“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…)

Former President Bill Clinton praised charter schools at the KIPP Summit in Orlando last week, singling out the KIPP chain for success with high-poverty students and because it has "proved that you can replicate excellence."

"I wish there were 10 times or 100 times as many KIPP schools because you have proved that you have solved the No. 1 challenge in American education," Clinton said. "As a laboratory of democracy, you have proved that you can replicate excellence."

"Innovation is not just coming up with a good idea," he continued. "Innovation is rapidly replicating excellence."

A 12-minute portion of Clinton's speech, which as far as I can tell was not covered by any major media, was captured and posted on YouTube by education reform advocate and KIPP supporter Whitney Tilson. In it, Clinton, an early supporter of charter schools, noted there were about 2,000 nationwide when he left office in 2001.

"Now there are nearly 6,000," he said. "But I wish there were 12 .. 18 ... 24 ... 30,000. I wish there were more. And the main reason I wish there were more is you."

Clinton pointed to the high rate of low-income kids in KIPP schools, and singled out the success of the KIPP Delta schools in his home state of Arkansas.

"Our children are not poor. They are rich in their potential," he also said. "And KIPP has proven it."

Clinton suggested students would benefit if more traditional public schools adopted the approach of KIPP and other high-performing charters.

"There are still people in the public school establishment who fight charter schools, which I think is a mistake," he said. But, he quickly added, "There are still only very few charter schools that are actually working with the public schools in their communities to give all the kids the benefit of what is proven to work in successful charter schools."