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Whalen came to education from a different perspective: He grew up in Santa Monica and went to the Garden of Angels School, a private school with no desks or large classes. He wanted more people - particularly children of color - to have similar positive experiences, so he became a teacher, working in Miami and now teaching seventh-grade nonfiction at KIPP Sol Academy, an East Los Angeles charter.

The Knowledge Is Power Program, or KIPP, is a nationwide charter school network whose "no excuses" model and high academic performance have brought it widespread praise. Critics, however, have questioned whether KIPP schools' academic showing is partly attributable to attrition of low-performing students whose seats often end up going unfilled.

FOR years, KIPP Reach College Preparatory in Oklahoma City has been one of Oklahoma's best schools while serving low-income students from the urban core. A new study of Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) schools nationwide shows KIPP Reach is not an anomaly.

A former student at KIPP Reach College Preparatory returns to the Oklahoma City charter school to teach.

Nine of the 10 recognized schools were charter schools, with the lone traditional district school being Solano Avenue Elementary near Chinatown. KIPP Raices, a charter school in East Los Angeles, was named a 2015 National Blue Ribbon Schools winner. "We are honored to have three schools recognized among the top 10 in Los Angeles for opening doors of opportunity for underserved students and helping to close the achievement gap here in LA," Angella Martinez, chief academic officer of KIPP LA schools, said in a statement. "While there is so much more work to be done, we are proud of our school teachers and leaders that are proving what is possible in public education."

KIPP Academy has found success across the country and now they're taking on a huge challenge in Camden, New Jersey -- a city known by many for its high crime and poverty. Can they succeed here? And will better education help put a dent in crime rates as advocates hope?

My name is Wydeyah Hay and I am a TEAM Academy (KIPP New Jersey) founding class member, part of the first class when TEAM opened in 2002. This fall, I returned to the classroom as a Relay Resident at KIPP's Seek Academy. Through this program I'll be on my way to earning a master's degree by apprenticing in a well-run classroom. It was because of the values that KIPP helped instill in me that I was inspired to become a teacher and support my community.

The Oklahoma City community, our business and civic leaders agree. If we want to put Oklahoma City on the map-to make it a great city, a destination for families, an employment center-we must have great public education in an attractive environment.

On Thursday night, KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate's (KALC) Class of 2016 was commenced at Lynn City Hall. Salutatorian Enorenegbe Idahor reminisced about her school years and how important the experience will be in the future. "As we leave KIPP, we are going to enter a new journey in our lives," she said. "But it is important to take what we learned here with us."

KIPP Los Angeles College Preparatory School in Boyle Heights has been named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education.