2014-2015 Annual Performance Report
Dear Friends and Partners,
We prize those teachers who strive to vigorously
grow their craft every year. Now, we have a promoI am pleased to present you with our 2014-2015
tion ladder as dynamic as the field itself, offering inAnnual Report! While we continue to perform well in
creased salaries and leadership responsibilities withcomparison to APS and Georgia, even earning the
out removing great teachers from classrooms.
designation Reward School for High Progress in
2014-2015 by the state, our gaze has turned toward Finally, we’re increasing the counseling and behavior
more challenging benchmarks.
management services our students receive.
The Georgia Milestones test debuted at the
conclusion of the 2014-15 school year, replacing the
CRCT and promising to be a more rigorous examination of student learning. The pages that follow
present our results in a way that both celebrates our
kids’ successes and highlights the areas in which we
will challenge them to grow.
Change is difficult, particularly as we wait for our adjustments to bear fruit, but each of us knows that our
learners deserve nothing less than our best.
LOOKING AHEAD
Replication of a successful charter school is challenging work for all involved, but we’re focused on building an organization with a pervasive growth mentality,
MEASURING OUR IMPACT
in which all staff members at every location climb to
You’ve heard anecdotes over the years about individ- excellence.
ual students who have flourished in our care, but this
I hope you’ll stay tuned for Kindezi’s next chapters.
year we’ve compiled our Milestones scores as
Most immediately, we’ll graduate our first eighth
evidence.
grade class. Obviously, I’m biased, but I think their
As you can see on the facing page, the average futures—and the future of Kindezi—will be bright.
student attending Kindezi for just one year before
Thank you for another year of support!
testing outscored their peers in Atlanta Public
Schools and in Georgia. But students who have two Dean Leeper
or more years at Kindezi further outscore those Founder & Executive Director
new to our school by a wide margin.
BUILDING A BETTER KINDEZI
We are proud of our record, but still striving. Our students are just as capable and intelligent as any of
their highest-scoring peers and we will keep improving our program until the gap between them is closed.
Last year, I visited high performing schools in other
states to observe their innovations in action and reflect on our own. When I returned, we began the work
of improving our practice.
We drafted a curriculum that frees our teachers to
create deep relationships with students and differentiate lessons to suit each of their needs.
Teachers and administrators at both schools now get
more than ten times more on-site professional development than previous in previous years and each
staff person has weekly coaching sessions with an
administrator or instructional coach.
The Increasing Kindezi Impact
Kindezi accepts students in all grades when there are seats available, not just in the youngest grades. More
often than not, older students who transfer do so after struggling in traditional schools. Regardless, the Milestones data demonstrated that all students can make rapid progress in our classrooms and that the positive
effect of a Kindezi education increases with time.
THE KINDEZI IMPACT: AVERAGE OVERALL MILESTONES SCORE
540
530
520
510
500
490
480
APS
State
1 Year at Kindezi
2+ Years at Kindezi
The longer students attend Kindezi, the more they outperform the
state and local average. This year, Kindezi West Lake earned the
title “Reward School for High Progress ,” as one of the top 10% of
Title I schools statewide.
2015 Georgia Milestones Results
MILESTONES ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS:
ELA & MATH
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Kindezi
APS
State
Kindezi
English/Language Arts
Beginning Learner
Developing Learner
Students taking the Georgia Milestones score into
four bands, which describe their subject mastery.
A Distinguished Learner has exceeded grade level
expectations, while a Proficient Learner has met
grade level expectations.
APS
State
Math
Proficient Learner
Distinguished Learner
“Building a Better Kindezi” means
finding every way to push more
kids into the Proficient level and
Both Developing Learners and Beginning Learners beyond.
have scored below grade level and are ripe for
greater achievement.
A large part of that plan is the introduction of our cusAs our plan to build a better Kindezi bears fruit, it will tom Kindezi curriculum, the first draft of which is bebe evident in the decreasing number of students ing taught in the current 2015-2016 school year at
both locations.
scoring in the bottom two bands.
2015 Georgia Milestones Results
MILESTONES ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS:
SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Kindezi
APS
State
Kindezi
Science
Beginning Learner
Developing Learner
Now, math lessons combine conceptual understanding and procedural fluency to teach the concepts,
skills and problem solving abilities that allow students
to apply their mathematical knowledge to a variety of
contexts. The ELA curriculum combines reading, writing and discussion to encourage engagement with
high-quality texts; students are asked to defend their
thinking using evidence from texts and build
knowledge about the world.
