Lebron may not have had the best year in basketball, but the students who attend the ‘I Promise School’ he started last year in Akron had an amazing year! Here are 10 things you need to know about the ‘I Promise School’ students.
- When the school opened many skeptics did not believe that they school would be successful simply because it was filled with kids labeled unredeemable. “We are reigniting dreams that were extinguished — already in third and fourth grade.”Brandi Davis – Principal
- Everyone assumes Lebron’s school is a Charter School because this is a very popular and profitable thing for investors and celebrities to endeavor to start. However, the ‘I Promise School’ is not a Charter School. Lebron was smart, he created a school as a partnership with traditional public schools and the school district, as a NON-CHARTER school.
- Everyday the kids are celebrated simply for walking through the doors of the school. Dancing, laughing, music blaring, high fives, and the sounds of Sister Sledge’s “We are Family” can be heard on any given Monday at the school, simply as a celebration that the kids are coming in on that day.
- “Mr. James’s biggest foray into educational philanthropy — were identified as the worst performers in the Akron public schools and branded with behavioral problems. Some as young as 8 were considered at risk of not graduating.” -Erica Green, writer for NY Times
- There are 240 kids in the ‘I Promise School’ comprised of 3rd and 4th graders, and these kids test scores in math and reading were phenomenal for the school’s first year in session.
- Before they started at the ‘I Promise School’ these 3rd & 4th graders scored in the lowest percentile – 1%; after 1 year at the ‘I Promise School’, 3rd graders scored in the 9th percentile and 4th graders scored in the 16th percentile!
- “These kids are doing an unbelievable job, better than we all expected. When we first started, people knew I was opening a school for kids. now people are going to really understand the lack of education they had before they came to our school. People are going to finally understand what goes on behind our doors.” -Lebron James
- 90% of the ‘I Promise School’ Students who met their goals exceeded the 70% of students in the Akron Ohio school district and scored in the 99th growth percentile of what is considered normal. This shows that the ‘I Promise School’ Students scores increased at a higher rate than 99 out of 100 schools in the country.
- When the school opened many skeptics did not believe that they school would be successful simply because it was filled with kids labeled unredeemable. “We are reigniting dreams that were extinguished — already in third and fourth grade.”Brandi Davis – Principal
- Though the scores are outstanding, these children have a ways to go in order to get them where they need to be academically. The news is great, but these kids are not out of the woods, according to the School Improvement Council Coordinator, “The goal is for these students to be at grade level, and we’re not there yet. This just tells us we’re going in the right direction.”
Kudos to Lebron, these teachers, and the public school district for believing in these children; but most importantly KUDOS to those kids!
Syllabus Magazine, the Carolina’s source for Music, Culture and Fashion
