KIPP Academy Nashville Engages
Families and StudentS
Text messages. Emails. Fliers in the mail. Saturday
meetings at coffee shops.
When it comes to keeping lines of communication
open with parents, 2015 SCORE Prize finalist KIPP
Academy Nashville puts every possible channel to
use, according to parent Debra Payne.
“Their ability to be available is constant. The ability of them to be approachable and there for you
is infinite and sincere. And that is the difference,”
said Ms. Payne. “There is nothing that compares.”
grades 5-8 within Metro Nashville Public Schools.
KIPP Academy is part of a national network of
charter schools. In Nashville, KIPP schools have
been established that will ultimately serve students
in grades kindergarten through 12.
For Ms. Payne, KIPP exemplifies “compassion and
old-school educational values.” The family’s strong
educational priorities brought them to KIPP after
trying numerous other options, both public and
private. The discipline and academic focus of KIPP,
combined with the constant availability of staff
members, proved to be a winning combination
for Ms. Payne and her daughter, Lexi. Now Lexi
is a KIPP Academy alum attending a Metro Nashville high school, but relationships with KIPP staff
remain significant.
At KIPP Academy, which was also a SCORE
Prize middle school finalist in 2014, staff believe
that strong relationships between parents, kids,
and teachers lead to fundamentally transformed
outcomes. Families are deeply engaged from the
very beginning of kids’ work at KIPP. And college
“There are so many people there that I just love.
conversations happen early and often at this
They are literally part of my family now,” said Ms.
public charter school, which serves 350 students in Payne. “I just cannot ever thank them enough.”
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