On November 9-10, the US Department of Education bestowed the Blue Ribbon award to 285 public schools and 50 private schools across the country. The goal of the 33-year-old program is to recognize the best performing schools in the nation: public, charter, private, magnet, alternative or Title I.
For teachers, students and families, the Blue Ribbon award is a huge accomplishment. “This honor recognizes your students’ accomplishments and the hard work and dedication that went into their success…You represent excellence—in vision, in implementation, and in results—and we want to learn as much as we can from you,” said US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a video message to the awardees.
The majority of 2015 Blue Ribbon winners — 303 of 335 schools — fall into the “Exemplary High Performing” school category. This means the school is among the top 15% as measured by its test results in English language arts and mathematics, among other criteria. This year, fifteen Blue Ribbon winners are charter schools, and five of the charters are Title I status. KIPP STRIVE Academy in Atlanta is one of the five Title I charter schools, and it was the only middle school to receive the award.
KIPP STRIVE’s student body — 99% black and 78% qualifying for free and reduced-price meals — are shattering demographic and class-based myths about student achievement. Results from Georgia’s 2013 test show that KIPP STRIVE students are outperforming statewide results, as seen below.
2013 CRCT RESULTS
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Once students graduate, a number of them enroll in high-performing public high schools or earn a scholarship to attend a private high school. Contrary to popular belief, KIPP STRIVE’s leadership is not enticing the “best and brightest” students to enroll at KIPP STRIVE just to boost test scores, a claim opponents of charter schools often make.
I was blessed to work with a diverse group of visionaries from 2007-2009 to open KIPP STRIVE. Today, I am proud of what the school is doing to prepare its students for high school, college, and beyond.
As I reflect on the opening of KIPP STRIVE, I wanted to share some things I learned about school organization that other founding school board members or Parent-Teacher Organizations (PTO) across the country should keep in mind.
A quality principal matters—a lot: Leadership is essential to any school. Ed Chang, our founding principal, was well trained through Building Excellent Schools and the Fisher Fellowship. Find a principal with the requisite qualifications for leadership and invest in additional professional development.
Regulatory relief matters: Our principal hired all teachers and staff, managed the school budget, and negotiated many of the school’s contracts. Georgia’s charter law, coupled with supportive Atlanta Public School regulations, made this possible. School founders and PTO members should push for site-based autonomy. In my experience, shedding layers of bureaucracy gives school leaders the best chance to create well-functioning and high-performing schools.
Board members do not manage a school: Trustees must stay in their lane — they need to govern, and not crossover into school-level management. Board members must leverage their professional network to support the school and let the principal do the managing.
A school-parent partnership is more than a slogan — it must be a lifestyle: KIPP STRIVE’s principal and board members visited nearly 150 homes to speak with parents about the mission of the school, our expectations of students, and our expectations of parents. Parents are unaccustomed to school personnel visiting their home, but these conversations are important for conveying the belief that parents have a bargain to uphold, too.
Creating a Blue Ribbon school like KIPP STRIVE does not happen overnight. It takes intentional and thoughtful leadership, and it requires conditions that allow those leaders to have the autonomy to act on their innovative instincts.
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