​KIPP 2025 Goal: All KIPP schools operate at least one FIRST team (FLL Explore, FLL Challenge, or FTC) with equal gender enrollment.

What is FIRST?

Why offer FIRST?

FIRST has a proven record of results internationally and long-term student impact. See here for details. 

FIRST also has a record of results within KIPP. Below are statistics taken from the KIPP FIRST End-of-Year Survey for 2019-2020. To conclude the FIRST Season, KIPP Foundation administered a survey to all FIRST grantee schools taking part in the Amazon Future Engineer Program. All 53 Amazon Grantee Schools assigned a coach to complete this survey along with 10 schools outside of the AFE program. In total, coaches from 63 schools submitted the survey and a few schools had more than one response (72 total responses). Respondents coached a total of 1029 students in FIRST this year.

Survey Highlights:

• Participants gave FIRST a 9.3 out of 10 average rating as a “worthwhile addition” to their school.

• Participants gave FIRST a 9.3 out of 10 rating when asked how strongly they would recommend FIRST.

• Participants gave FIRST a 9.0 out of 10 average rating for student enjoyment.

• 27 schools won FIRST awards this year (43.5% of respondents)!

• 81% of schools plan to stick with FIRST next year. 19% stated “Maybe”.

How do I make this program available at my school?

• Time Commitment: The most successful teams usually meet 2-3 per week (usually after-school) for a semester. Regular season spans from August - December/February. The season culminates in a city-competition. If your team wins, they may move forward to compete at States, and even Worlds in April.

• Training: KIPP Foundation will host free, virtual training for all programs this summer. Stay tuned for more details.

• On-going support: KIPP Foundation's FIRST Lead Coaches will provide direct support for all KIPP coaches through virtual calls, community emails, office hours, and more. See program pages for details.

• Team Size and Makeup:  Each year FIRST has co-ed, all-female, and all-male teams. We encourage schools to ensure female students are equally represented (or more) in your participation as we work to tackle the STEM diversity gap. Teams vary in size by program. We recommend the following team sizes: ​FLL Jr: 4-6 students, FLL: 4-8 students, FTC: 8-12 students.

• Recruitment: The most successful teams host a student/family interest night and application process with clear expectations and commitments ahead of time. See our program pages for examples.

• Curriculum: Curriculum is provided by FIRST. After registering, teams will be shipped their challenge materials to utilize for the semester. 

• Coaches: Teams require at least one coach + one mentor, but the more the merrier! We recommend schools stipend participating coaches for their time according to the school/region’s policies.

• In-Class Curriculum: FIRST has also created an in-class curriculum for FLL and FTC for schools that may wish to offer FIRST as an elective to all students! We haven’t tested it yet, but curriculum is available here (request access) if you’re school is interested.

What are the costs and hardware associated with each program?

Below we have outlined the varied registration options available. Additional costs for coach stipends, team travel, food, team shirts and other optional items will vary.  See here for more cost details and options.

Got questions? Reach out to your FIRST Lead Coach or KIPP Foundation for help!