The First Year of LeBron James' 'I Promise' Public School was a Huge Success

By 2022,I Promise school's enrollment is expected to increase to 720 students.

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James helped openedI Promise public school in July of 2018 in hopes of expanding the LeBron James Family Foundation's contribution to educational resources in Akron. Two hundred and forty students enrolled in the public elementary school operated by the district, having been admitted through a lottery system. The school's enrollment is made up of 60% black students and 29% special education students. These children were considered to be at high risk of not completing their education.

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According to a profile in the New York Times, the school has been an overwhelming success. According to the profile, 90% of those students met or exceeded their individual growth goals in both math and reading, beating expectations of other students in their grade across the district, according to the New York Times.

The school's fourth-grade students made it to the 30th percentile in math, while the third graders progressed from the lowest percentile to the 18th. In reading, third-grade students made it to the ninth percentile and fourth-grade students to the 16th. They had initially scored in either the lowest or first percentile.

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," James told the Times.

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By 2022, the I Promise school's enrollment is expected to increase to 720 students across the third to eighth grades.

Source: NY Times