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Empowering Poor Students Through Knowledge

November 12, 2013 / 27:00

This episode features Michael Feinberg, co-founder of the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) Foundation, discussing the foundation's growth, challenges, and educational philosophy. Topics include KIPP's approach to education, the importance of great teaching, and the impact of socio-economic factors on student success.

Feinberg shares his journey from teaching in Teach for America to launching KIPP in 1994 with Dave Levin. He reflects on the challenges they faced as new teachers and how their experiences led to the creation of a network of 141 schools serving over 50,000 students.

The conversation highlights KIPP's commitment to long school days, high expectations, and the belief that promises to children are sacred. Feinberg emphasizes the importance of recruiting passionate teachers and school leaders to maintain educational quality.

Feinberg also discusses KIPP's expansion into international education and the challenges of scaling their model while ensuring quality. He stresses the need for financial literacy and character development in students to help them succeed in college and beyond.

Finally, Feinberg expresses his vision for KIPP's future, aiming to close the achievement gap and inspire other schools to improve their educational outcomes.

TL;DR

Michael Feinberg discusses KIPP's growth, challenges, and commitment to quality education for underserved students.

Episode

27:00
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our guest today is michael feinberg
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co-founder of the knowledge is power
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program
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kip foundation
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he launched kip in 1994 with his partner
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dave levin
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today almost 20 years later it has grown
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into a network of 141
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high-performing schools
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in 20 states all over the u.s
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the network serves more than 50 000
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students
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most of whom are from low-income
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african-american or latino families
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mike thank you so much for joining us
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today thank you for having me here it's
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a pleasure
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now before you started kipp you taught
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third grade
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fifth grade for three years as part of
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the teach for america program
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could you tell me the story of
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your first teaching experience and how
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that led to the creation of kip
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sure actually i taught fifth grade for
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two years before
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starting the knowledge of power program
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in our third year uh we were 19 we were
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both 1992 teacher america corps members
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placed in houston and i was a fifth
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grade bilingual teacher teaching
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bilingual because i had a pulse
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there was such a shortage at the time
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dave was on another part of town
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teaching upper elementary as well and
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like all first-year teachers we were
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horrible teachers in fact i think that
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we probably gave everyone a run for the
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money for being the worst of the
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horrible teachers um we latched on to
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master teachers we learned how to teach
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you learn how to teach with
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apprenticeship
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the end of our first year we thought we
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were doing a pretty good job with our
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kids they loved learning they came
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excited about school and wanted to go to
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college and have a career we very
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naively thought we've done it on the
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k-12 assembly line we gave our kids a
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great fifth grade year opted to go on to
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bigger and better in middle school
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and that naive bubble burst about the
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second week into our second year of
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teaching when we watched our former kids
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start to just utterly fail and have the
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wheels come off in middle school and
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they were escaping school and joining
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gangs and doing drugs becoming parents
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alarming rates and the first was easy to
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blame the other schools and teachers
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and one night in late 1993 we had this
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epiphany that all that finger pointing
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was adding to the problem not
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contributing to a solution so we looked
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in the mirror we point the finger at
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ourselves
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we stayed up all night pouring our
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feelings of failure and frustration on
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the computer screen watch uh had you two
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oktong baby playing around repeat play
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and by about five o'clock in the morning
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we had the knowledge's power program kip
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on the computer screen and the premise
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of kit back then 20 years ago it is
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today is very simply there are no
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shortcuts if we're going to try to
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provide children with all the academic
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intellectual and character skills they
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need to do well not just in that grade
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level but in all facets of the k-12
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college and the competitive world beyond
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then quit looking for the magic bullet
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let's just roll up our sleeves and get
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after it and so we started the knowledge
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power program thinking what can we do
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with fifth grade teachers everybody
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decided we were going to motivate kids
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to go to school from 7 30 to 5 4 hours
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on saturdays half the summer two hours
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of homework at night
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and we quickly realized one year was
