“This should be a moment of renaissance in education in America.”
- President Bill Clinton, keynote speaker, KIPP School Summit 2012

Advocating for students isn’t easy. Reform opponents regularly engage in ad hominem and anonymous attacks, tactics they condemn in others. The vitriol and anger they express are unworthy of the children they claim to be fighting for.

So it was refreshing to be with educators at last week’s KIPP conference in Orlando who reject that tone. The idea of spending a week with 3,000 dedicated educators, who champion the idea of putting students first, was a lifeline I grabbed with both hands.

In all of my eight years in education, I can honestly report I’ve never experienced anything like a KIPP gathering. The differences were startling and immediate.

KIPP teachers don’t complain about long hours or low salaries. KIPP teachers don’t fear change; they embrace it.

KIPP teachers don’t hold sessions on how to defeat education reform. They don’t hold sessions on how to defeat anti-reformers, either.

KIPP teachers don’t allow anyone to use uninvolved parents or poverty as an excuse for low performance. They don’t allow students to, either.

KIPP teachers don’t teach to the test.

Instead, KIPP teachers are focused on solutions. Their positive energy is contagious. They have hope for the future and talk about what they can do, which is:

Build a better tomorrow. Reach more students who need them the most. Double the number of kids in their schools. Double the number of their graduates in college. This is impressive, considering KIPP graduates go on to graduate from college at four times the rate of non-KIPP students from the same communities.

KIPP teachers at the summit talked about being a catalytic force in the communities they serve. Hearing them talk about how they can be even better was enough to make even the most beaten-down reformer feel good about the movement again.

But then it got better. (more…)