COLLEGE AND BEYOND

A defining feature of KIPP schools across the country is our commitment to preparing students for college and beyond. Specifically, KIPP schools, commit to supporting students to and through college. So far, in the 16+ years of KIPP, the results have been dramatic with KIPP alumni attending college at a rate twice that of their peers (see below).



KIPP Renaissance High School and KIPP New Orleans Schools has developed the College Readiness Framework (see below) which guides our work inspiring, preparing and empowering leaders for college and beyond. We contend that college readiness is at the intersection of three resources: the ability to succeed, the ability to pay and the ability to persist.



The ability to succeed refers to students’ academic ability. We develop this resource by providing students access to, and encouragement to enroll in, college preparatory classes including but not limited to Advanced Placement and dual enrollment courses. We facilitate students’ ability to succeed by preparing students to earn passing scores on state and national tests, tests that are required for high school graduation and college matriculation.

By focusing on a 2.5 GPA in a college preparatory curriculum within the ability to succeed and providing mechanisms that support student this attainment, we also support students’ ability to pay. The high price of a college degree should not be a barrier to college entrance and graduation, but it often is. Our focus of a 2.5 GPA corresponds with the minimum GPA requirement for students to earn TOPS, Louisiana’s merit-based scholarship program that provides full tuition (plus more for more qualified students) at a Louisiana public university or the equivalent amount at a private university in the state. The additional requirement for TOPS is a 20 on the ACT (this minimum can change based on the Louisiana average ACT score from the previous year), an additional focus for KIPP Renaissance High School.

Students’ ability to pay is also facilitated by KIPP Renaissance High School through a unique partnership with ASI Federal Credit Union and A Shared Initiative, Inc. an ASI-sponsored non-profit organization working to uplift New Orleans’s Upper Ninth Ward. The ASI/KIPP partnership is creating College Savings Accounts which – based on initial and monthly family contributions – are being matched by KIPP as well as state and national funding sources. You can see how students and families are saving for college by visiting the third floor of our building to see their accounts growing by the day.

The ability to succeed and the ability to pay are not enough, however, students also need the ability to persist. This resource is developed by the participation in sports and clubs, completing service learning, taking leadership roles at school and in the community, building networks of mutually committed peers, asking for help when it is needed, etc. KIPP Renaissance High School supports students’ development of this resource by requiring 125 service learning hours to graduate, expecting students to participate in some kind of extra-curricular activity, and coordinating internships and approved work experiences during students’ junior and senior years.

*Photos are from the 2012 9th Grade College Student for a Day at Xavier University