When LeBron James discovered that a child in America was dropping out of school every 26 seconds, he decided to do something about it in his hometown of Akron, Ohio.
As he grew up on the tough streets of downtown Akron, he also knows firsthand why kids drop out of school. His single mother struggled to find a regular job, he missed most of fourth grade because of poor transportation, and he had to deal with hunger and homelessness.
In 2018, he founded I Promise School in Akron, an experimental public school run by the Akron School Board to help underprivileged children graduate.
I Promise schools are open to children in the bottom 25 percentile of the education system throughout Akron. It serves children with academic and personal problems, primarily at-risk youth, and selects students through an admissions lottery system.
The school is unique in its STEM focus and holistic approach to education. The school addresses external issues affecting each child before they enter the classroom. Kids get free breakfast every morning, transportation, free school supplies and more. For parents and families, the school also offers child care, offers general education development (GED) classes, and even has a food pantry.
The premise is that when all these stressors are removed from the child’s daily life, the child will focus on their studies.
The school started the 2018 pilot year with only third and fourth graders, traditionally the most vulnerable of all student groups. It quickly became clear that students and faculty had to climb a mountain — not a hill — to comply with Ohio State’s academic guidelines.
Students must do well on the standardized Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test, which determines whether third graders are promoted to fourth graders. Nearly all students read and write well below their proficiency and have to work over the course of about eight months for a year—sometimes two years.
Family and community are also buzzwords on campus. Maxims like “Family: If you fail, we fail” remind students that they are not alone in the face of academic and everyday challenges.
Many children suffer from massive emotional childhood trauma that leads them to bully other children, become violent, vent their emotions, distract and disrupt the classroom. But with determination and compassion, the teachers persevered, and the standardized test scores were so perfect.
The school will be fully operational in 2022, serving students in grades 1-8. Although the global pandemic has interrupted its second year, the commitment to helping children has not been broken and continues to drive teachers, students and families forward and to success.
Directed by: Marc Levin