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enough and so that's when we turned it
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into a school and now it's become a
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network of schools
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got it i'll come back a little bit to to
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to to the nature of the program but uh
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sticking for uh for now to
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the way you built kip what were some of
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the biggest challenges that you faced in
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the beginning and how did you overcome
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them the biggest challenge by far in the
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early years remains the biggest
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challenge today which is
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on
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any given day in any given hour in any
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given class period with any given
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student
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teaching and learning is extremely
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difficult it's
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everyone thinks that they know how to do
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it well because we've all got 13 14 15
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years of experience in k-12 but
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actually being in front of a group of
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children and and
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and imparting knowledge for from your
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brain heart into the brain heart of a 5
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10 or 15 year old is an extremely
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difficult both art and science to do now
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that and to do it at a high level is the
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most difficult part about this the the
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other most difficult part is simply
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getting people to believe having putting
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forth an idea for a program and then a
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school that's going to end mass help
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underserved children succeed in school
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and life at the highest levels of
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society most people think you have two
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heads when you first say that now we've
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come a long way since the early 90s and
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more people believed today than did 20
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years ago but collectively we don't yet
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believe in a society
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that the achievement gap is something
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that we can overcome and that's what we
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are trying to demonstrate and prove
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every single day that it can
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let's go back to
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talking about the basic structure of the
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program uh the no shortcuts approach
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is this something that you started with
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or is it something that evolved over
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time and how is your your the the basic
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uh
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structure of of kip uh the
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education model evolved over the past 20
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years right uh the basic structure still
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in place i think i think the the most
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innovative part of kipp over the years
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is that we didn't try to be innovative
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we just tried to block and tackle really
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well we focused early on
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ourselves on just what could we do to
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become great teachers and to this day
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that that's the focus it's great great
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teaching um any school in the world
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that's doing a great job i'd argue has
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two basic ingredients it's great
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teaching and more of it that's simple
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now easy to say hard to do but it's a
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simple formula if there's any secret
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sauce is how do you create the culture
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that's such a great positive culture
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that allows great teaching and more of
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it to happen
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but that basic structure of longer
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school day week and year and focus on
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great teaching and learning and having a
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culture of high expectations and
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focusing on not just inputs but the
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ultimate output which is getting our
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kids to go to and through college and
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have the freedom to do this for what
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they want to do those things were put in
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place from the very beginning and we're
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focused on executing on those things day
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in and day out the last thing i think
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i'd say that is there from the beginning
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is our core beliefs
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and i think one of our most central core
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beliefs
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is that promises to children are sacred
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because kipp is a choice public school
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we we sit in living rooms and kitchen
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tables talking to kids and parents
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saying if you choose to come to kipp we
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will do whatever it takes to help you
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come to we will we'll do whatever it
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takes to help you get to and through
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college
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that that's a pretty bold promise
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because we're not talking about what
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we're going to do for that kin family
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next week next month next year sometimes
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not even next decade we're promising
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what's going to happen in 20 years in
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some cases and we're on the hook and
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that's something that we feel more
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accountable to that sacred promise then
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any accountability plan any state or
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federal government can lay on us and i
