I Promise School: In the most disadvantaged neighborhoods of Akron, Ohio, students can’t seem to pass the state standardized math test. They also struggle to get three meals daily, adult supervision, or a physically and emotionally safe place to live.
Children living in poverty suffer from chronic stress and poor nutrition. They rarely visit a healthcare provider. Children living in poverty experience cognitive delays, language delays, and stifled social-emotional development. Some are living with PTSD. These are well-documented effects of American poverty.
Akron, Ohio, has a poverty rate 79.69% higher than the U.S. average. In 2018, LeBron James, whose childhood in Akron was marked by poverty and instability, decided to make a difference in his community. This place, written off by many, needed so much more than standardized tests.
In partnership with Akron Public Schools, The LeBron James Foundation contributes additional funding to help provide the resources and intervention these kids need. The I Promise School takes a holistic approach to education. The school offers mental health services, extended learning hours, tutoring, mentorship programs, and support for the entire family.
There is no easy fix. Many of these students are experiencing ongoing trauma and horrific living conditions while attending I Promise School. In June, the LeBron James Family Foundation opened 50 new units in Akron to provide affordable and safe housing for students and their families. LeBron and his foundation have a genuine drive to change Akron for the better and lift children out of devastating cycles of poverty and abuse.
Labeled a “Failure”
Recently, media outlets have criticized the school after it was reported that no 8th-grade student at I Promise had passed the standardized state math test in the past three years. Doesn’t sound great. Doesn’t sound like success.
In a less than articulate quote, the Daily Caller’s “education reporter,” Chrissy Clark, quips, “It’s almost like this left-wing paradise school isn’t successful. How would’ve thunk it?” The article’s title was LeBron James’ Ohio School is an Epic Fail.
Ouch. Yes, it is true that none of the eighth-grade students at I Promise have passed the standardized test…yet. Here’s something else that’s true. Students at I Promise School are making progress.
They have not met the grade-level mastery mark but are demonstrating growth. Of the incoming 8th graders, 43% met or exceeded their annual growth in reading. Despite not mastering the grade-level standards, 42% of students improved their math skills across their 7th-grade school year.
I Promise School is seeing academic progress in its students, some of whom have never before experienced academic growth. Despite their insurmountable circumstances, they are improving and progressing, and it’s being called a “failure.”
The critics are refusing to see context in exchange for a splashy headline. They are also oblivious to the devastating impact a headline like that can have on a student making progress after years of regression.
Progress Before Proficiency
While confronting students’ traumas outside the classroom, I Promise addressed academic achievement in its first five years. I Promise School’s mission is to serve students who were “already falling behind and in danger of falling through the cracks.” The school and its leadership understand how vital progress is for this demographic of students.
The school’s new principal, Stephanie Davis, is excited about the upcoming school year and says, “When working with students who are achieving below grade level, growth is as important a measure of progress as proficiency. And the type of growth that is important to us is not made overnight. It takes time.”
Any educator knows if you have a 5th-grade student start the year at a 1st-grade reading level and then progress to a 4th-grade reading level by the end of that school year, you’ve seen phenomenal growth, and that growth matters.
View it without context; you only see a child a year behind in reading proficiency. Students deserve better than that—progress matters. Not only does it matter, but progress leads to proficiency. You can’t get there without it.
Not All Roses
The leadership at I Promise School is in this for the long haul, and they know better than anyone how daunting life is for these students. The documentary “I Promise” followed students and staff after the cameras disappeared and the inaugural school year began. Among the children featured:
- Vincent (4th grade): Classmates and teachers severely bullied him at his previous school, leaving him to rot in the corner while instruction occurred elsewhere. Vincent had no desire to learn. On his first day at I Promise, he preemptively proclaimed, “I hate this school!”
- Nate (3rd grade): Witnessed horrific violence early in life and darted off campus whenever frustrated.
- Scout (3rd grade): She was too embarrassed about her limited reading skills to attempt reading aloud, even with a trusted adult.
These students need intensive intervention, a loving, secure environment to thrive in, and time. Lots of time. The critics want a feel-good story formatted in a 90-min PG-rated movie.
The expectation is this school can deliver grade-level competency by throwing money and LeBron James’ name at a massive systemic American problem. That is a fantasy and an incredibly unfair bar to set.
A Revolution in Public Education
What LeBron James and his foundation attempt to do in partnership with the Akron Public School system is revolutionary. This is NOT Kanye West’s self-aggrandizing pet project in Simi Valley, the unaccredited Donda Academy, where tuition is $15,000, and the curriculum revolves around the pop star’s personal interests.
The LeBron James Family Foundation is fighting for a noble cause and doing the hard and dirty work required to make a genuine change in the lives of America’s forgotten children. The same people who never tire of pointing out how dangerous inner city streets are, refuse to acknowledge or support the efforts of I Promise School.
The seemingly ultimate marker of success, the grade-level state math proficiency scores, will come. But for right now, there are educators saving children’s lives and futures at I Promise School. Let them get back to work.
