Why is KIPP doing so badly now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy people moved out of DC. Very easy explanation

Obviously incorrect, though. Wealthy people never sent their kids to KIPP in noticeable numbers, and the public and charter schools where they send their kids are not experiencing the dropping scores that KIPP is seeing.

Yglesias even has another article on that stack backing your statement up. DC is unusual in that the people moving in put their kids in DCPS (at least for elementary)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy people moved out of DC. Very easy explanation

Obviously incorrect, though. Wealthy people never sent their kids to KIPP in noticeable numbers, and the public and charter schools where they send their kids are not experiencing the dropping scores that KIPP is seeing.

Yglesias even has another article on that stack backing your statement up. DC is unusual in that the people moving in put their kids in DCPS (at least for elementary)

It might be worth exploring whether the problem is actually wealthy people moving in to DC, but not into KIPP, ie, maybe gentrification is disproportionately pushing out the type of middle class or aspiring middle class families who historically preferred KIPP, leaving KIPP with a harder-to-educate population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy people moved out of DC. Very easy explanation

Obviously incorrect, though. Wealthy people never sent their kids to KIPP in noticeable numbers, and the public and charter schools where they send their kids are not experiencing the dropping scores that KIPP is seeing.

Yglesias even has another article on that stack backing your statement up. DC is unusual in that the people moving in put their kids in DCPS (at least for elementary)

It might be worth exploring whether the problem is actually wealthy people moving in to DC, but not into KIPP, ie, maybe gentrification is disproportionately pushing out the type of middle class or aspiring middle class families who historically preferred KIPP, leaving KIPP with a harder-to-educate population.

It's hard to know. One of the core problems with DC school data is that "at risk" and "economically disadvantaged" are so broadly defined that there's a wide range within those categories. Someone who's a few dollars away from not being considered at-risk vs a family that's truly in dire poverty are very different to a researcher but that doesnt come out on the data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy people moved out of DC. Very easy explanation

Obviously incorrect, though. Wealthy people never sent their kids to KIPP in noticeable numbers, and the public and charter schools where they send their kids are not experiencing the dropping scores that KIPP is seeing.

Yglesias even has another article on that stack backing your statement up. DC is unusual in that the people moving in put their kids in DCPS (at least for elementary)

It might be worth exploring whether the problem is actually wealthy people moving in to DC, but not into KIPP, ie, maybe gentrification is disproportionately pushing out the type of middle class or aspiring middle class families who historically preferred KIPP, leaving KIPP with a harder-to-educate population.

Lmao that is not happening in 2026. I doubt it's this either, but it would be much more likely in 2026 that it is immigration pushing out the families that would have gone to KIPP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy people moved out of DC. Very easy explanation

Obviously incorrect, though. Wealthy people never sent their kids to KIPP in noticeable numbers, and the public and charter schools where they send their kids are not experiencing the dropping scores that KIPP is seeing.

Yglesias even has another article on that stack backing your statement up. DC is unusual in that the people moving in put their kids in DCPS (at least for elementary)

It might be worth exploring whether the problem is actually wealthy people moving in to DC, but not into KIPP, ie, maybe gentrification is disproportionately pushing out the type of middle class or aspiring middle class families who historically preferred KIPP, leaving KIPP with a harder-to-educate population.

Lmao that is not happening in 2026. I doubt it's this either, but it would be much more likely in 2026 that it is immigration pushing out the families that would have gone to KIPP.

Yet another possibility is that the population is still in DC, but is now less likely to choose KIPP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read this Matty Iglesias piece and raises some really tough questions for KIPP schools in DC, many of which were doing pretty well and then fell off a cliff during and after Covid. A change in leadership was part of it, but is something else going on there? I know this forum does not skew toward KIPP kids at all, but wondering if other parents/educators have insights as it is quite striking.

https://dclocal.substack.com/p/the-stunning-collapse-of-kipp-dc

"Before the pandemic, KIPP DC was a middle-of-the-pack charter network. Its 11 campuses tested about 2,900 students, making it by far the largest charter operator in the District. Its proficiency rates — 37 percent in ELA, 40 percent in math — were roughly in line with the charter sector average and not far from DCPS. Some individual campuses, like Promise Academy (57 percent ELA, 78 percent math) and KEY Academy (46 percent ELA), were doing well. It was a functioning, if unremarkable, school network. That network no longer exists, at least not in any recognizable form. KIPP DC’s ELA proficiency has fallen to 18.4 percent. Its math proficiency has fallen to 14.5 percent. Every single one of the ten campuses that can be compared across time declined. The worst-hit campus, Heights Academy, went from 44 percent ELA proficiency to 10 percent, and from 66 percent math proficiency to 11 percent. This isn’t a dip. It’s a collapse — and three years into post-COVID testing, there is essentially no sign of recovery."

Meanwhile, PCSB won’t let BASIS open a K-4 in DC even though more than 10% of the top 100 ranked public schools in the United States are in the BASIS network….

Smh

BASIS has yet to find a building, since they're only willing to locate in certain high-income areas. So wah.

