Abstract
Using experimental and quasi-experimental methods, this report shows that Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) middle schools have significant and substantial positive impacts on student achievements in four core academic subjects: reading, math, science, and social studies. One of the report’s analyses uses a rigorous randomized experimental analysis that relies on the schools’ admissions lotteries to identify comparison students, thereby accounting for students’ prior achievement, as well as factors such as student and parent motivation. The study is the most rigorous large-scale evaluation of KIPP charter schools to date. Student outcomes examined in the experimental component of the study included reading and math scores on a nationally normed assessment that includes measures of higher-order thinking, and behaviors reported by students and parents.