Despite a tumultuous first year of staff turnover, some unhappy parents and budget problems, KIPP Cole College Prep middle school still did better than the school it replaced, a report released Tuesday shows.
The northeast Denver charter took over Cole Middle School after it was shut by state board members for chronic low performance on state assessment tests.
The state board gave the school contract to KIPP, or the Knowledge is Power Program, a charter-school company. KIPP is known for its rigorous programs and has seen success in high-poverty areas.
Despite early problems – the school didn’t have enough money to open on Saturdays, and several teachers and principals quit – KIPP still did better than Cole on CSAP tests, according to a report by The Piton Foundation.
Only 10 percent of Cole Middle School’s seventh-graders were proficient readers in 2005, but in the same grade level the next year, that number was 24 percent.
This year, only 50 students, all eighth-graders, are at the school. Next year, the school will open with just fifth-graders and grow into a full KIPP program.
“I’m very confident that our students will see some improvement this year,” said Rich Harrison, the school’s principal.
Parents and neighborhood advocates didn’t want KIPP when they learned Cole Middle was closing in 2004, according to the Piton report.
Former KIPP parent Marta Alicia, who didn’t want her last name used because she is in the U.S. illegally, had a daughter at the school last year. She said she hoped for more electives.
“My hope is that they do what they promised in the future,” said Marta, who is with Metro Organizations for People, a community advocacy group.
Harrison said he hopes to improve communication this year.
While Cole’s fate was being decided, Denver Public Schools administrators leaned on state board members to choose KIPP, according to the report.
State board member Rico Munn said this wasn’t true.
“People equate having their voice heard to getting what they wanted. We listened to them (DPS) the way we listened to everyone else,” Munn said.
The report criticizes the short time frame the state’s 2000 charter law gives districts to work out a deal with charter companies.
It posed particular problems for KIPP, which emphasizes strong leaders for school improvement. Two principals quit before October, when they finally appointed Harrison.
“They made some serious mistakes in their leadership decisions,” said Van Schoales, a program officer for the Piton Foundation. “Building leaders is what they do.”
Staff writer Allison Sherry can be reached at 303-954-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com.
