Meet Our Teachers

Teaching at KIPP

Application Process

Teacher FAQ

What makes teaching at KIPP unique?

Professional Educators with the Power to Lead - We value our teachers as professionals by recognizing their contributions, giving them autonomy to make the decisions that are best for students, and investing in their growth and development as teachers and as leaders. Through our KIPP School Leadership Programs, we develop leaders through our multi-tiered leadership development. We know that the work of educators is incredibly complex and challenging, and we approach professional development of educators with the utmost intentionality.

Innovation and More Time - We want our teachers and leaders to make decisions based on the needs of our students. There’s no common national curriculum at KIPP; we encourage innovation and creativity within our schools and classrooms. At KIPP, there is more time in the day for rich learning experiences, character instruction, and field lessons. With all that time, teachers create innovative lessons that focus on what’s important: students.

Sharing and Collaboration - Our teachers are all “on the same page.” Teachers collaborate to deliver strong instruction and a unified culture—not only within their buildings but across state lines through retreats, summits, and our online sharing platform, KIPP Share. At KIPP, we don’t teach alone. We teach as part of a team of more than 2,000 teachers coast to coast, united in the same mission.

Character and Academics - KIPP’s longstanding motto—“Work hard. Be nice.”—isn’t just a tagline. Since the beginning, we’ve believed in a balanced approach to education: hard work and a strong academic curriculum balanced with the development of the character strengths needed to succeed in college and in life. We believe that for KIPPsters to truly be successful adults, they will need character strengths such as grit, self-control, social intelligence, gratitude, curiosity, tenacity, zest, and optimism in addition to a rigorous academic curriculum. 

To and Through College - While each KIPP school is unique, all are united in a common mission: to get all KIPPsters to and through college. From Dallas to DC, we’re building college-going communities one child at a time. We’re raising the bar for the definition of success for children in low-income communities: it’s not just getting to college, but rather, seeing them all the way through to the day they graduate. 

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