The nation’s largest charter management organization is the Knowledge is Power Program
(KIPP). KIPP schools are emblematic of the No Excuses approach to public education, a highly
standardized and widely replicated charter model that features a long school day, an extended
school year, selective teacher hiring, strict behavior norms, and a focus on traditional reading and
math skills. We use applicant lotteries to evaluate the impact of KIPP Academy Lynn, a KIPP
school that serves a largely Hispanic population. KIPP Lynn has a high concentration of limited
English pro ciency (LEP) and special education students, groups that critics have argued are served
poorly by charter schools. The results show overall achievement gains of 0.36 standard deviations
in math and 0.13 standard deviations in reading for each year spent at KIPP Lynn. Boys and girls
realize similar math gains, while reading gains are largest for boys. LEP students, special education
students, and those with low baseline test scores bene t more from time spent at KIPP than do
other students. The average reading gains are driven almost completely by special education and
LEP students, whose reading scores rise by roughly 0.35 standard deviations for each year spent at
KIPP Lynn.