APS
State
Social Studies
Proficient Learner
Distinguished Learner
improve what we’re teaching our kids and how we
teach it.
Most importantly, we need to make these continual
instructional improvements without sacrificing the
warm familial atmosphere our kids need.
Last
year,
parents
awarded
Kindezi West Lake 5 of 5 stars in
Master Kindezi teachers have drafted Social Studies
and Science lessons to be used in classrooms across
the network.
the
Teacher feedback and student data is employed to
evaluate all lessons and units in the new curriculum.
Adaptations are made every spring and summer to
rating.
Georgia
Education’s
Department
school
of
climate
Financial Stewardship
Statement of Accounts
Income
State/Local Funding:
Fundraising*:
Total Income:
$ 2,880,529.00
$ 589,777.00
$ 3,470,306.00
Expenses
Teacher salaries & benefits
Pupil & edu. services
School & business admin*
Maint. & operations
Total Expenses:
$ 1,863,496.00
$ 327,302.00
$ 557,420.00
$ 277,403.00
$ 3,025,621.00
*Income and expenses associated with the startup of The Kindezi
School at Old Fourth Ward are included in these lines.
Our 2014-2015 Community Partners
Bank of America Charitable
Foundation
The Belk Foundation
Box Tops for Education
The Coca-Cola Foundation
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Kendeda Fund
Kroger Community Cares
The Sartain Lanier Family
Foundation
The PepsiCo Employee
Engagement Fund
The Rich Foundation
Target Take Charge of Education
The Walton Family Foundation
Our 2014-2015 Individual Donors
Janet Abraham
Desiree Adaway
Silas Allard & Becca Spurrier
Margaret Almond
Daniel & Heather Almond
Jarod Apperson
Geri Ard
Paul Baldwin
Julie Baldwin & James
Montgomery
Kathy & Robert Barrett
Marian Beane
James Beasley
Sandra & Joseph Bennett
Denise Blake
Leslie Bressor
Angela Brown
Cameron Brown
Deborah Brown & Michael Stevens
Jon Brown
Bryan Brownlow
Sumayyah Conner
Ginny & Bill Corzine
Ann & Jeff Cramer
Yolanda Creecy
Mary Crist
Yvonne Davis
Shirley Franklin
Louise & Phillip Friday
Jason & Nancy Goodden
Jennifer Green
William Headdon
Cescely Hill
Thomas & Theresa Hopkin
Barbara & Michael Johnson
Lisa Jones
Raymond & Deon Jones
Quincy & Tameika Jordan
Erik Josephson
Tyler Leeper
Dean Leeper
Lynn Leuszler & Georgia Lord
Bettina Love
Pat & Bill Lummus
Philip & Radha Manthe
Cathy Martin
Michael Matthews & Erica
Degarmo
Susan & Daniel May
Suzanne McKissack
Marta McNeese
Lorna & Bob Mynsberge
Becky & Tim O’Mara
Erica Pines
Deirdre Pinkney
Una Pipic
Jason & Elisha Polk
Phyllis & Roger Porter
Nicole Primavera
Sheela Repoley
Mark Riley
Irene & Rogelio Rosario
Kathleen Rulon
Kate & Jay Sandhaus
Cynthia Searcy
Bert & Karen Skellie
Elizabeth Talaska
Gary Tapp & Robey Myerson Tapp
Elizabeth Tolmach
Helen Tritschler
Steve Wadley
Tom & Karen Weyandt
Faith & Chuck Wilbanks
George & Madeliene Wilder
Elizabeth Wilder Young & Peden
Young
Quiana Wright
Emmakate Young
Croft & Amy Young
Marla & Phil Zipin
Thank You!
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CENTRAL SUPPORT STAFF
Bettina Love
James Beasley
Dean Leeper
Kimberly Green
Chair
Denise Blake
Executive Director
Elizabeth Wilder Young
Angela Brown
Business & Operations
Manager
Secretary
Bryan Brownlow
Jarod Apperson
Leondria Epps
Treasurer
Quincy Jordan
Becky O’Mara
Kate Sandhaus
Steve Wadley
Hyla-Mone’t Penn
Faith Wilbanks
Principal
Vice Principal