KIPP Leadership Practices through 2010-2011

The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) is the largest public charter school network in the United States, with 141 elementary, middle, and high schools in the 2013–2014 school year. The network has grown rapidly from KIPP’s first fifth grade classes in 1994 and plans to add 23 more schools in fall 2014. KIPP schools and regions are often cited as exemplars of successful charter schools and effective practices (Lake et al. 2012; Mathews 2009). Key elements of KIPP’s model—the Five Pillars that helped lay the foundation for the “No Excuses” model—have strongly influenced the charter school community and even traditional public schools (Mathews 2009; Thernstrom and Thernstrom 2004; see Houston Independent School District’s Apollo 20 program).