Kipp Austin Academy of Arts & Letters, Austin TX

Original Research by School Decision on Kipp Austin Academy of Arts & Letters

KIPP Austin Academy of Arts & Letters serves grades five through eight as a charter school in the Austin area. It is a school within the larger KIPP Texas network, which operates multiple campuses across central Texas.

The school enrolls a student body that is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial majority qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. Students span a wide range of backgrounds, with most coming from economically disadvantaged households. The enrollment is small to mid-sized for a middle grades campus.

On state assessments, KIPP Austin Academy of Arts & Letters shows low overall proficiency across tested subjects. In math, proficiency rates are quite low across grades five through seven, with the exception of grade seven showing a slight uptick. English language arts results are similarly weak in grades five and six but improve notably by grade seven and substantially by grade eight, where just over half of students meet or exceed proficiency. Science proficiency in grade eight hovers around a third of students, while social studies proficiency remains low. The pattern suggests that older students in the school perform better on state tests than younger cohorts, though even eighth-grade performance in math and social studies remains well below half proficiency. Across all subjects and grade levels combined, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile when compared to other schools in Travis County.

A parent may want to look closely with the school into the reasons for the gap between earlier and later grades, and what instructional or student composition factors might explain why eighth-grade ELA performs so differently from math at the same grade level.

The school's parent district, KIPP Texas, announced in December 2025 that it would close seven schools beginning in the 2026-2027 school year due to multi-year enrollment declines and financial pressures. KIPP Austin Academy of Arts & Letters is among the five Austin-area campuses slated for closure. The district has committed to guaranteeing enrollment at another KIPP school for all affected students, so families will not lose access to KIPP education but will need to transition to a different campus. This closure represents a significant operational change, though it does not take effect until the 2026-2027 school year.

On a broader district note, KIPP Texas itself has shown improvement in recent years. The district's overall accountability rating from the Texas Education Agency rose from a D rating to a B rating over the most recent multi-year span, a substantial gain that reflects improved academic performance across the network.

Austin itself is one of the fastest-growing large cities in the country, with a robust tech and government employment base and significant ongoing residential and commercial development. Housing values in the area have declined modestly in recent quarters but remain elevated, while rental costs continue to rise. The city is known for its walkable downtown and cultural amenities, though many neighborhoods remain car-dependent. The broader metro continues rapid population expansion, which shapes both housing and school capacity planning across the region.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 9% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 68%

School 8% · District 24% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 721%

School 21% · District 25% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 44% · ▼ 27 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Grade 614%

School 14% · District 47% · ▼ 33 pts below district

▼ 38 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 730%

School 30% · District 44% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 854%

School 54% · District 54%

▼ 1 pts below state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 20% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 837%

School 37% · District 40% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 823%

School 23% · District 24% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

This schoolKIPP TEXAS PUBLIC SCHOOLS, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income17%Higher-income60%43 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income12%Higher-income40%28 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income26%Higher-income63%37 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income0%Higher-income20%20 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income17%Higher-income50%33 pp gap