Walk into a KIPP School, and you know you’re in an extraordinary learning environment. Teachers engage their students with small group lessons and frequent checks for understanding. Students embody the charter network’s motto, “Work hard. Be nice.” School values—which each KIPP principal chooses for his or her school—are painted onto the walls: words like grit, gratitude, zest and, especially in Los Angeles, “ganas,” a Spanish word that translates roughly to drive.

KIPP—which stands for Knowledge Is Power Program—is the largest charter management organization in the country, educating thousands of K-12 students over the course of a generation. Since opening its first school in Houston in 1994, the KIPP network has grown to more than 160 schools in 20 states and the District of Columbia, serving nearly 60,000 students, 87 percent of whom come from low-income families and 96 percent of whom are African-American or Latino.

The Broad Foundation began supporting KIPP in the early 2000s, investing in its schools in the District of Columbia and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city’s schools. In 2007, the foundation helped KIPP expand its presence in Los Angeles, investing $12 million to grow the network from two to 13 schools in the region, with the ultimate goal of building to 20 schools by 2020.

Impressed with KIPP’s work in D.C. and Los Angeles, the foundation began supporting KIPP’s national efforts—training school leaders, evaluating schools and supporting best practices across the country. The foundation supports KIPP because, like our other high-quality public charter school investments, KIPP proves that academic achievement is possible for all students—no matter their backgrounds. To date, The Broad Foundation has invested $23 million in KIPP.

In 2014, an independent review board of prominent education researchers and practitioners selected KIPP to win the $250,000 Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools, in recognition of KIPP’s remarkable academic achievement and ability to successfully scale its model nationwide. Learn more about The Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools here.