The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) is, according to its promoters, a “nationwide network of open-enrollment college-preparatory public [charter] schools in under-resourced communities throughout the United States.” KIPP schools have been heavily promoted in the monopoly media as the key to “closing the achievement gap”. Particular attention has been given to a book celebrating KIPP by Washington Post writer Jay Mathews. The book is titled after the KIPP program theme: Work Hard, Be Nice.

KIPP began in 1994 when Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg completed their Teach For America commitment and launched a program for fifth graders in a public school in inner-city Houston, Texas. Early on, Doris and Donald Fisher, co-founders of Gap Inc., took the lead in bankrolling efforts to replicate KIPP across the U.S. At least $150 million in private funds have been given to KIPP by known supporters of eliminating public education such as the Broad Family Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Robertson Foundation, and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

Although promoted as an open enrollment school, any family wishing to have its children attend KIPP must undergo a home visit by school personnel, where the family and student(s) are instructed in what is required by the KIPP program. Students and parents must sign a contract agreeing to KIPP methods and aims. Even with these selective methods, researchers found that only 60% of originally enrolled students completed the program in one San Francisco KIPP school. Sara Mosle, an education writer for Slate Magazine, found that “the academic program at KIPP is relentless in its back-to-basics focus: a boot camp that runs nearly 10 hours a day, from 7:30 a.m. until 5 p.m., not including transportation and homework, and half a day every other Saturday…. There is a lot of rote learning and test prep,” at KIPP, she said.

According to education researcher Jim Horn, KIPP adopts the motivational methods of psychologist Martin Seligman. Horn notes that Seligman’s methods are also used by CIA interrogators, who use his method of “learned helplessness” to control “terrorists.”

Reports of KIPP Abuse and Cheating

Between April and June 2008, parents of children attending KIPP Academy Fresno Charter Middle School (California) filed multiple complaints with the Fresno Unified School District about practices at the school. Even though the District passed the complaints to the KIPP Board to investigate, the Board had no authority to demand answers or to make personnel changes and, therefore, advised the District to take charge of the investigation.

Following an investigation, a 64 page Notice to Cure and Correct report was issued on December 11, 2008 to the general counsel for San Francisco-based KIPP schools. The principal of the school has since resigned (though his name is still listed on the KIPP website), but no charges have been filed against him or the school. The school remains open.

Similar complaints have been made against a KIPP school in Fulton County, Georgia. Although released more than three months ago, no major news outlet has carried the story of the Fresno KIPP report detailing abuse and cheating, nor does the Atlanta Journal Constitution, in covering the Fulton KIPP case, mention Fresno.

Below are excerpts from the report. Note the names of many of witnesses were blocked out in the report. The complete report can be downloaded from here.

Alleged Abusive of Students

Witnesses saw Mr. Tschang (the school’s principal) “pick up a student off the ground, hold the student by the neck against a wall, and then drop the student.” When asked about this incident Mr Tschang stated, “I don’t remember picking up and dropping a student, I do remember shaking a kid.”

Witnesses report Tschang push another student’s face against the wall and saying, “Put your ugly face against the wall, I don’t want to see your face.”

Another student reported witnessing Mr. Tschang “draw a circle on the ground and force a student to stand in the circle for two hours in the sun during the summertime.”

A student at KIPP from 2004 to 2007, stated that in the 04-05 term he saw “Mr. Tchang pick students up and drop them. If a student wasn’t sitting correctly he would pick them up by their shirt, move the chair, and drop them on the floor.”

A student said that in December of 2007, Mr. Tschang told him to get on his hands and knees and bark like a dog.

Students who were late to school “would not be allowed to eat their meals provided by the state.” Student (name deleted) stated that Mr. Tschang told her, “People who are late don’t get to eat.”

A parent reported that Mr. Tschang took a student’s “glasses away from him because” he “was constantly adjusting his glasses.” The student is totally dependent on his glasses and cannot see without them. “Mr. Tschang admitted to taking (name deleted) glasses away.”

“Several students stated that students are not allowed to talk or socialize at all during school hours.” When asked about this policy, Mr. Tschang stated, “If parents are not happy with the school program, it is a school of choice. They are free (and indeed encouraged) to remove their kids from the school. There are plenty of other public school options for their children.”

A parent “confronted Mr. Tschang about yelling at her daughter who was a student at the school.” She reported that she told Mr. Tschang she did not appreciate Mr. Tschang yelling at her daughter. Mr. Tschang responded, “well next time I won’t yell, I will ask you to leave the school.” Mr. Tschang told the investigator, “my thought on this is if a parent or child is not happy with our disciplinary methods; to get the results we do, discipline and structure is a part of the way we instruct; you can’t have it both ways. This is a school of choice.”

It was reported that Mr. Tschang put “the entire 5th grade class into a two stall bathroom and kept them there for 20 minutes. …

Mr. Tschang admitted that he did ask students to go into the bathroom and figure out a way to solve the bathroom vandalism issue.”

