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Looking to boost graduation rates, KIPP charter school officials have entered into a partnership with the University of Texas at San Antonio aimed at helping first-generation college students cross the finish line.

Imagine an all Black rugby team overcoming the odds in the inner city. It sounds like a movie, and maybe it will turn into one in the near future, but for now, it's simply real life for 21 KIPP Ascend boys.

The School Reform Commission voted Tuesday night on 12 applications for new charter schools in Philadelphia, approving three of them. Members voted, 4-1, to approve Esperanza Elementary Charter School and Russell Byers Academy Charter School and also green-lighted KIPP North Philadelphia Charter School, 3-1, with Commissioner Farah Jimenez abstaining. Cheers broke out from Esperanza and KIPP North Philadelphia supporters as the SRC announced its decisions on their applications. Several supporters of each school had urged the SRC to approve the applications during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Whalen came to education from a different perspective: He grew up in Santa Monica and went to the Garden of Angels School, a private school with no desks or large classes. He wanted more people - particularly children of color - to have similar positive experiences, so he became a teacher, working in Miami and now teaching seventh-grade nonfiction at KIPP Sol Academy, an East Los Angeles charter.

The Knowledge Is Power Program, or KIPP, is a nationwide charter school network whose "no excuses" model and high academic performance have brought it widespread praise. Critics, however, have questioned whether KIPP schools' academic showing is partly attributable to attrition of low-performing students whose seats often end up going unfilled.

FOR years, KIPP Reach College Preparatory in Oklahoma City has been one of Oklahoma's best schools while serving low-income students from the urban core. A new study of Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) schools nationwide shows KIPP Reach is not an anomaly.

A former student at KIPP Reach College Preparatory returns to the Oklahoma City charter school to teach.

Nine of the 10 recognized schools were charter schools, with the lone traditional district school being Solano Avenue Elementary near Chinatown. KIPP Raices, a charter school in East Los Angeles, was named a 2015 National Blue Ribbon Schools winner. "We are honored to have three schools recognized among the top 10 in Los Angeles for opening doors of opportunity for underserved students and helping to close the achievement gap here in LA," Angella Martinez, chief academic officer of KIPP LA schools, said in a statement. "While there is so much more work to be done, we are proud of our school teachers and leaders that are proving what is possible in public education."

KIPP Academy has found success across the country and now they're taking on a huge challenge in Camden, New Jersey -- a city known by many for its high crime and poverty. Can they succeed here? And will better education help put a dent in crime rates as advocates hope?

My name is Wydeyah Hay and I am a TEAM Academy (KIPP New Jersey) founding class member, part of the first class when TEAM opened in 2002. This fall, I returned to the classroom as a Relay Resident at KIPP's Seek Academy. Through this program I'll be on my way to earning a master's degree by apprenticing in a well-run classroom. It was because of the values that KIPP helped instill in me that I was inspired to become a teacher and support my community.