THE JOURNEY TO 100

THE JOURNEY TO

Race, Equity, Inclusion, and Our Heartbeat

Since we opened the doors of our first middle school, KIPP TEAM Academy, in Newark’s South Ward twenty years ago in 2002, KIPP New Jersey’s mission has been to support every student’s journey to college and a choice-filled life.

Our core values—as defined by our Heartbeat Statement—guide that mission. Four overarching premises are foundational to this Heartbeat: Our community shares a deep belief that students should run to school and be prepared to change the world. Promises we make to children are sacred. Together we know that outstanding teammates (staff!) are crucial in delivering on those promises.

We literally strive to build the most kid-focused schools on earth, driven by an unrelenting focus on equity. We lead with a commitment to create schools where kids explore their identities, develop an ability to excel in college, and cultivate their desire to become socially conscious change agents. Leadership at every level of our organization is in service of our students’ individual and collective futures as leaders in their chosen fields.

We spoke with leaders and teachers (some of them alumni of our schools) throughout our organization to learn more about how they’re engaging in reflection and action as they seek to create more equitable schools that support the success of every child.

Our goal is that 100% of our Heartbeat needs to live 100% of the time for 100% of our students.

Shawadeim Reagans

CHIEF EQUITY STRATEGIST KIPP NEW JERSEY Every five years, KIPP New Jersey develops a strategic plan that establishes goals that will guide our priorities and support our students in the coming years. As we’ve refined our 2025 Strategic Plan outlining those goals, we’ve done that in recognition of the fact that equity is not one component of the work—it is the work. We’ve renamed it our Equity Strategy to reflect this shift. All strategic initiatives, priorities, and goals will be in service of more equitable outcomes for all TEAMmates, students, families, and the communities with which we partner.

When we look across our whole organization to define equity, we believe it looks like offering

Over the past year and a half, our team at KIPP Whittier Middle has been shifting our classroom and educator development practices to ensure a more equitable experience for our students and staff. Equity has always been central to our work, but we’ve been even more intentional in this work recently. Improving our practices is an ongoing journey. When we started engaging in this work more seriously last year, we realized that our school leadership in Camden was not entirely reflective of the racial demographics of our students and community.

When I thought about what I could do within my role to shift this, I realized that as a leader I needed to do a better job of building in time during my conversations with staff to learn exactly what their career aspirations were and engage in deeper discussion about what competencies they would need to develop to become instructional leads, grade team leads, or school leaders.

At its heart, equity work is our work. We want our students to be prepared to impact the world around them and have access to the kind of opportunities that will lead to that outcome. Equity is all about access. In order to create access and opportunities for our students, we need to know our students deeply and understand their motivations and aspirations. We’re setting aside space for that future planning in school. In the past, we’ve focused more on college degrees, but we want kids to be equipped to become their best selves, no matter what path they choose.

a consistent experience for all students and their families, at all grade levels, all schools, and in all cities. In practice, this looks like gathering data across all of our schools so we can evaluate the experiences of students, staff, and families and identify gaps and areas for improvement. We’re developing a school-health dashboard to capture not just student academic data, but also all of the other ways to measure important components of a school’s culture that supports community, personal growth, and achievement across all student demographic groups.

It’s important that we revisit this plan frequently, because we recognize that just like our practices in 2005 couldn’t accurately reflect our equity work in 2021, what’s equitable in 2025 might not be equitable in 2035. Since equity is our work, we have to have the awareness and consciousness to be responsive to the experience of our students and TEAMmates. What inspires me as we engage in this work is both the growing number of alumni who have joined our staff as well as our many talented teachers and leaders who continue to raise the bar and improve outcomes for children.

Marc Tan

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL KIPP WHITTIER MIDDLE

Rameerah Anderson

ASSISTANT SCHOOL LEADER KIPP LANNING SQUARE PRIMARY At KLSP, our equity work began more seriously four years ago when we implemented affinity groups for our staff. These groups created spaces for our staff to reflect on their own biases and assumptions in smaller groups, and be in tune with how aspects of their identity could find their way into our work. These groups became part of our community and today, we meet quarterly to engage in different topics of discussion that arise out of our work.

Going into this school year, we’ve also been re-examining some practices, particularly around how we support students who struggle behaviorally. Previously, students who were disruptive missed recess and instead spent time in reflection with a school leader. Now, we recognize that this approach might further isolate the student and not actually help resolve the original conflict. It also doesn’t help the student reflect with the teacher or peers where the conflict began, which is a more productive approach. Our new practice involves more two-way dialogue between the student and their teachers or peers that allow for restorative conversation where teachers take time to value the student’s voice and vice versa. Our goal is that teachers really own these conversations and leaders support them. We’re not perfect yet, it’s an evolving process, but so far, we’ve seen this shift have a large impact on our students.

Brandi Williams

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL KIPP HIGH SCHOOL As a new leader at KIPP High School and former teacher leader at KIPP Whittier Middle, my focus is on creating a space where students and teachers can bring their whole selves to the classroom. In practice, this looks like building a talent pipeline that brings more representation to our classrooms and school leadership teams. I believe that when students have role models that share their experiences and look like them, that can have a tremendous impact on kids’ learning.

Part of this work has included thinking about the impact of our leaders’ identity markers on the folks they are supporting. Our unconscious biases impact, positively and negatively, the folks we are coaching. We must be mindful of the repercussions of our coaching.

I am always reflecting on the impact of my words and actions on TEAMmates I support. A thinking trap I fell into as a teacher was overthinking interactions with leaders who were supporting me. Schools with diverse leaders and staff allow for folks to spend more time planning and creating equitable classrooms, and this creates space for teachers to feel understood. This has a ripple effect on students because understood teachers take more time to understand their students.

Joe Hejlek

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT KIPP COOPER NORCROSS ACADEMY Since we founded KIPP Cooper Norcross Academy in 2014, so much of our work has centered around increasing equity through removing barriers to student learning and forging longstanding partnerships within the Camden community.

We believe that when you provide students with services that support their wellbeing, and combine that with an excellent education, the result is more than the sum of its parts; it’s a multiplier effect for kids. That’s why, over the years, we have opened school-based health and dental services, provided extensive afterschool and summer programming, served dinner to students who stayed after school, and leveraged our Family Support team to support families in need.

Looking ahead to the coming year, we are expanding on this long standing commitment. Many families may have deferred medical care for the past year as they quarantined, and we’re ready to support those students in our school-based health clinic. We’re working with a citywide network of partners to create a future in which every Camden family has enough food to eat. We’re also planning to increase the amount of purchasing we do from local businesses in order to ensure our dollars stay in the Camden community, creating ripple effects that benefit everyone in our community.