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think that that's what gets us out of
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bed in the morning and that's what
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motivates us to do right by our kids and
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parents and our communities do the kids
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and the parents also make a similar
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promise and and and uh so is is your
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approach to select the most highly
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motivated uh kids and people we don't
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select our kids and parents they select
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us
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uh it's a it's a public open enrollment
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school which means anyone can can come
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if there's if more kids and parents want
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to come in space available we have to go
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to a lottery and the only kids who don't
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have to be in a lottery are the younger
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brothers and sisters so we do not get to
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do any kind of selection we just are a
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public school of of choice and whoever
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wants to come we it we are
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we are on the hook with that sacred
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promise to deliver and help them learn
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everything they need to learn to be set
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up for success in school and life
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so you serve about 50 000 students right
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now across the 141 schools that are part
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of your network how many students apply
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uh to become part of cap and uh and how
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many are you able to admit it varies
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region or region where i am in in
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houston where we now have 22 schools and
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11 000 kids last year we had nearly 10
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000 kids and parents apply to come to
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kipp we had room for 2 000. so we had a
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very
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uh difficult lottery where we were
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saying sorry no room to 80 percent of
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all the kids and parents who want to
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come which
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that's one of the things
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the thing that i wake up in the middle
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of the night kicking and screaming
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having nightmares about are how we're
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going to keep our sacred promise to the
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kids we're serving and when i'm not
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having a nightmare about that the other
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thing that's making me wake up at night
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are how are we going to continue to grow
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to serve those other thousands of kids
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and parents who are looking for another
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option and we're not able to deliver yet
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so we're trying to grow as fast as we
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can but as slow as we must to maintain
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quality
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great so that's that's a great approach
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i think
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uh balancing growth and and not
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compromising on quality
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uh is is is really tough but yeah i'm
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glad you're straddling that
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there's people that are amazed about our
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growth and how big we've gotten and we
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are very proud of having
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this high performing network of 141
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schools and 50 000 kids
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but remember it we're about to celebrate
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our 20th anniversary in 2014. there was
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no growth for the first six years
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right and so and then when we started
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growing we the first thing we did we put
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in place a
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terrific school leadership training
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program with just a few
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fisher fellows our school leaders we
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were training
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and over the last two decades
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decade and a half we ramped it up to now
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we can be growing at 15 or 20 schools a
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year but this has not happened overnight
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nor did it even happen in a decade it's
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taken 20 years to grow this way so this
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is this is just slow and steady progress
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keeping a commitment staying on track
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and just executing day in and day out on
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a strategy
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so uh you you mentioned that
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for the first six years it was kind of
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not much growth and then at the sixth
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year there was a
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jump start was that the year when you
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partnered with uh uh the fishers uh yes
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at the gas or the founder co-founders of
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gap right so uh how did that
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come about so kip started the program
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and we had a chance to start it as a
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school both in houston then in new york
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city right dave levin's from new york
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city so he went we had both offers and
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being young and dumb we took both offers
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so dave started kipp academy in the
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bronx
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i stay in houston star kip academy there
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both with fifth grade we grew one year
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at a time our heads were down we were
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focused on our kids and delivering on
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sacred promises by 1999 they be our two
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schools became full-size fifth grade
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through eighth grade charter schools uh
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they were they were some of the highest
