Investing in elementary students changes life trajectories

In Oklahoma City, we spend a great deal of time talking about achievement gaps. We talk far less about when those gaps begin — and what it would take to close them before they harden.

After years of leading schools and studying student outcomes, I’ve come to a clear conclusion: If we are serious about closing opportunity gaps, the work must start earlier than we are often willing to admit.

That belief is why KIPP OKC Public Schools, founded in 2002, has made a deliberate shift toward an elementary-first model with the launch of our elementary school in 2022. Rather than concentrating our efforts primarily on middle school intervention, we are investing deeply in pre-K through fifth-grade foundations. It is a bet on prevention over remediation, and on equity over urgency. By the time many students reach sixth grade, the gap is no longer theoretical. It shows up in reading fluency, math confidence, and — most concerning — belief in self. Research consistently shows that students who are not reading on grade level by third grade are significantly less likely to graduate high school. In Oklahoma, this reality is compounded by disparities in early literacy access and early childhood opportunities.

Middle schools often inherit the consequences of these early gaps. Teachers work tirelessly to help students catch up, but asking a 12-year-old to close multiple years of unfinished learning while navigating adolescence is an uphill battle. The question is not whether middle schools matter — they do. The question is whether we are placing our biggest bets too late.

When KIPP OKC launched its elementary school in 2022, we made an intentional decision to start at the beginning. Our first year served only pre-K and kindergarten students and centered on rigorous, research-based approaches to foundational literacy, paired with frequent progress monitoring and targeted intervention.

By the end of that first year, 60% of our scholars were at or above grade level in foundational literacy skills. That result matters not because it is perfect, but because it affirms a principle educators often acknowledge but rarely design systems around: Earlier access to high-quality instruction accelerates progress more effectively than later remediation.

Read the full op-ed here.