People actually want a little kid BASIS?

More than they want Kipp

[Anonymous]

KIPP PR team is doing a great job attacking Yglesias for using AI to analyze their OBJECTIVELY TERRIBLE data. Now maybe your very large and very well paid leadership team can teach kids how to read and do math. You know, work hard and be nice.

Could it be that your CEO is making more than the Chancellor but KIPP failing to beat DCPS on almost every measure that matters?

So tired of charter schools failing and no accountability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy people moved out of DC. Very easy explanation

Obviously incorrect, though. Wealthy people never sent their kids to KIPP in noticeable numbers, and the public and charter schools where they send their kids are not experiencing the dropping scores that KIPP is seeing.

Yglesias even has another article on that stack backing your statement up. DC is unusual in that the people moving in put their kids in DCPS (at least for elementary)

It might be worth exploring whether the problem is actually wealthy people moving in to DC, but not into KIPP, ie, maybe gentrification is disproportionately pushing out the type of middle class or aspiring middle class families who historically preferred KIPP, leaving KIPP with a harder-to-educate population.

Lmao that is not happening in 2026. I doubt it's this either, but it would be much more likely in 2026 that it is immigration pushing out the families that would have gone to KIPP.

If you look at the CFO tax report the population at the top of the income distribution is growing, and the population at the bottom is shrinking. Very reductive but the low income no income pop in dc is shrinking pretty rapidly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy people moved out of DC. Very easy explanation

Obviously incorrect, though. Wealthy people never sent their kids to KIPP in noticeable numbers, and the public and charter schools where they send their kids are not experiencing the dropping scores that KIPP is seeing.

Yglesias even has another article on that stack backing your statement up. DC is unusual in that the people moving in put their kids in DCPS (at least for elementary)

It might be worth exploring whether the problem is actually wealthy people moving in to DC, but not into KIPP, ie, maybe gentrification is disproportionately pushing out the type of middle class or aspiring middle class families who historically preferred KIPP, leaving KIPP with a harder-to-educate population.

Lmao that is not happening in 2026. I doubt it's this either, but it would be much more likely in 2026 that it is immigration pushing out the families that would have gone to KIPP.

Yet another possibility is that the population is still in DC, but is now less likely to choose KIPP.

KIPP has always been aimed at lower and lower middle income families who want to avoid the chaos of their local elementary school. That population exists in the DMV but almost never lives in DC because the amenities are not worth it (eg, all the Africans I know think the cultural amenities aren’t worth the chaos and relative risk of being lower income in DC). KIPP is an alternative for people who for one reason or another cannot leave DC and cannot get their kids into a ward 3 school. I suspect COVID made people realize “cannot” wasn’t as true as they thought and a whole bunch of charters’ potential student body moved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy people moved out of DC. Very easy explanation

Obviously incorrect, though. Wealthy people never sent their kids to KIPP in noticeable numbers, and the public and charter schools where they send their kids are not experiencing the dropping scores that KIPP is seeing.

Yglesias even has another article on that stack backing your statement up. DC is unusual in that the people moving in put their kids in DCPS (at least for elementary)

It might be worth exploring whether the problem is actually wealthy people moving in to DC, but not into KIPP, ie, maybe gentrification is disproportionately pushing out the type of middle class or aspiring middle class families who historically preferred KIPP, leaving KIPP with a harder-to-educate population.

Lmao that is not happening in 2026. I doubt it's this either, but it would be much more likely in 2026 that it is immigration pushing out the families that would have gone to KIPP.

If you look at the CFO tax report the population at the top of the income distribution is growing, and the population at the bottom is shrinking. Very reductive but the low income no income pop in dc is shrinking pretty rapidly.

Yes, but that's not because gentrification is "pushing them out." You're falling back on cliches you learned 25 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wealthy people moved out of DC. Very easy explanation

Obviously incorrect, though. Wealthy people never sent their kids to KIPP in noticeable numbers, and the public and charter schools where they send their kids are not experiencing the dropping scores that KIPP is seeing.

Yglesias even has another article on that stack backing your statement up. DC is unusual in that the people moving in put their kids in DCPS (at least for elementary)

It might be worth exploring whether the problem is actually wealthy people moving in to DC, but not into KIPP, ie, maybe gentrification is disproportionately pushing out the type of middle class or aspiring middle class families who historically preferred KIPP, leaving KIPP with a harder-to-educate population.

Lmao that is not happening in 2026. I doubt it's this either, but it would be much more likely in 2026 that it is immigration pushing out the families that would have gone to KIPP.

If you look at the CFO tax report the population at the top of the income distribution is growing, and the population at the bottom is shrinking. Very reductive but the low income no income pop in dc is shrinking pretty rapidly.

Yes, but that's not because gentrification is "pushing them out." You're falling back on cliches you learned 25 years ago.

Eh I don’t think gentrification causes displacement, the research is pretty clear and continues to show that. I just don’t think immigrant populations are swelling at the bottom and keeping people out of KIPP.