Study: 85538

Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Intervention Report - Charter Schools

Review Details

Reviewed: January 2018

At least one finding shows strong evidence of effectiveness

At least one statistically significant positive finding

Meets WWC standards without reservations

For:

Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Intervention Report - Charter Schools

Using:

Rating:

Meets WWC standards without reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition.

This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.

Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.

Please see the WWC summary of evidence for Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP).

Findings

English language arts achievement outcomes—Statistically significant positive effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index
Statewide assessment of reading achievement (z-score)	Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) vs. Business as usual	3 Years	Middle school: lottery sample; 458 students	-0.13	-0.28	Yes	6
Show Supplemental Findings
Statewide assessment of reading achievement (z-score)	Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) vs. Business as usual	2 Years	Middle school: lottery sample; 563 students	-0.16	-0.34	Yes	7
Statewide assessment of reading achievement (z-score)	Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) vs. Business as usual	1 Year	Middle school: lottery sample; 608 students	-0.23	-0.26	No	--

General Mathematics Achievement outcomes—Statistically significant positive effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index
Statewide mathematics assessments (z-score)	Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) vs. Business as usual	3 Years	Middle school: lottery sample; 455 students	0.01	-0.17	Yes	7
Show Supplemental Findings
Statewide mathematics assessments (z-score)	Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) vs. Business as usual	2 Years	Middle school: lottery sample; 555 students	-0.01	-0.25	Yes	9
Statewide mathematics assessments (z-score)	Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) vs. Business as usual	1 Year	Middle school: lottery sample; 607 students	-0.12	-0.22	No	--

Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.

Sample Characteristics

Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.

Female: 53%
Male: 47%
Urban
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California, Georgia, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas

Race
Black		44%
Other or unknown		52%
White		4%

Ethnicity
Hispanic		51%
Not Hispanic or Latino		49%

Study Details

Setting

This analysis includes students and schools in multiple states and districts in the United States where KIPP charter schools operate. The study took place in 43 middle schools in the KIPP network in 20 cities across the following 12 states and the District of Columbia: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas.

Study sample

The study used a lottery-based randomized controlled trial design, where KIPP applicants that won admission to the KIPP middle school through the lottery formed the intervention group, and those whose lottery draw led to their not being offered admission formed the comparison group. Of the 60 KIPP middle schools open in 2011–12, 16 were sufficiently oversubscribed to conduct a lottery and be included in the RCT analysis. The sample after random assignment included 891 students, with a intervention group of 459 students offered admission and a comparison group of 432 students not offered admission. Among students in the intervention condition in the analysis sample, 53% were female, 51% were Hispanic, 44% were Black, 86% were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 51% lived in bilingual homes or homes where a language other than English was the main language, 44% had mothers with a high school education or less, and 35% were from single-parent households. Among students in the comparison condition in the analysis sample, 51% were female, 47% were Hispanic, 44% were Black, 86% were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 44% lived in bilingual homes or homes where a language other than English was the main language, 50% had mothers with a high school education or less, and 27% were from single-parent households.

Intervention Group

Students in the intervention condition were offered admission to a KIPP middle school, and 72% of the intervention students attended a KIPP middle school.

Comparison Group

Students in the comparison condition were not offered admission to a KIPP middle school. The majority of comparison students attended non-KIPP middle schools, though 5% attended a KIPP middle school at some point during the follow-up period.

Support for implementation

The study did not provide information about implementation support; however, authors noted that staff at KIPP schools had considerable autonomy in the implementation process to set the direction of the school (p. 22).

Additional Sources

In the case of multiple manuscripts that report on one study, the WWC selects one manuscript as the primary citation and lists other manuscripts that describe the study as additional sources.

Tuttle, Christina Clark; Gleason, Philip; Knechtel, Virginia; Nichols-Barrer, Ira; Booker, Kevin; Chojnacki, Gregory; Coen, Thomas; Goble, Lisbeth. (2015). Going to Scale: As KIPP Network Grows, Positive Impacts Are Sustained. In Focus. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Gleason, Philip M.; Tuttle, Christina Clark; Gill, Brian; Nichols-Barrer, Ira; Teh, Bing-ru. (2014). Do KIPP Schools Boost Student Achievement?. Education Finance and Policy, v9 n1 p36-58.
Tuttle, Christina Clark; Teh, Bing-ru; Nichols-Barrer, Ira; Gill, Brian P.; Gleason, Philip. (2010). Supplemental Analytic Sample Equivalence Tables for Student Characteristics and Achievement in 22 KIPP Middle Schools: A Report from the National Evaluation of KIPP Middle Schools. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Tuttle, Christina Clark; Teh, Bing-ru; Nichols-Barrer, Ira; Gill, Brian P.; Gleason, Philip. (2010). Student Characteristics and Achievement in 22 KIPP Middle Schools: Final Report. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Tuttle, Christina Clark; Gill, Brian; Gleason, Philip; Knechtel, Virginia; Nichols-Barrer, Ira; Resch, Alexandra. (2013). KIPP Middle Schools: Impacts on Achievement and Other Outcomes. Final Report. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Understanding the Effect of KIPP as It Scales: Volume I, Impacts on Achievement and Other Outcomes. Final Report of KIPP's "Investing in Innovation Grant Evaluation"