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performing schools in the respective
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communities of houston new york city
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people started visiting 60 minutes did a
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piece on our kids that opened up the
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floodgates we had people calling saying
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we saw that program on tv can we order
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15 kips for next year please and we were
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saying let's go check inventory um
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and believing in teach for america and
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the mission of teacher america of one
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day all children should get a great
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education
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we start thinking so how do we leverage
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the success of this little tiny school
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in southwest houston and this little
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tiny school in the south bronx new york
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to greater good so we started asking
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people for help and advice on how to
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scale ideas and and scale success and
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we were fortunate enough to to get in
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touch with don doris fisher the founders
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of the capital navy that were very
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focused and passionate about ed reform
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in the united states and it was a it was
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a terrific match and and we created a
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new foundation together called kip
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foundation i want to call it the north
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shore cuts foundation
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but don is it a nonprofit yeah
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non-profit dot don knew more about brand
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names than me he said call it kip and we
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said yes sir and so we started kipp
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foundation in april of 2000 with the
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goal of finding amazing teachers who
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have a fire in the belly to do this work
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beyond the four walls of their classroom
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we would train them for a year in this
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fellowship the fisher fellowship to have
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them to get the business and leadership
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skills to complement their terrific
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instructional skills and from there help
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them start the school of their dreams
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and that's how we've been growing as we
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have for the past 13 years
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you've mentioned a couple of times the
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importance of
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passionate teachers
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what do you
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what do you think makes a great teacher
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and how do you identify the teachers who
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are the best fit for kip i think there
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are four things that make a teacher a
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great teacher first and foremost it's a
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teacher that that has a lot of knowledge
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and passion in the subject at the
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subject matter they're teaching
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they don't need to rely on the teacher's
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edition to teach they can bring a wealth
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of outside resources in the classroom
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and make the learning come alive and if
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they love history the kids will love
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history right second the teacher knows
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how to take all that knowledge and
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passion from their brain and heart and
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transfer it into the brain and heart
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brain heart of a five ten or fifteen
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year old which for some people is a gift
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for most of us mortals that's a skill
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which has to be acquired over several
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years to learn how to do that really
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well
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third we're looking for teachers who
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have the basic attitude of doing
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whatever it takes that they're they're
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going to be the constant not the
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variable and even though kids especially
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in from underserved communities come to
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school with lots of variables and lots
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of potential excuses why learning is
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difficult the teachers will try to be
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the constant not the variable for as
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much as possible
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and lastly to to avoid
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uh
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being the example of the the sports team
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that has the loaded with talent but
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never wins the championship
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you also have to have to have teachers
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that buy into the basic core beliefs and
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values of that school right it's
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possible to be a terrific teacher as i
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named but still not fit with the rest of
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the faculty and we need people who are
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going to be good teammates not just in
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their classrooms but in the teachers
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lounge in the locker room as well right
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um now so so so you partnered with uh
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the the fishers to to launch the create
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the kept foundation
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you took kept national
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uh what challenges did you face in
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scaling things up and how did you
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overcome them and what lessons did you
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learn uh you know for us if great
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teaching and more of it are the
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ingredients of grade school the critical
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path is the great school leader
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because that great the principal the
