By January, they will be in Atlanta, Houston, Washington, D.C., and rural North Carolina, working full-time to set up their schools, each scheduled to open with 75 fifth graders next year. But the KIPP franchise is nothing new. And the schools that are actually raising achievement are attracting big money from investors to open more schools. The largest among these, Edison Schools, Inc. will soon have 108 campuses in 21 states, each copying a detailed formula. Private investors will reward achievement and help emulate successful schools.
Critics worry that such brand-name schools are out to profit at the expense of children.
A growing body of evidence suggests this formula is working. Edison, for example, recently announced impressive results from last year's students. Academic gains were up 20 percent over the previous year. Edison students made gains that were up to 7 times higher than the national average as measured by the federal government's National Assessment of Education Progress. More than 70 percent of Edison's students are minority and many of the largest gains have occurred in schools that are overwhelmingly African American or Hispanic.