Staff

	Jim O’Connor

Jim  O’Connor is the Founding Principal of KIPP Ascend Charter School. He was awarded a year-long Fisher Fellowship by the KIPP School Leadership Program (KSLP) in 2002 and has since been awarded Administrator of the Year by Congressman Danny K. Davis.  During the Fisher Fellowship, Mr. O'Connor received management training at the University of California-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and completed internships with high-performing charter schools across the country in preparation for opening KIPP Ascend Charter School in 2003. Previous to his fellowship, Mr. O'Connor taught biology at Noble Street Charter High School and completed two years of service with the Teach for America program in rural Arkansas.  Mr. O’Connor holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame (1995) and a Master's degree from the University of Chicago (2000).