The Walton Family Foundation today announced a $25.5 million investment in the KIPP Foundation with the goal of doubling the number of students attending KIPP public charter schools by 2015. The money, which will be provided during the next five years, also is intended to help KIPP increase the college completion rate of its students, officials said.
KIPP's national network includes 109 public charter schools in 20 states and the District of Columbia. At the start of the current school year, KIPP was serving 32,000 students from under-resourced urban and rural neighborhoods. In a press release announcing the investment, foundation officials cited KIPP's track record of student success as one of the reasons behind the large investment.
According to a Mathematica Policy Research study released last year, the vast majority of KIPP middle schools have achieved significant academic gains in math and reading, while serving a student population that has lower entering test scores and a higher percentage of low-income students than neighboring district schools.
“We are honored and grateful that the Walton Family Foundation has made this catalytic investment,” said Richard Barth, KIPP Foundation CEO. “Thanks to their support, we will be able to double the number of students we serve over the next five years while continuing to foster a culture of continuous improvement and sustainability in our schools.”
Officials believe KIPP's enrollment could grow from 27,000 students in 2010-11 to 59,000 students in 2015-16. In addition to growth in student enrollment, the grant will help KIPP efforts to train more than 750 educators to open new KIPP charter schools as well as take on increased leadership roles within existing schools. The money also will be used to support national advocacy, professional development for KIPP teachers, knowledge sharing, and research and data initiatives, officials said.
The grant will not directly fund operations for any KIPP schools. Each KIPP region operates independently and is responsible for additional fundraising to support its own operations and regional growth initiatives.
“Through our investment in KIPP, the Walton Family Foundation seeks to expand the high-performing school options available to low-income parents. KIPP wants to make a deeper and broader impact in the communities it serves, and we welcome the opportunity to help,” said Jim Blew, who leads the foundation’s K-12 education reform efforts. “KIPP has an established track record of creating public charter schools of excellence in low-income communities, and there is growing evidence that traditional public school systems are striving to replicate KIPP’s successes.”
Some funds also will be used to help KIPP strengthen the college graduation rate of its alumni. KIPP expects to have 10,000 alumni enrolled in college by 2015. To date, more than 85 percent of students who have graduated from KIPP middle schools have matriculated to college. According to KIPP's College Completion Report, 33 percent of students who completed eighth grade at a KIPP school 10 or more years ago have graduated from a four-year college. The completion rate is higher than the national average (31 percent) and four times the rate for students living in low-income communities (8 percent), officials said. KIPP's goal is to achieve a college completion rate of 50 percent by 2016 and eventually reach 75 percent, which it says is the same success rate for students from affluent families.
The Walton Family Foundation has a history of investing in programs and organizations that expand parental choice and equal opportunity in education. Prior to this investment, the foundation had invested more than $32 million in KIPP since 2002. The $25.5 million grant is the largest single investment the foundation has made to the KIPP Foundation.
