KIPP Texas reports early literacy and attendance gains but flags math as biggest academic challenge

KIPP Texas reported midyear gains Wednesday from its transformation region — a cohort of eight elementary schools — driven by improved early literacy and higher attendance, while math achievement remains the most urgent area for action.

Board members heard that DIBELS early‑literacy scores rose year over year and that chronic absenteeism fell at the transformation sites. Dan Caesar, chief schools officer, said the schools reduced the number of students in the “well below” early‑literacy category and recorded double‑digit year‑over‑year growth on the midyear DIBELS administration.

The board was told that attendance has improved across the transformation schools and that school leaders are using systematic, proactive family outreach. "When you go into a transformation school, every leader walks in, they start in the office, and they say, 'How many kids are absent today?'" Caesar said, describing an emphasis on daily leadership of attendance practice. He singled out one school, saying, "Obraz has 95% attendance," as an example of strong local results.

But the presentation made clear math remains KIPP Texas’s largest academic obstacle. Presenters described math’s cumulative skill structure and noted that many students are multiple grade levels behind. Caesar told the board: "The core of the issue is really around content expertise and the ability for teachers to break down the content in a way that a child who has a misconception can work through." He said math instruction now requires deeper teacher content knowledge than in prior years, and that improving teachers’ math content expertise is a top priority.

School leaders and central staff outlined steps already underway: focused professional learning communities, in‑school coaching, reteach lessons integrated into the curriculum, and “Math Academies” — in‑person Saturday sessions led by high‑performing math teachers to build peers’ content knowledge. KIPP Texas said it is investing in teacher time for professional learning during the school day and this year budgeted roughly $500,000 for substitute teachers so classroom teachers can attend daylong training.

Leaders also described efforts to narrow the transformation program’s focus to a small number of high‑leverage practices (leadership development, aligned data and instruction, targeted coaching, culture/attendance and family engagement) and to sustain improvements over a planned three‑year period. "Transformation doesn't happen in 8 months," Caesar said. "We made this commitment for at least 3 years."

Board members pressed for additional data splits — for example the difference in outcomes between students who are new to KIPP and long‑term KIPP students — and asked for further analyses that disaggregate growth by student tenure and subgroup. Dan Caesar agreed to provide further sliced data to the academic work group.

The board heard short teacher and school leader testimonials. Hailey Simonson Bonilla, school leader at KIPP Obraz, said: "I love being a principal. I really do. It is hard, right? The state of education right now, I think, is just hard." Jacille (Jasille) Smith, assistant principal at KIPP Alegria, emphasized that sustained professional development and coaching are helping staff "push...to grow as an assistant principal" and to apply strategies across grade levels.

The board did not take a vote on the transformation strategy itself; staff said current steps and investments will continue and asked for ongoing board support for talent and for removing nonessential barriers so school leaders can focus on classroom practice.