The Charlotte Post - "Learning Curve"

By Herbert L. White
May 29, 2008

KIPP Academy Charlotte founder Keith Burnam expected a typical opening day for the first-year school last August.

What he got was overwhelming.

“We thought we’d have 80 students,” said Keith Burnam, founder of KIPP Academy Charlotte. “That first day we had 95, so we were over-enrolled.”

KIPP, or Knowledge Is Power Program, was started in 1994 by former Teach for America participants Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin in the inner city of Houston, Texas. In 1995, Levin left Houston to start the KIPP Academy in South Bronx, N.Y. Today KIPP is a national network of 57 free open enrollment college-prepatory schools, which prepare underserved students for college and life. KIPP features an extended school hours and academic calendar; students attend school weekdays from 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m., alternating Saturdays from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., and a three-week summer session.

“Students didn’t know how much we believed in the KIPP philosophy until they stayed until 5 p.m. that first day,” Burnam said.

In 2001, KIPP first extended to North Carolina with KIPP Gaston, and KIPP Academy Charlotte opened in 2007 at 931 Wilann Drive, on the Plaza between Eastway and Milton. Burnam taught math at KIPP Gaston College Prep. While gaining experience as the math department’s chair and dean of students, he laid the foundation to start his own school. The first year has come with its share of growing pains, but also laid a foundation for the future.

“Right now we have 80 kids signed up for next year; we will take 90,” said Burnam. “We doubled in size. Our internal structure and operations we’ll have to beef up. In terms of student culture [next year], everything won’t be new. The sixth graders will have already been through it, and they will pave the way for the fifth graders.”

KIPP Charlotte will add a grade every year, reaching full capacity in grades 5-8 in the 2010-2011. Yet, each year is an opportunity for the teachers and the students to meet the school’s mission – to prepare students to excel in high school and college by cultivating the habits of academics and character skills necessary for their success. The mission has not been a simple one.

“Kids came in behind in math and reading,” Burnam said. “They came in at early third grade (level) math and mid- to average third grade reading. Only 46 percent came within passing the (N.C. End of Grade tests) when they came in. We expect that number to be very different by the end of this year.”

But it is more than just the grades that have changed for these students.

A very shy, but polite 10-year-old held the door for a reporter before going inside himself, then directed the reporter to the office without prompting.

“We tout academics,” said Burnam, “but teaching values and strong character is our most important thing.”

“Teachers are focused on targeting lessons and the curriculum, on the needs of the students,” KIPP Director of Operations Meghan Gray said.

In the classroom, green cards represent objectives that have been mastered, yellow represent objectives that are almost mastered and red signals more work is needed.

“We strive for 100 percent in everything we do,” Gray said.

Student goals are made easier with an opportunity to work with teachers, and peer tutors. Also, special classes called Reading Intervention and Math Intervention give teachers a chance to work with struggling students.

“The kids understand that they need to work to get better so they can improve, so there is no stigma,” explained Gray.

Students get an extra hour with just three or four other students with a teacher in order to get that extra help. An hour and half of study hall is built into the schedule after lunch, so that students can have that intervention time, without missing any of their regular classes.

“Study hall also allows them to get started on their homework for the day,” added Gray, “to see if they are struggling with an objective and to get some help before they leave. The students have really embraced it.”

And according to Burnam, so has the community.

“The Charlotte community has been phenomenal,” exclaimed Burnam. “We got a lot of help, just from people coming in to volunteer or spread the word, or just saying they wanted to see us do well and prosper.”

The word spread to Lashonda Coleman just last week, and she immediately signed her child up.

“The school where he is at now, we’re having issues with the teacher, as far as the learning environment,” explained Coleman. A woman at the front desk of her child’s current school recommended she look into KIPP Academy, and Coleman liked what she saw. “The hours...the program, I love it. I filled out the enrollment papers today.”

At KIPP the work isn’t the students alone. Parents also help. “Our parents are putting in an outstanding effort,” said Burnam. “They are really rallying around the idea of whatever it takes to get kids to college.”

With 95 percent African American enrollment and five percent Latino and a two to one boy to girl ratio, KIPP Charlotte hasn’t let the loss of any student make them rethink their focus at all.

“We’re honest with parents,” Burnam said, “We offer the best in education, but we don’t have a basketball team or other amenities. We’re positive they will see a noticeable difference in their child’s behavior.”

And if the numbers for past KIPP programs are any indication, there will also be noticeable differences in test scores.

• In the 2006-07 school year, approximately two-thirds of KIPP fifth grade classes outperformed their local districts in reading/English language arts (67 percent) and in mathematics (63 percent).

• In 2006-07, 100 percent of KIPP eighth grade classes outperformed district averages in reading/language arts and mathematics.

KIPP Charlotte students are excited about EOGs; anxious to show how much they’ve learned through their test scores. The regular school year ends on June 5, with parent conferences the next day. On June 10, KIPP Charlotte’s Pride of 2015 – each class gets a nickname for its high school graduation year – will go to Washington, D.C. for a tour of Howard, Morgan State, Georgetown and George Washington universities.

“Already we’ve gone to North Carolina A&T, Johnson C. Smith, and Johnson & Wales,” Gray said. “We wanted to expose them to what’s in the community. We’ll start [close] in the fifth grade, but as we go on we’ll expand to New York, Boston, and even California.”

Summer school starts August 11, and will roll straight into the 2008-2009 school year, giving teachers and students a bit of a break, according to Burnam.

KIPP Academy Charlotte has reached its capacity for sixth graders, but is still accepting enrollment for fifth graders. “I think ultimately we are excited,” he said. “It’s very important, for KIPP to thrive in Charlotte to get a funding base. We need to rally the community behind us. After summer school is finished, we’ll hit the community, knocking on doors...again.”