A $499,000 grant to the KIPP charter school network falls into the category of adding to existing work. KIPP’s leaders for some time have been concerned about a problem at their schools. They were graduating a high percentage of seniors — many with impressive test scores — but surprisingly few were graduating from college within four years. They’ve also been concerned about students “under-matching” in their higher-education choices — going to community colleges, for example, when they could have aspired to the Ivy League.
The Gates grant will help the major charter operator in Los Angeles and elsewhere continue its work in targeting those problems and others.
Article suggests that educational innovation seems like it needs a great deal of trial and error to figure out what works, and the Gates Foundation is now aware of that, and is trying to support many and varied attempts.
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