Do self-selection and attrition matter in KIPP schools?

06-14-2011

Guest blog by Richard D. Kahlenberg/Washington Post

One of the big questions about the highly successful high-poverty KIPP charter schools is whether it’s fair to draw broad policy lessons from them given differences in the student populations they educate compared with regular high-poverty public schools. Ryan Hill, executive director of four KIPP charter schools in Newark, questions my assertion that self-selection of KIPP students, and high attrition rates coupled with low replacement rates, make a difference. He writes in response to my recent post that “it is simply not true that KIPP students have an advantage because ‘by definition, KIPP students are from self-selected families who chose to enter a lottery; and KIPP has very high attrition rates.’” He says that enrolling in KIPP requires a “minimal amount of effort” and points to a June 2010 Mathematica study finding that student attrition rates at KIPP schools are “no different in the aggregate than the average from neighborhood public schools.” But there is ample reason to believe that KIPP enjoys several advantages over traditional high poverty public schools. (more...)

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