“Mr. Tschang put a garbage can on a student’s head. Mr. Tschang admitted to putting the garbage can over the student’s head because the student, (name deleted), had been clowning around.”

“A 5th grade class had their behavior tested by being left unattended in the cafeteria where a video camera recorded their actions. Mr. Tschang told the investigator that this was an exercise to ask the students the question, “What are you doing when no one is watching?”

“A common complaint from students was that teachers were not letting student go the bathroom.” One student reported that “there was a student in Ms. Sosa’s class who urinated in his pants because he was not allowed to use the restroom.” Student who started with the Charter School in 2004 and just graduated in 2008, stated, “They would not let us use the bathroom during classes. Parents heard about this and they had to have a meeting to get hem to alow us this, to allow us to go to the bathrooms.”

Alleged Irregularities in Standardized Testing

The report indicated that “tests were stored in a location where students and parents had access to the tests;” two years in a row, the Charter School failed to abide by mandated testing procedures, and the testing coordinator failed to report testing irregularities for the 2005-2006 STAR testing session; “the school adopted a policy that students were required to check their answers again and again after they had finished their tests and were not allowed to do other activities”; “teachers recorded students’ answers during testing, reviewed students’ tests, and told students which page to correct”.

In a staff meeting in May of 2006, staff were told by the principal that the legal and ethical guidelines for testing were, in fact, only guidelines that could be ignored.

Alleged Efforts to Cheat the National School Lunch Program

“Vincent Montgomery was the Charter School’s Chief Operating Officer from February 2005 to April of 2006. He told investigators that Mr. Tschang would ask him why the school was losing so much money on the school lunch program and instructed Mr. Montgomery to count students as present whether they were there or not. Mr. Montgomery disagreed because he thought that this practice was illegal.”

Suspension and Suspension Procedures

Throughout the school years from 2004 to 2008, the Charter School failed to abide by the California Eduation Code grounds and procedures for suspension of students.

The report found that a student was “left outside without supervision for three hours for a minor infraction that occurred during breakfast.”

Witnesses report “students being forced to stay in small rooms near the school’s office for hours or even entire days withou supervision”. Parents “of suspended studetns were frequently not notified of the suspensions.”
Students were routinely sent home for non-serious offenses like talking in class, chewing gum, and bringing a mechanical pencil to school.

The report also found that “students were routinely transported from school without their parents being notified.”

Work Hard, Be Nice, Or Else

While several corporate charter school supporters — including Jay Mathews — have attempted to hide these crimes or present them as anomalies, still insisting KIPP schools as the “most successful public schools” in the United States, the crimes reported in the Fresno Unified School District report are consistent with what Mathews himself chronicles in his book celebrating KIPP. With apparent approval, Mathews speaks of how the KIPP founders Levin and Feinberg loaded children into a windowless U-Haul trailer for a local field “lesson” and how Feinberg smashes a chair through a plate glass window in front of children who failed to be silent during a movie (see Jim Horn’s essay review).

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Good afternoon and thank you.

It’s hard to believe Barack Obama was sworn in less than three weeks ago. This city seems to pack three or four days into every 24-hour period—and the news changes so frequently that it’s hard to stay abreast.

On the other hand, 91 years ago—when the American Council on Education was founded—we had an academic in the White House, we were a nation at war—and we were confronting a new global economic and political reality that required us to think differently and act boldly.

So in some ways things haven’t changed. Today we’re fighting a war that diverts us from other priorities. We face a new global reality that requires us to think differently and act boldly. And once again we have an academic for a president.

But this President is different from all of the others who came before him.

Unlike most of them, he did not grow up in privilege. Everything he and the First Lady have is because of their education and their hard work.

Unlike all of them, he and his wife are African-American—and the fact that they are minorities provides an extraordinary opportunity to inspire all Americans to learn.

I call it the Barack effect. It’s the soft power that accompanies the symbolism of an African-American president who has made education cool and exciting and infinitely promising.

This is not insignificant. I grew up on the South Side of Chicago working and living with young children of color.

These kids were threatened every day. They lacked role models to protect them and guide them to a safe place where learning was valued and rewarded.

Barack and Michelle Obama can be those role models on a national scale—and that’s just one reason I am hopeful.

I am also hopeful because the leadership in Congress is so committed to education. They are very passionate about the issue—and they recognize its importance to our future.

I am hopeful because of the incredible progress in school districts, colleges and universities all across the country—developing new learning models—new educational approaches—and bringing new energy and ideas to the field of education.

From Teach for America to the KIPP charter schools to instructional innovations at colleges and universities, we have proven strategies ready to go to scale.

We also have the greatest higher education system in the world for people who can access it.

And I am especially hopeful because the stimulus package on the Hill includes a historic level of one-time education funding that will not only save or create jobs but will also lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform and progress.

While the numbers are still fluid and the Senate bill is different from the House, it appears that there will be enough money to close the shortfall in Pell grant funding and boost grants by several hundred dollars.