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principal or the school leader is going
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to be the one who's going to recruit the
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great teachers develop the great
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teachers retain the great teachers
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motivate the great teachers and so for
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us the most challenging part has been to
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recruit and select those amazing
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terrific leaders we've had in the last
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13 years we've had over 5000 people
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apply for the fisher fellowship we've
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given out about 190 fellowships about 30
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people didn't make it through the
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fellowship so we're batting about a two
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to three percent acceptance rate
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um so
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god bless the fisher family
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and and many other funders who who've
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been who've been making this possible
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that's not a quota that's how many
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people we we've been able to
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successfully find to do this work
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and uh it's getting relatively easier as
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we've created this large footprint of
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schools more and more of our fisher
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fellows are our teachers who are
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developing over time to the leadership
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pipeline
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but finding these talented terrific
00:14:51
school leaders and then keeping them
00:14:54
because you know
00:14:55
running a school these are like dog
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years right so it it it really you know
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i had a ponytail when i started um so we
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so it takes really just commitment and
00:15:07
skill and hard work and tenacity and so
00:15:09
finding these people and keeping them is
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the biggest challenge
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i have a question about your students
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and this is based on some discussions
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i've had with people in other countries
00:15:19
who are trying to do similar work as you
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are doing here
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one of the things they've found is that
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although they may have a great program
00:15:28
that that educates the kids in school
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when the children go back to the social
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and family environment
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sometimes it has the effect of undoing
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some of the good that has happened in
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school
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i wonder if you have ever faced that
00:15:44
challenge and and uh have you ever how
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you've dealt with it we have families
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and
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we form great relationships with all of
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our families as part of this work we're
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partners with with our families
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and there are examples where the parents
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or grandparents almost feel threatened
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by
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their their child or grandchild suddenly
00:16:07
learning more about the world than they
00:16:08
have but that i would say is is more the
00:16:10
exception to the rule
00:16:12
just about every home i've been in and
00:16:14
i've been over a thousand homes
00:16:17
families are hungry
00:16:19
for their children to to live the
00:16:21
american dream
00:16:22
and now that we're doing international
00:16:24
work as well and we're in we're helping
00:16:26
educators start these kip inspired
00:16:27
schools in india and south africa and
00:16:30
israel and chile and mexico i realized
00:16:32
that the american dream is really a
00:16:34
global dream it's hard it's hard to find
00:16:37
parents who don't want their children to
00:16:39
have a better life than them
00:16:41
and they and parents
00:16:44
deliberately realize or simply
00:16:46
instinctively realize that education is
00:16:49
the ticket for their kids to have a
00:16:51
better life right i'm very fascinated by
00:16:54
your overseas expansion can you tell me
00:16:55
a little more uh about what were the
00:16:58
challenges involved there sure
00:17:00
uh
00:17:00
for a bunch of years we've always had
00:17:03
international educators knock on our
00:17:05
door and ask for help
00:17:06
and that traffic has increased in the
00:17:08
last four or five years it's
00:17:10
i think it's due to the the growth of of
00:17:12
as teach for america has become teach
00:17:14
for all and teach roles and i was in two
00:17:16
dozen countries more and more of the
00:17:17
alumni they finish their two years uh
00:17:20
you know
00:17:21
half of them want to go to grad school
00:17:23
or goldman or mckinsey the other half
00:17:25
want to stay in the classroom and stay
00:17:26
in their schools and make a difference
00:17:28
and they wind up knocking on our door
00:17:30
and for a few years we when they first
00:17:33
came and asked us for help and they
00:17:34
would come and see what we were doing
00:17:35
and say can you come to our country our
00:17:37
answer was always sorry we haven't even
00:17:39
fixed the state of arkansas yet we have
00:17:41
a lot of work to do here um i like to
00:17:44
give more hope so i told people look we
00:17:46
can help you the way we help ourselves
00:17:48
we focus on leadership training and if
00:17:50
you have the skills or passion or you
00:17:51
know someone in your country's got the
00:17:53
skills and passion and there's resources
00:17:54
to get them to united states come over
00:17:56
here i'll sneak them in the side door of
00:17:58
the fisher fellowship we'll train them
00:18:00
in leadership with our fisher fellows
00:18:01
have them stay in the u.s for a few
00:18:03
months they can beg bro and steal all
00:18:05
the great ideas
00:18:06
because we we don't believe in
00:18:08
intellectual property we give it away
00:18:10
you know one one day all children um and
00:18:13
then they'll go back to their country
00:18:15
start a great school it won't be a kipp
00:18:17
school but it'll be a kipp inspired
00:18:18
school and they'll be part of our
00:18:19
network and they'll have this cohort
00:18:21
with the kipp school leaders and we'll
00:18:22
learn and grow together um we didn't
00:18:24
market it we just put the bait in the
00:18:25
water and the israelis for the first
00:18:28
country to take me up on it then then
00:18:30
came the indians um then came the
00:18:32
mexicans uh then the south africans and
00:18:34
most lately the chileans um and where
00:18:36
you know we we spun off a new nonprofit
00:18:39
called the one world network of schools
00:18:41
because there's such a growing line at
00:18:43
the door so when people knock on kip's
00:18:44
door we refer them to one world and the
00:18:47
one world network of schools will help
00:18:49
both do the do the training
00:18:51
support on the back end help people
00:18:52
start these schools and most importantly
00:18:55
you know if we're this is going to grow
00:18:57
when people first knock on our door they
00:18:59
think they want to replicate kip what
00:19:00
they really want to replicate is the
00:19:02
kipp school leadership program i mean
00:19:04
you know my indian friends don't talk
00:19:06
about wanting to start
00:19:08
with dozens or hundreds of schools they
00:19:10
need thousands right there's a little
00:19:11
bit of a scale issue in india right and
00:19:13
so what they they don't have enough
00:19:15
philanthropy and we don't have enough
00:19:17
seats to train everyone in the united
00:19:18
states so ultimately we have to
00:19:19
replicate is the kipp school leadership
00:19:21
