The missing KIPP students
Where are all the KIPP students going? A number-crunching colleague alerts me to some eye-catching fluctuations at San Francisco's two KIPP schools. The shifting number of African-American students stand out, so I broke them out to post.
KIPP Bayview Academy
Class of ’07: 81 in 03-04, 85 in 04-05, 55 in 05-06
Class of ’08: 76 in 04-05, 88 in 05-06
Class of ’09: 69 in 05-06
Demographic breakdowns:
Class of ’07: Grade 5, 03-04: 41 AA girls, 24 AA boys; Grade 6, 04-05: 51 AA girls, 18 AA boys. Grade 7, 05-06: 32 AA girls, 12 AA boys.
Class of ’08: Grade 5, 04-05: 32 AA girls, 27 AA boys. Grade 6, 05-06: 34 AA girls, 27 AA boys.
Where did 30 out of 85 students in the class of 2007 go between 6th and 7th grades? Where did 12 out of 24 African-American boys in the class of 2007 go between 5th and 7th grades? Where did 17 out of 51 African-American girls in the class of 2007 go between 6th and 7th grades? And what's with the fluctuating size of the incoming 5th grades, given that KIPP schools are always described as boasting "long waiting lists"?
The patterns are mostly similar with SFUSD's other KIPP school. There's a striking jump, from 49 to 75 students, in the class of '08 between 5th and 6th grades, while the class of '07 drops from 78 to 56 students that same year, between 6th and 7th grades. Were all those students — nearly 30 percent of the class — held to repeat 6th grade? And 50% of the African-American boys in the class of '70 and 35% of the girls vanish between 6th and 7th grades. And the size of the incoming 5th-grade class drops by 32.9 percent between 2003 and 2004, and just edges up by 1 student in 2005.
KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy
Class of ’07: 73 in 03-04 (grade 5), 78 in 04-05 (grade 6), 56 in 05-06 (grade 7)
Class of ’08: 49 in 04-05 (grade 5), 75 in 05-06 (grade 6)
Class of ’09: 50 in 05-06
Demographic breakdowns:
Class of ’07: Grade 5, 03-04: 18 AA girls, 13 AA boys. Grade 6, 04-05: 20 AA girls, 20 AA boys. Grade 7, 05-06: 13 AA girls, 10 AA boys.
Class of ’08: Grade 5, 04-05: 21 AA girls, 11 AA boys. Grade 6, 05-06: 21 AA girls, 15 AA boys.
It's a puzzlement.
— Caroline
KIPP Bayview Academy
Class of ’07: 81 in 03-04, 85 in 04-05, 55 in 05-06
Class of ’08: 76 in 04-05, 88 in 05-06
Class of ’09: 69 in 05-06
Demographic breakdowns:
Class of ’07: Grade 5, 03-04: 41 AA girls, 24 AA boys; Grade 6, 04-05: 51 AA girls, 18 AA boys. Grade 7, 05-06: 32 AA girls, 12 AA boys.
Class of ’08: Grade 5, 04-05: 32 AA girls, 27 AA boys. Grade 6, 05-06: 34 AA girls, 27 AA boys.
Where did 30 out of 85 students in the class of 2007 go between 6th and 7th grades? Where did 12 out of 24 African-American boys in the class of 2007 go between 5th and 7th grades? Where did 17 out of 51 African-American girls in the class of 2007 go between 6th and 7th grades? And what's with the fluctuating size of the incoming 5th grades, given that KIPP schools are always described as boasting "long waiting lists"?
The patterns are mostly similar with SFUSD's other KIPP school. There's a striking jump, from 49 to 75 students, in the class of '08 between 5th and 6th grades, while the class of '07 drops from 78 to 56 students that same year, between 6th and 7th grades. Were all those students — nearly 30 percent of the class — held to repeat 6th grade? And 50% of the African-American boys in the class of '70 and 35% of the girls vanish between 6th and 7th grades. And the size of the incoming 5th-grade class drops by 32.9 percent between 2003 and 2004, and just edges up by 1 student in 2005.
KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy
Class of ’07: 73 in 03-04 (grade 5), 78 in 04-05 (grade 6), 56 in 05-06 (grade 7)
Class of ’08: 49 in 04-05 (grade 5), 75 in 05-06 (grade 6)
Class of ’09: 50 in 05-06
Demographic breakdowns:
Class of ’07: Grade 5, 03-04: 18 AA girls, 13 AA boys. Grade 6, 04-05: 20 AA girls, 20 AA boys. Grade 7, 05-06: 13 AA girls, 10 AA boys.
Class of ’08: Grade 5, 04-05: 21 AA girls, 11 AA boys. Grade 6, 05-06: 21 AA girls, 15 AA boys.
It's a puzzlement.
— Caroline
Labels: Charters
4 Comments:
I checked one KIPP school outside SFUSD at random.
KIPP Bridge College Prep Academy in Oakland Unified:
Class of '06 total went from 87 to 60 to 50 to 36.
Class of '06 AA boys went from 35 to 19 to 15 to 8.
Class of '06 AA girls went from 38 to 30 to 22 to 15.
Class of '07 total went from 82 to 78 to 47.
Class of '07 AA boys went from 38 to 31 to 17.
Class of '07 AA girls went from 31 to 33 to 17.
Class of '08 total went from 76 to 75.
Class of '08 AA boys went from 33 to 27.
Class of '08 AA girls went from 27 to 30.
Class of '09 started out with 63 total (worth noting in connection with those "long waiting lists").
Perhaps the fluctuation is accounted for by retention?
In a couple of cases, the class of '07 drops by close to the same number that the class of '08 gains.
Just a theory.
That is notable -- you're right, Maida. If that's the case, I wonder how many are retained compared to non-KIPP schools.
I can't speak for those KIPP schools in particular - but I do teach at a KIPP school on the east coast.
The neighborhoods where KIPP schools are situated generally have very transient populations. For KIPP this presents a particular set of problems. It is very difficult to acclimate a student from outside of KIPP to KIPP academic rigor and culture after sixth grade. After 2 years, most KIPPsters are significantly outperforming similar students in their neighborhood schools. For a student entering KIPP in the 7th grade, this can be an almost insurmountable gap. In addition, it is much harder to get a 13 year old to buy into the longer day, year and summer school and strict discipline than it was when they were 9 year old 5th graders.
For this reason, we try to take the majority of new students in 5th and 6th grades, and generally do not open spots in the 7th and 8th grades. From what I understand from my colleagues at other KIPP schools, we all tend to have a decline in enrollment as our children move out of the district. (Typical 5/6/7/8 numbers at my school are 85/80/75/70.)
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