. Bush was raised in Birmingham, Alabama during the 1950s and spoke of the extreme segregation and challenges she faced as a young African American woman in the south. Her parents, community, and church provided her with the encouragement need-ed to excel in school and go off to college. Ms. Bush went on to have a very successful career in finance and was appointed as United States Alternate Execu-tive Director of the International Monetary Fund. Four years later, she became vice president of international finance for the Federal National Mortgage Associa-tion (Fannie Mae).

Ms. Bush encouraged students at KIPP DC College Preparatory to believe in themselves and to “never let anyone else tell you what you are worth.” She empha-sized the importance of hard work, confidence, and persistence in the face of obstacles.

On November 7th, the D.C. Public Charter School Board announced the results of the Performance Management Framework (PMF), an evalua-tion tool created to assess and monitor charter school performance.

According to the PMF, Tier 1 schools meet stan-dards of high performance; Tier 2 schools fall short of high performance standards but meet minimum overall performance; and Tier 3 schools fall significantly short of high performance stan-dards and could face closure for their inadequate performance.

Every eligible KIPP DC school received a Tier 1 rating on the Performance Management Frame-work. AIM and KEY Academy received the sec-

kipp dc schools earn tier 1 ratings

kipp dc hosts its first college fair KIPP DC hosted its first college fair this fall, giving students from all ten KIPP DC schools access to admissions representatives from across the country.

The fair included a college admission panel, special activities for younger KIPPsters, and representatives from more than sixty colleges and universities, including KIPP College Part-ners like Colby College, University of Pennsyl-vania, Duke University, and Franklin & Marshall College.

KIPPsters were encouraged to bring their parents and guardians to the fair and the event had an incredible turnout. As one elementary school parent said, “It’s never too early to start thinking about college!”

KIPP DC remains committed to supporting all students on their path to and through college and plans to continue the college fair tradition for years to come.

kipp dc & teach for america join forces for the teach learn lead fellowshipThe KIPP DC Teach Learn Lead Fellowship was cre-ated by KIPP DC to accelerate the growth of high-performing Teach for America corps members in the D.C. metropolitan region. The program selects high-performing first and second year TFA corps members and provides them with extensive training and devel-opment from KIPP DC school leaders and master in-structors. These fellows are then encouraged to pur-sue careers in instructional leadership in D.C., helping to close the achievement gap at schools across the city.

mary k. bush visits kipp dc college preparatory

ond and third highest ratings of all charter middle schools and KIPP DC College Preparatory had the third highest rating amongst charter high schools. Only 20 schools received Tier 1 ratings this year.

Unlike the DC CAS score reports, which only measure absolute performance, the PMF takes into account multiple measures, specifically around growth over time and high school and college readiness, to more holistically evaluate each school.

KIPP DC is incredibly proud to have all of its eli-gible schools rated so highly!

NICE WORK!KIPP DC is one of 61 finalists in the Race to the Top-District grant competition. If selected, KIPP DC could win up to $10 million to expand the Capital Teaching Residency program and train 415 high-quality teachers over the next four years!

The KIPP DC College Preparatory football team made it to the D.C. State Athletic Association Semi-finals! Go Panthers!

256 new students enrolled in the KIPP College Accounts program with Citibank. KIPP DC families are starting to save for college as early as fifth grade! KIPP DC alumnus Rayvon Clark has been selected as the Student Representative to the D.C. Board of Education and the United States Senate Youth Program. He will have the opportunity to meet with many Senators and even President Obama! KIPP DC AIM Academy student Javone Love is KIPP DC’s newest Jack Kent Cooke Scholar. KCP students Tyrell Battle, Kasey Davis, Ahmed Braxton, Ty Chung, Jasmine Morgan, and KIPP DC alumna Andranae Nelson were selected as Posse finalists! These students are in the running for four-year, full-tuition college scholarships! KCP student Kimberly Bowen and KIPP DC alumna Akhir Stewart were named finalists for the Questbridge National College Match program. KIPP DC alumna TaNeshia Reed, a senior at Howard University, was awarded a Pepsi Cola Scholarship. This award will help her to complete her final year of college.

The KIPP Foundation has now secured 20 KIPP College Part-ners. The newest partners are Georgetown University and Trin-ity Washington!

“The whole goal of KIPP is to get you

to college - no matter what.”

Kendra Jones, KIPP DC alumna, student at Morgan State University