program so there's an in-country place
00:19:24
for teachers to get trained to start
00:19:25
these breakthrough new transformative
00:19:27
schools in country that's how you can
00:19:29
scale this right
00:19:31
it's fascinating how do you measure
00:19:33
kip's success
00:19:36
the ultimate outcome is did we deliver
00:19:38
on our sacred promises to our children
00:19:39
so have they did they get to and through
00:19:42
college and now have the freedom to do
00:19:45
this world what they want to do and so
00:19:47
tracking from eighth grade which we do
00:19:49
to be more transparent i could tell you
00:19:51
100 of my kids are going to college if i
00:19:53
look at my class of 2013
00:19:55
but that's not those are not the same
00:19:57
kids we started with so if i look at my
00:19:59
eighth graders from a bunch of years ago
00:20:00
and wherever they went to high school
00:20:03
we tracked them all
00:20:06
85 to 90 percent are going to college
00:20:09
and so far depending on the region 45 to
00:20:11
48 percent have graduated from college
00:20:14
and
00:20:15
we think about that in two ways you know
00:20:17
compared to eight percent of low-income
00:20:18
kids who graduate from college where
00:20:20
five to six times the national average
00:20:22
we celebrate that compared to 31 of all
00:20:24
adults in the united states have a
00:20:25
college degree we're a lot higher than
00:20:27
that we celebrate that
00:20:28
compared to 82 percent of top quartile
00:20:31
income kid to graduate from college
00:20:33
we're still well below that number so we
00:20:35
still have an achievement gap and we are
00:20:36
hungry to get better every day
00:20:38
so what what are the main obstacles to
00:20:40
closing that achievement gap and how are
00:20:42
you tackling them
00:20:43
several things first off is just
00:20:45
continued
00:20:47
rigor in pre-k through 12th grade and
00:20:49
getting the kids for academic success to
00:20:51
be ready for for college work and not
00:20:54
need any remediation
00:20:56
uh those numbers i gave you were all
00:20:58
kids that we started with in fifth grade
00:21:00
in a lot of cases didn't even have a
00:21:02
high school and ended after eighth grade
00:21:03
we've since started primary schools
00:21:05
those oldest kids are now in eighth
00:21:07
grade so starting in 2018 we should see
00:21:09
the benefits of starting kids even
00:21:10
younger but that that's that's part of
00:21:12
it so it's the academic rigor
00:21:14
secondly it's there's certainly
00:21:16
financial issues both both direct and
00:21:18
indirect direct is the cost of higher
00:21:20
education is going through the roof it's
00:21:21
difficult to afford
00:21:23
indirect how do you deal with that
00:21:25
help our kids just apply to lots and
00:21:27
lots of scholarships and maximize
00:21:29
financial aid as much as possible and
00:21:31
also deal with the families because the
00:21:33
indirect challenges with with finances
00:21:36
our parents
00:21:37
are sometimes pushing their kids to stop
00:21:40
school and come back home and take an 8
00:21:42
hour job to help the family pay rent
00:21:45
or that kid to make tuition payments is
00:21:48
working 40 hours a week in the mall
00:21:51
which means that's 40 hours a week
00:21:52
they're not studying the library so
00:21:53
their grades suffer so so their
00:21:55
financial aid package goes down as a
00:21:57
vicious circle that's the financial
00:21:58
bucket there is there's horrible college
00:22:00
counseling in this country
00:22:02
if it exists at all in some schools
00:22:04
where kids who should be staying close
00:22:05
to home go far away kids who should go
00:22:07
to a small school go to a big school
00:22:09
kids that get into two schools
00:22:12
they're not given the data this school
00:22:14
this they're both equally hard to get
00:22:16
into schools same financial aid package
00:22:18
this school's got a 62 completion rate
00:22:21
this school's got a 28 completion rate
00:22:24
why won't you choose this school where
00:22:25
you double your chances of finishing
00:22:26
just by going with the flow right things
00:22:28
like that
00:22:29
fourth are just all the challenges of
00:22:31
being a first-generation low-income kid
00:22:33
you can't call home and you can't you
00:22:35
have a lifeline to get advice on how to
00:22:37
climb the mountain to and through
00:22:38
college and lastly are the non-cognitive
00:22:41
skills which are being pioneered and
00:22:43
studied here at the university of
00:22:44
pennsylvania by martin seligman and
00:22:46
angela duckworth about you know
00:22:49
people are not going to graduate from
00:22:50
college only because they can read write
00:22:52
and think critically they also need grit
00:22:54
they need self-control they need
00:22:56
optimism right they they need they need
00:22:59
zest they need when no one's born with
00:23:01
those things they developed them over
00:23:02
the years and so those are all the big
00:23:04
buckets we have to work on both on the
00:23:06
k-12 side and on higher ed side because
00:23:08
higher ed has a responsibility as well
00:23:10
and it's fantastic to see the university
00:23:12
of pennsylvania be a leader
00:23:13
on the higher ed sided community about
00:23:15
making sure that we close the
00:23:17
achievement gap and our first generation
00:23:18
low-income kids in this country graduate
00:23:21
at the exact same rate as all of our
00:23:23
other kids
00:23:25
well
00:23:27
thank you for what you said about upenn
00:23:29
but especially when it comes to funding
00:23:31
their college education
00:23:34
does your curriculum emphasize things
00:23:36
like
00:23:37
um
00:23:38
awareness of personal uh finance or
00:23:41
financial literacy or entrepreneurship
00:23:43
or leadership to some degree or do you
00:23:45
think that might help again be because
00:23:47
we're focused on getting our kids to go
00:23:48
to and through college and not just pass
00:23:50
the state test our kipp through college
00:23:52
team starts in middle school with
00:23:54
teaching kids about what it's going to
00:23:56
take to be
00:23:57
prepared and set for success in college
00:23:59
and life
00:24:00
and so certainly
00:24:02
leadership and personal finance and
00:24:04
entrepreneurship are all part of that we
00:24:05
need to develop in our kids you know
00:24:07
with my favorite shirt in the kip team
00:24:10
and family is kipp new york city has a
00:24:11
shirt that shows the pie chart of the
00:24:13
ingredients of kit and it says 49
00:24:16
academics 51 character
00:24:18
right and so uh and those numbers we're
00:24:20
choosing very deliberately there's a lot
00:24:22
beyond traditional tested subjects so we
00:24:25
need to give our kids to set them up for
00:24:26
success
00:24:27
and i have one last question for you
00:24:30
where would you like kip to be on its
00:24:32
25th birthday and what can we do to help
00:24:35
you get there
00:24:37
uh
00:24:38
by our 20 i would love to be able to say
00:24:40
that we we are we are knocking on the
00:24:41
door closing the achievement gap and
00:24:43
we're not just trying to get up to 50 of
00:24:45
our kids going to and through college
00:24:47
but we've we've blown past 60 percent
00:24:50
we're getting close to 70 percent and we
00:24:52
are proving the possible and by us doing
00:24:54
so we've inspired our friends to do as
00:24:56
well and the and the the excuses are
00:24:59
ending
00:25:00
because the daily excuses end our days
00:25:02
of solutions are going to start and as a
00:25:04
result i would love to see that our 8
00:25:06
000 kid wait list in houston shrink with
00:25:09
without us without maintaining quality
00:25:12
and has shrunk because the other schools
00:25:14
have gotten better so the kids and
00:25:15
parents stop want to come that's what
00:25:17
i'm hoping to get to by 25th would be
00:25:19
fantastic
00:25:21
and anything we can do to help you get
00:25:22
today
00:25:23
yeah definitely you can a few things
00:25:25
first off
00:25:27
penn has been a leader on on the most
00:25:29
competitive
00:25:30
higher ed side and the ivy league side
00:25:32
of helping whether it's kipp kids and
00:25:35
other kids from high performing schools
00:25:37
local neighborhoods come here and
00:25:38
succeed here that proves it possible
00:25:40
right then and there and having more and
00:25:42
more kids come here and be successful
00:25:44
helps get more believers to believe in
00:25:46
the potential of all of our children and
00:25:48
that's huge
00:25:49
secondly uh
00:25:51
the things that the university can can
00:25:52
be doing to partner with k-12 and give
00:25:55
feedback down to us of where the holes
00:25:58
what still are our kids not doing well
00:26:00
on day one that we could fix in 12th
00:26:03
grade 10th grade 8th grade 4th grade
00:26:05
pre-k to get themselves more success
00:26:08
and lastly
00:26:09
it's about great teaching and more of it
00:26:11
so having the the terrific faculty here
00:26:13
at penn
00:26:14
continues to help teachers sharpen the
00:26:17
saw and develop the the teaching skills
00:26:20
and the content skills they need to be
00:26:22
great teachers is also a fantastic
00:26:24
resource the university
00:26:26
has been doing and i hope does more of
00:26:28
in the future
00:26:30
well mike good luck to you and thank you
00:26:32
very much for speaking with knowledge at
00:26:34
wharton thank you for having me here go
00:26:35
quakers
00:26:59
you

