About KIPP: Central Ohio
Based in Columbus, Ohio, KIPP Central Ohio was founded in 2008 with the opening of its first school, KIPP Journey Academy. Today, KIPP Journey enrolls more than 300 students in grades 5-8. In the 2010-2011 school year, 97% of KIPP Journey fifth graders met or exceeded their growth goal in reading, the strongest growth of any KIPP school in the country. Locally, our eighth graders scored 17.1 and 20.3 percentage points higher on the state math and reading assessments, respectively, than students enrolled in Columbus City Schools. Building off of these early successes, KIPP Central Ohio is now prepared to open a new elementary and middle school in the 2013-2014 academic year.
Ms. Hannah Powell, Executive Director - KIPP Central Ohio, graduated from Wittenberg University with a B.A. in Communication and was selected to join Teach for America thereafter. As a Teach for America corps member in Philadelphia, Ms. Powell taught sixth and seventh grade and received her MS in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Saint Joseph's University. Following her Teach for America commitment, Ms. Powell worked as the Director of Education Services at an Ohio-based charter management organization. In this role, she led the reconstitution efforts of the first reconstituted charter school in the state of Ohio. In the first year, reading levels increased by an average of 2.1 Reading Levels, the school moved up one ranking in the State Accountability System and met/exceeded state growth expectations in language arts and math, according to new Ohio's new longitudinal growth measure. Ms. Powell is also a trainer specializing in analyzing Ohio's longitudinal growth model and a member of the first cohort of STEM Fellows in the State.
