NEWARK, NJ – In 2002, KIPP Newark first opened its doors to students in the South Ward with a single class of 80 fifth graders and now teaches over 5,000 students in grades K-12 with a goal to enroll 7,800 students across 15 Newark schools.

This fall, KIPP will move closer towards that goal by introducing three new public charter schools to Newark.

The new schools, KIPP Purpose, KIPP Justice and KIPP Truth academies are planned to open for the 2021-22 school year.

SIGNUPSCRIPT

Among the addition of the new schools, KIPP will open its first North Ward middle school grades 5 to 8 with the Purpose Academy, co-located at KIPP Upper Roseville Academy at 300 North 13th St., a K to 1 elementary school that opened in 2019 with plans to expand to K to 4.

“It’s about every student’s family having a choice at an excellent school option in their neighborhood,” Purpose Academy School Leader Sean Healy said. “It’s to have a community that’s so powerful, it feels like a second family that is welcoming and inclusive to all.

Focused on education through social-emotional learning opportunities, the school is planned to offer a college prep academic curriculum complemented by 45 minutes a day of research-based social-emotional learning.**BULLSEYE

Each grade will volunteer for a cause that is aligned with its social studies curriculum. Students will do pre-work, engaging with the community and learning about the upcoming experience in class. After the day of service, students will engage in activities to reflect on how they can continue to impact their community.

The middle school will also offer a variety of electives for students through partnerships with local nonprofits such as hip hop dance led by the renowned Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre; spoken word poetry led by professional poets from Urban Word; and glass art design and creation led by Glassroots Inc.

“The thing that makes Purpose unique is that we are investing heavily in our community partnerships to make sure we are authentically a community-based school,” Healy said. **STANDARD

KIPP’s Justice Academy, headed by school leader Sharae Lewis-Griffith, will become the charters’ sixth Newark middle school. The school will begin to educate students in fifth grade this fall with plans to expand to grades 5 to 8.

“We wanted to make sure that every child, no matter where they live, had access to an excellent and affirming education,” Lewis-Griffith said. “Quality education is a right, and we want to make sure that our families have that in their very own neighborhood.”

The Justice school leader explained that the curriculum will focus on a student’s journey from kindergarten to college. **BULLSEYE

Every student that finishes middle school with Justice is planned to partner with an alumni advisor and a KIPP Through College team to support their progress to and through college or their chosen career path, according to Lewis-Griffith.

The school leader explained that the academy will also have a daily advisory period that is designed to respond to student needs and offer a safe space for them to converse with peers. The aim for these advisory periods is to set and celebrate students’ goals, engage in social-emotional lessons, and talk with professionals about their field of interest.

“Our teachers will be asked to facilitate conversations with students around how lessons, topics and modules each day will help students learn more about themselves,” she said.

At Truth Academy, KIPP will open its sixth elementary school in Newark with grades K and 1.

Truth’s classrooms are intended to provide spaces where students can engage, explore their academic curiosity and drive the learning process, school leader and Newark native Princess Fils-Aime said.

“It’s important for our kids to see success stories in their community,” Fils-Aime said. “It was important for me to come back and found a school in a community where I was raised and brought up. I want to see our students and families flourish and thrive at our schools.”

In addition to mirroring Justice’s model to serve students from kindergarten through college, Truth students will be tested throughout the year to make sure they are learning to curb sole reliance on state tests to track academic performance.

The school leader also noted that teachers will have custom-built dashboards to make this data actionable on a daily and weekly basis. The academy will collect data points on each student throughout the year and send them to parents weekly to keep them informed on their child’s progress.

Although the school will closely monitor and gauge its students’ performance, the school leader explained that she still wants students to shape their academic journey both in and beyond the classroom.

“We want to cultivate world changers at our school,” she said. “Our school, culture and instructional vision is aligned in a way towards building world changers or change students who will go out and impact their communities.”