KIPP Forward Approach
college & career approach
KIPP Philadelphia is committed to supporting its students and alumni through college, career, and beyond.
KIPP Forward counselors specializing in college and career placement. The team begins working with our KIPP Philadelphia students by empowering them to use their scholarly habits, knowledge, and qualities of character to choose and prepare for the educational and career path that fit their goals and sense of purpose.
The Right College & Career Match
KIPP Forward focuses on a simple truth: match matters. Through KIPP Philadelphia’s Match Framework, our KIPP Forward team ensures that students and families are equipped with the knowledge necessary to make the best fit post-secondary decisions. Counselors support students on all pathways. A growing body of research shows that choosing the right college can make or break a student’s chance of earning a degree. This is especially true for students from educationally underserved communities, and even more so for those who are the first in their families to go to college. The KIPP Forward team meets one-on-one with students and uses a data-driven approach to identify the schools that will be the right fit for each student. This is done through leveraging a robust framework that includes progress monitoring, whole school engagement, and building family investment in the post-secondary process.
Persisting Through College
KIPP Forward provides students in degree-seeking programs with formal coaching and advising once KPPS alumni enroll in their post-secondary program. These supports focus on the development and execution of a passion, purpose, and plan and center academic, financial and socioemotional wellness. Through progress monitoring, advisors develop strategic interventions for students at risk of stopping their program. Persistence support and outreach begins after high school and continues through the earning of an employer recognized credential (Certificate, Associate’s or Bachelor’s). By intentionally building relationships, KIPP Forward can help address specific issues, steer students towards appropriate resources, and empower students to advocate for themselves.
Career Integration
Career exposure and awareness are the building blocks of our work with students. By prioritizing career integration across all grade levels, we work to promote self-exploration and identification of interests and aptitudes that will lead each alumni to a choice-filled life. We offer essential career programming for students and alumni, providing an opportunity to explore various career options based on student informed evidence. KIPP Forward counselors implement a customized curriculum that helps students discover the “why” behind their interests, which will help determine a path to a fulfilling career. KIPP Forward helps our students expand their knowledge of career options – and helps those students navigate the steps needed to pursue the career of their choice.