Co-Founder to Discuss Principles KIPP Schools Share; Arkansas Director to Speak

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Mike Feinberg

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Mike Feinberg, co-founder of KIPP, short for the Knowledge is Power Program, will speak about the five operating pillars of KIPP schools during a lecture at noon Friday, Sept. 25, on the University of Arkansas campus.

Feinberg’s lecture is sponsored by the department of education reform in the College of Education and Health Professions. It is free and open to the public. RSVP for a light lunch to http://uark.edu/ua/der. The lecture will be held in the Graduate Education Building Auditorium.

Scott Shirey, executive director of KIPP Delta Public Schools in Helena-West Helena, Ark., will also speak and answer questions with Feinberg following the lecture.

In 1994, Feinberg and fellow teacher Dave Levin launched a fifth-grade public school program in inner-city Houston after completing their commitment to Teach For America. In 1995, Feinberg remained in Houston to lead KIPP Academy Middle School, and Levin returned home to New York City to establish KIPP Academy in the South Bronx. According to KIPP’s Web site, these two original KIPP Academies became the starting place for a growing network of schools that are transforming the lives of students in under-resourced communities and redefining the notion of what is possible in public education.

In Arkansas, KIPP operates three schools in Helena-West Helena. KIPP plans to open a school in Blytheville next year. According to a news release from KIPP, the KIPP Delta Public Schools aim to grow to 12 charter schools in four communities by 2019, serving 3,600 students in kindergarten through 12th grade and potentially doubling the number of college-ready seniors graduating from high-poverty districts in the region.

KIPP schools share a core set of operating principles known as the Five Pillars:

• High expectations
• Choice and commitment
• More time
• Power to lead
• Focus on results

Feinberg will discuss how these principles can be applied to any school.