Akron Life September 2023

class of eighth graders is 75 percent over multiple years, and other similar APS schools have 50 percent or less over one year, according to APS. Although there aren’t any plans in place, foundation staffers would love to expand and open a high school. Currently, students go on to APS high schools, and 12 I Promise School students who were labeled at-risk for not graduating are now at two of the district’s top high schools, according to APS. If they meet the requirements, I Promise students can get full scholarships to The University of Akron, Stark State College or Kent State University. Currently, 76 students are on scholarship, and the support continues in college with the I Promise Institute at The University of Akron that offers mentoring, a studying spot and more. Now the school needs to keep help ing students grow so they can close the achievement gap, and Campbell is confi dent that Davis can tackle the challenge. “When you’re talking about changing the way a community operates to serve everybody in the community, that work from the ground up takes time. Our society is like, Are all your students 4.0 right now? No,” Campbell says. “I sit here today and tell you how hard the work is. But I’m the most hopeful that I feel like I’ve ever been knowing what’s to come when we open those doors and welcome our third graders and the rest of our school back under Stephanie Davis’ leadership.” Davis is working on building trust and laying a fresh foundation of love and support to show students they are worthy. “The most important thing we can do for our kiddos is not only say, We are family , but then become a family,” she says. “Your success is my success. Your trials and tribulations are my trials and tribula tions. A family is unconditional love. No matter where you are — I love you. We’re gonna get through this together.”

Through data, teachers can see the areas where students struggle and work more of that content into the curriculum, even if it’s a grade level or two behind. That strategy has shown growth. For example, 2.5 percent of all I Promise School stu dents fell on or above grade level on the 2022-2023 iReady English language arts assessment in the fall and 19.9 percent fell on or above grade level in the spring, which is more than 17.9 percent of other APS students in the lowest 25th per centile in the spring, according to APS. There’s a new instructional coach in place to help guide teachers. The school aims to close grade-level gaps by the time students enter high school. “I’ve got a group in third grade that’s really struggling. They are missing pho netic awareness, especially because this group was very impacted in their early literacy by COVID,” Davis says. “It’s not too late just because they’re in third grade to give them those things that they missed in first grade.” To continue making the environment more nurturing for learning, administra tors did further work with the TREP expert to group classes into grade-level pods so the kids have fewer transitions throughout the day. Plus, the common areas are filled with signs showing expectations like one that reads, I will act with integrity in the hallway by being respectful of learning in the classrooms, keeping the hallway neat and clean and walking to my destination . “Transitioning from class to class is always scary,” Davis says. “That is the biggest fear of every sixth grader, I’m gonna get lost , right? But we’ve made the world smaller so that stress is gone. … They feel safer.” For one student, the unthink able happened — their parent overdosed on drugs and died. The student and two siblings were thrown into instabil ity and needed a permanent home, but they were faced with separation. A grandmother

stepped up as the caregiver but needed help to keep the kids together and settle custody issues, so the Family Resource Center’s Community Legal Aid team spent hours work ing the legal system. Thanks to that hard work, the kids are together and safe — they’re liv ing with their grandmother, who was connected with Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority, legal support and Job and Family Services to pro vide long-term assistance. It’s undeniable — the I Promise School changes lives. “It motivated them to overcome a lot of their challenges and just be a student in a classroom,” McGee says. The wraparound supports keep grow ing. House Three Thirty recently opened in the former Tangier as a community and event center with a focus on job training, a Starbucks community store, financial counseling from JPMorgan Chase and more. It provides jobs for I Promise program high school students, teachers and parents. Additionally, the 1,600 students in the I Promise program, including in the school and their fami lies, have access to the 18-unit I Promise Village transitional housing and the new 50-unit longer-term I Promise Housing apartments that recently opened. For the first time, some students have their own bedrooms, and they have tables for fam ily dinners. In 2024, the I Promise HealthQuarters will open with medical, dental, optome try and lab services and a pharmacy from AxessPointe Community Health Partners and mental health counseling from Cole man Health Services. The majority of students are choosing to stay at the I Promise School. The at tendance rate is 88.9 percent, which is about 4 percent higher than the district, and the retention rate of the inaugural

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SEPTEMBER 2023 | akronlife.com