Best selling author visits Lynn’s KIPP

LYNN – Washington Post Education reporter and best-selling author Jay Mathews visited KIPP Academy Lynn Tuesday afternoon, promoting his wildly successful profile of KIPP founders Mark Feinberg and Dave Levin, “Work Hard. Be Nice.”The 2009 release profiles KIPP’s founders who went from floundering first year teachers to the heads of one of the country’s most successful charter schools.The two teachers created KIPP as a way to educate low-income, high-risk students in 2001, expanding their charter school program across the country, and in 2005, to Lynn.The book has been praised by education and business experts alike, along with celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates, who hosted Mathews at a recent Microsoft function.Mathews spent about three hours at the school’s Bessom Street location Tuesday, signing copies of his book, touring the school and speaking with KIPP Academy Lynn Director Josh Zoia, who has built Massachusetts’ only KIPP location from the ground up.Aside from his latest title, Mathews has authored six books, including “The Best Teacher in America,” starring a character later featured in the movie “Stand and Deliver.”