There will also be an expanded tuition tax credit to make college more affordable.

There will be some money to help stabilize states—though not nearly as much as we need. The Senate version is only half of what the House approved.

During the conference process, we need to push for every dollar we can get because public universities and community colleges desperately need that money to avert cuts—and it is crucial that it pass quickly.

This is not just good education policy. It’s good economic policy.

According to a University of Washington study that will be released later today, almost 600,000 education jobs are at risk of state budget cuts.

Without that state money, hundreds of thousands teachers and professors will be collecting unemployment instead of teaching children and young people.

Astonishingly, the Senate proposal has dropped the money for school modernization that was approved by the House—which makes no sense—since it would create new jobs quickly.

There are shovel-ready education projects in schools and universities all across America.

Later this week I will be traveling to a suburban community college with projects just waiting for funding—so I am hopeful that the construction money survives.

Finally, I am very excited about a $15 billion “Race to the Top” fund approved by the House. The Senate version is somewhat smaller but it is still significant.

The President is deeply committed to this program because it will enable us to spur reform on a national scale—driving school systems to adopt college and career-ready, internationally benchmarked standards.

It will incent them to put in place state of the art data collection systems, assessments and curricula to meet these higher standards.

And it will encourage states to recruit, train, mentor and support a great, new generation of teachers who can better prepare our students for college and work.

Taken together—the Barack effect—the leadership on the Hill—the proven strategies—and the money in the stimulus package—represent what I call—the perfect storm for reform—a historic alignment of interests and events that could lift American education to an entirely new level.

Given the state of our economy, the pace of technological change, and the scope of our collective challenges—no other issue is more pressing.

While we have a vital higher education system in America and a research arm that is the envy of the world—college is beyond the reach of most Americans—and high school is not nearly enough.

I don’t need to tell you that America has lost its global leadership in education.

K-12 achievement levels leave millions of young people unprepared for work or for college.

This is a national crisis that is rapidly creating an entire class of Americans who are unable to share in the benefits of a modern, progressive and productive society.

There simply are no good jobs for people without an education.

As all of you know—the rubber meets the road when they show up at your school. Too many of them need remedial programs just to keep up.

Too many take too long to finish.

Two year programs stretch to three or four years. Four year degrees stretch to six.

Many students simply never get through—either for academic or financial reasons—or because they just don’t get the support they need.

And the question is, what can we do about it? What can we do together—not only to make college more accessible—but to boost our overall success rate?

We have to start by recognizing that our system of education is not aligned. Every state has different high school standards.

If we accomplish one thing in the coming years—it should be to eliminate the extreme variation in standards across America.

I know that talking about standards can make people nervous—but the notion that we have fifty different goalposts is absolutely ridiculous.

A high school diploma needs to mean something—no matter where it’s from.

We need standards that are college-ready and career-ready, and benchmarked against challenging international standards.

We also need to break the culture of blame in which colleges blame high schools and high schools blame grade schools and grade schools blame parents for our failures.

We are all part of one system of learning that begins at birth and never stops.

The President talked about responsibility in his inaugural speech.

He tells parents that raising children is a job that requires time, energy, resources, love and commitment.

He tells unions that with American education in crisis—we can’t be limited by ideology.

We all must honestly acknowledge failed strategies of the past and explore new ones—from charter schools to performance pay—and if they’re not working we must be honest about that also.

So—I’m here today to extend that message to the higher education community. We face a number of challenges—starting with graduation rates.

We must work together to ensure that young people are not overwhelmed by financial, social or academic pressures and choose to drop out.

We are all defined by their success.

We can make the financial aid process simpler and make college more affordable—both in good economic times and in bad ones.

We need to ensure that federal loans continue to be available to every student and parent that qualifies—and we must do more to keep college affordable.

We can work together to strengthen colleges of education that will produce the next generation of teachers.

We need to challenge ourselves at the Department of Education as well.

Instead of being a compliance-driven bureaucracy we must become an engine of innovation, reform and support. I know from my time as a superintendent that we are a long way from meeting that goal.

So today, I offer my hand in partnership to you. I pledge the full power and authority of this administration to help advance the educational interests of our students.

Our education system—at every level—can and should be the best.

We remain the world’s melting pot—welcoming people of every culture and offering them an opportunity that no other country in the world provides.

We are still a beacon of hope to people throughout the world who live under tyranny, ignorance and poverty.

For the millions and millions of struggling Americans who wake up each day and worry about the uncertain future that awaits their children—we remain their only path to a meaningful and rewarding life.

Providing every child in America with a good education is both a moral imperative and an economic imperative.

It’s also a matter of social justice. It is the civil rights issue of our generation—the one and only way to overcome the differences of wealth, background and race that divide us and deny us our future.

I came to Washington with one goal—to give every single child in America the very best education possible.

I know that you and so many others share that goal—and I am absolutely confident that with your help, the President’s leadership, and the support of our Congress and the American people, that goal will be met.

Thank you.

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