Giving Compass' Take:

• KIPP charter school network created partnerships with 90 universities so that the school can track students from KIPP through college and offer supportive services to help them get through school. 

• Do other charter networks have partnerships with higher education institutions? 

• Read more about what KIPP does for it's students and the surrounding community. 

It’s no secret that educators across America have different educational approaches and philosophies. But there’s one thing on which most educators agree: the importance of preparing students to lead choice-filled lives. It is surprising, then, that most K-12 schools and systems do not measure or report any student outcome beyond high school graduation.

To help as many of our students as possible achieve their dreams, we stay in touch with our students well after they leave KIPP, whether that is after middle school to attend a non-KIPP high school or after they graduate from a KIPP high school and move on to other paths.

We track how our students in college are faring in college, and what factors help them flourish on campus. We also want to know about those who don’t go on to college, and how we can better empower them in pursuing choice-filled lives.

And K-12 schools can’t do it alone; institutions of higher education need to play a role. KIPP has created partnerships with 90 colleges and universities to help more students persist to college graduation day. Many of these universities are leading the way in transforming higher education to better serve first-generation college goers, including offering programs to help students thrive on campus, increasing financial aid, and facilitating peer groups for mutual support. We need to ensure these ideas are replicated across more colleges and universities.

Read the full article about higher education partnerships by Mike Feinberg and David Levin at The 74