Together, A Future Without Limits
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Introducing our 2027 Strategic Plan: Lighting the Path
|
We made a commitment to the KIPP Baltimore community via our mission and vision. Delivering the educational resources and experiences that our students deserve - and the guidance, access to information, advocacy, and cheerleading that our alumni have asked for - requires bold prioritization and focus.
Through the past two years, we’ve met with hundreds of alumni, teachers, students, and community members to better understand the gap between who we are and who we want to - and can - be as an organization. I’m excited to share the four strategic priorities that I believe will guide KIPP Baltimore to full attainment of our promise to every student, every day:
-
Learning Experience: We will define our core school model and build teacher capacity to deliver an excellent learning experience for students by strengthening and aligning instructional systems across pK-8.
-
School Culture: We will develop a joyful, affirming and engaging school culture that respects and celebrates the unique backgrounds, cultures, and identities of our students, staff and families and that allows every student to learn.
-
Talent & Equity: Attract, retain, and support talent to pursue inspiring career pathways anchored in our commitment to anti-racist and equity-based mindsets.
-
Alumni Success: Expand programming and strengthen supports so that more students plan for, enter, and complete post-secondary pathways that lead to careers of highest aspiration, financial freedom and fulfilling lives
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I’ve challenged our leadership to keep a laser focus on these priorities, and our Board is leading us to develop a cogent scorecard to help us report on shared progress toward our goals. In our next newsletter, I’ll outline these metrics.
In the meantime, please join me in celebrating two of the programs that demonstrate our ability to achieve rigorous goals in partnership with students, alumni, and families: KIPP Baltimore’s Foundational Literacy Imperative and KIPP Forward’s Countdown to College summer program.
- Marsha Reeves
Executive Director, KIPP Baltimore
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Dee Sawyer, KIPP Baltimore's Board Chairperson, is the head of U.S. Intermediaries (USI) and Retirement Plan Services (RPS) at T. Rowe Price. She is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.; a member of the firm's Management Committee; and serves on the Product and Investment Management Steering Committees. This is Dee's sixth year serving on KIPP Baltimore's Board of Directors.
|
|
|
|
Natalia Walter Adamson, Chief Academic Officer, joined KIPP Baltimore the Founding Principal of KIPP Harmony Academy in 2009 after completing the Fisher Fellowship with the KIPP Foundation. Natalia came to Baltimore as a corps member in the Teach For America program, where she taught 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade; she has also served in a number of leadership roles at Teach For America Institutes around the United States.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Learning Experience Highlight: Foundational Literacy
|
|
|
|
|
|
During the 2021-22 school year, KIPP Harmony Academy leaders, teachers, and support staff engaged in a year-long professional development program focused on the Science of Reading (SOR). Teachers, instructional assistants, and coaches participated in weekly collaborative planning; observation/debrief cycles; real-time coaching; and content internalization practices with a focus on implementing new content knowledge during the literacy instruction block. |
|
Our target - outlined in our 2027 Strategic Plan - is for 90% of KIPP Baltimore kindergarteners, first, and second graders to read on grade level by the end of school year 2023-24.
We are pleased to report significant gains in reading throughout our early elementary grades (K-2) during our first year of implementation at KIPP Harmony Academy. Not only did Baltimore KIPPsters close - and even reverse - the gap between beginning of year reading levels and the national average, but the percentage of K-2 Baltimore KIPPsters making average, above average, or well above average growth exceeded both national and KIPP cohort percentages.
More than three quarters of all KIPP Baltimore early childhood students made average, above average, or well above average growth from beginning of year to end of year, regardless of the performance level at which they began the 2021-22 school year.
|
|
|
|
|
At the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, KIPP Baltimore had a lower percentage of students reading at or above benchmark compared to students who took mCLASS across the nation for each grade; by the end of the year, the gap between KIPP Baltimore and the national sample got smaller or even reversed for each grade.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Without question, the results that our student readers achieved during Year 1 of our Foundational Literacy Imperative positions them for continued reading success. Whether or not our students currently read on or above grade level, KIPPsters’ exceptional rates of growth in Kindergarten through 2nd grade support our belief that every student can achieve at high levels.
|
|
|
|
Alumni Success Highlight: Countdown to College
|
|
|
|
|
|
This summer, 58 alumni from our Pride (class) of 2023 participated in KIPP Forward’s five-week Countdown to College program on the University of Baltimore campus.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Countdown to College program continues to have a profound impact on our alumni as they prepare to enter their senior year of high school and build KIPPsters’ confidence to make critical steps along their chosen path. Providing access to a college level experience, support from fellow KIPP alums serving as Teaching Assistants, and the opportunity to hear from professionals in a variety of careers, in addition to support in preparing for the college application process are cornerstones to the success of this program.
Many thanks to our 2022 Countdown to College sponsors and partners: The Lockhart Vaughan Foundation; the MSDE Next Generation Scholars program; the Thomas Wilson Foundation; the University of Baltimore; and Truist.
|
|
|
|
|
Maryland State Senator Cory McCray speaks to the Pride of 2023 at this summer's Countdown to College program. In addition to sharing his pathway to community leadership, Senator McCray also described the profound impact that his apprenticeship as an electrician had on his life.
|
|
|
|
|
Meet Keyonnah, Pride of 2023 |
By the end of her junior year, Keyonnah (Pride of 2023) was pretty certain that she would not pursue additional education after high school graduation. Having spent a large percentage of her high school years learning online, Keyonnah said she had no opportunity to learn about post-secondary options or to discuss her choices with a high school counselor. She remembers feeling scared and overwhelmed, as though she was "walking blind." Keyonna heard about KIPP's Countdown to College program and was excited to discover that she could be paid to participate through KIPP’s partnership with Baltimore City Youthworks. On July 5th, Keyonnah arrived for her summer job. The experience, Keyonnah says, turned out to be "amazing."
Through guest speakers and college credit-earning coursework, the interest she already had in entrepreneurship grew. She loved a UB business class assignment that challenged her to create a logo to define her business concept’s brand, and taught her valuable information on the importance of copyrights. The mystery surrounding the college process slowly dissipated. Keyonnah created an FSA ID in preparation for the financial aid application process, and learned about the steps needed to apply to college. Her choices began to feel more real, and - importantly - more attainable. As Keyonnah begins her senior year, she is weighing a variety of post-secondary options, and she has decided that college is a strong possibility. Keyonnah is thinking about majoring in entrepreneurship and minoring in fine arts or graphic design. She shared, "Before[CTC], I knew nothing about college and how to apply for it. Now I have a better understanding of what to expect in the future."
|
|
|
|
|
|
School Culture Highlight Building Joyful Community
|
|
|
|
|
|
On Friday, September 23, more than 1,000 members of the KIPP Baltimore community - students, teachers, alumni, staff, and their families - converged at Baltimore’s Camden Yards ballpark.
|
The Orioles beat the Houston Astros 6-0, and every KIPPster felt like a winner. |
Organized by our School Community Site Specialist in partnership with KIPP’s Talent & Equity team, this joyful community-building event was made possible by the KIPP Foundation Opportunity Fund. |
|
|
|
|
Together, A Future Without Limits
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2000 Edgewood Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21216 | ph: 443.457.3140 | fx: 410.826.5513 | info@kippbaltimore.org |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
