Why are KIPP fifth-graders coming less prepared?
In today's paper, I report about KIPP's proposal to open a new charter elementary school in Baltimore in 2009. KIPP -- the acclaimed Knowledge is Power Program, which runs one of Maryland's top middle schools with poor city kids -- already had approval to open a second middle school next year. But the school management network is changing plans after analyzing the declining preparation levels of the incoming fifth-graders at the existing middle school. (KIPP Ujima Village Academy in West Baltimore serves fifth through eighth grades.)
KIPP administers the Stanford 9 standardized test to students as they enter fifth grade. In 2003, the incoming fifth-graders scored at the 30th percentile in reading, the 38th percentile in math and the 32nd percentile in language. In 2007, when the incoming fifth-grade class was tested, those scores had declined to the 16th percentile in reading, the 19th percentile in math and the 15th percentile in language. Every year, the students have come less prepared than the class before.
I asked Jason Botel, executive director of KIPP Baltimore, why he thinks that is. He doesn't know for sure, but he has two theories. One is that elementary schools are spending so much time and emphasis preparing students for the Maryland School Assessments that they aren't teaching them other basic skills that would be measured on a test like the Stanford 9. A second theory is that parents of needier students are choosing to send their kids to a charter school because the traditional public schools aren't working for them.
In any case, KIPP believes it needs to get students younger so there's less ground to make up when they arrive in middle school.
Baltimoresun.com's 
Comments
And the Baltimore Freedom Academy is opening a new middle school this year because their incoming freshmen were so far behind they couldn't accomplish what they wanted in high school.
The next logical step is to steal these future students from the hospital immediately after birth and put them in a boarding charter home.
Posted by: Corey | July 1, 2008 6:59 AM
It truly baffles me why the Teaches union are not embracing alternative learning styles and being a supporter of charter. This kind of achievement, should make public schools and parents step up their game
Posted by: joseph cooke | July 1, 2008 9:34 AM
This is interesting because as far as test scores go, it seems that usually we're told that things are going better in elementary schools. I believe the consensus is that it's in the middle schools where the problems start.
With a little more data I think you could figure out which of Mr. Botels theories is the better hypothesis. You need to look at the trend of MSA scores for the incoming students. If these have been going up while the Standford test go down, then the elementary schools are too focused on the MSA. If these have been going down along with the Standford score, then these are kids that are doing worse than average, because I believe that BCPSS has generally been seeing MSA scores improve.
Posted by: a parent | July 1, 2008 9:36 AM
I would also like to see some research put into the effect all the new "choices" have on the schools that have carried the banner for BCPSS for so long. The many new schools have engaged in marketing strategies that are going to affect current institions like KIPP by siphoining off students from a every shrinking pool.
Posted by: OverTheTop | July 2, 2008 6:49 AM