When Candace Rogers talks about literacy, she doesn’t frame it as an academic goal. She frames it as survival.
“We believe literacy is liberation,” said Rogers, CEO of KIPP Detroit Public Schools, the city’s first campus in the national Knowledge Is Power Program network. “We start very early. Every kindergartner, our promise is that they leave reading.”
The results at KIPP Detroit are striking. Ninety-one percent of kindergartners left the school year reading at grade level - compared to 67% nationally. Rogers says that gap is a matter of life trajectory.
“The school-to-prison pipeline shows that 70% of those in prison did not pass 4th grade reading,” Rogers said. “And so, we are a school who is just going to lock hands to disrupt that pattern.”
KIPP, which stands for Knowledge Is Power Program, operates 280 schools across the country. The Detroit campus is the network’s first in the city. It is tuition-free and open to any Michigan resident, regardless of background or academic history.
Rogers pushed back on common misconceptions about charter schools. “All of our teachers are certified,” she said. “There is no cost. If you live in Michigan, you can attend our school.” She added that enrollment requires a completed application but involves no selection criteria - if a seat is available, it’s yours.
For students who have struggled in traditional school settings, Rogers said the approach starts with something deceptively simple.
“They have to know you love them,” she said. “I know it does not sound very scientific, but we really try to create a sense of belonging for our kids, and that way they will be receptive to what we are trying to teach them.”
The school’s mission, Rogers said, is built on a straightforward conviction: “Any child can achieve no matter what your zip code is, no matter what your demographic is.”
KIPP Detroit is currently operating out of a temporary facility at the Sainte-Suzanne community resource center. A permanent, 200,000-square-foot facility on Tireman Avenue is expected to open in August 2027. Transportation service is also in development and expected to launch with the new building.
More information and enrollment applications are available at KIPPDetroit.org.
To watch the segment, click on the video above.