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 75
    Best concept / idea
  • 70
    Most inspiring
  • 70
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  • 65
    Best overall

Episode Highlights

  • The Birth of KIPP
    Michael Feinberg shares the story of how KIPP was founded after a challenging teaching experience.
    “We looked in the mirror and pointed the finger at ourselves.”
    @ 02m 09s
    November 12, 2013
  • Sacred Promises
    Feinberg emphasizes the importance of promises made to students and their families.
    “We will do whatever it takes to help you get to and through college.”
    @ 06m 15s
    November 12, 2013
  • Challenges in Scaling KIPP
    Feinberg discusses the difficulties faced in expanding KIPP and maintaining quality education.
    “Finding these talented terrific school leaders is the biggest challenge.”
    @ 14m 54s
    November 12, 2013
  • KIPP's Vision for Global Education
    KIPP aims to train international leaders to start schools inspired by their model.
    “They'll go back to their country and start a great school.”
    @ 18m 13s
    November 12, 2013
  • KIPP's College Success Rates
    KIPP tracks its students' college success, boasting impressive graduation rates.
    “85 to 90 percent are going to college.”
    @ 20m 09s
    November 12, 2013
  • Closing the Achievement Gap
    KIPP's goal is to close the achievement gap for low-income students by improving education.
    “We are knocking on the door closing the achievement gap.”
    @ 24m 41s
    November 12, 2013

Episode Quotes

  • We stayed up all night pouring our feelings of failure and frustration.
    Empowering Poor Students Through Knowledge
  • Promises to children are sacred.
    Empowering Poor Students Through Knowledge
  • We give it away because we don't believe in intellectual property.
    Empowering Poor Students Through Knowledge
  • The ultimate outcome is did we deliver on our sacred promises to our children?
    Empowering Poor Students Through Knowledge
  • We're five to six times the national average for low-income kids graduating college.
    Empowering Poor Students Through Knowledge
  • We are proving the possible and inspiring our friends to do as well.
    Empowering Poor Students Through Knowledge

Key Moments

  • Founding KIPP02:24
  • Sacred Promises06:02
  • Scaling Challenges13:38
  • Global Training Initiative18:13
  • College Success Tracking20:09
  • Achievement Gap Focus24:41

Words per Minute Over Time

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