The students at LeBron James‘ I Promise School certainly have something to be proud of. It was recently announced that the students have showed a major improvement in their grades since the school opened.
James opened the school in his hometown of Akron, Ohio in July of 2018 for third and fourth graders who’ve all fallen behind in reading, math, as well as other areas. But now, based on new numbers, the students are closer to being at their respective grade levels.
According to The New York Times, results from Measures of Academic Progress testing shows that 90 percent of the students at I Promise, who were at least one grade level behind, met or exceeded their goals in reading and math.
And that 90 percent exceeded the 70 percent of the students who did the same in schools throughout their district. Plus, on a national level, I Promise showed improvement at a higher rate than 99 out of 100 schools.
There’s more too.
In math, third-graders jumped from the first percentile to the 18th and fourth graders from the second to the 30th.
Plus, in reading, 23 percent of I Promise students achieved a score either at or above the 25th percentile.
“PROUD is an understatement,” James wrote April 12. “Kids you are smart, amazing, talented, and nothing short of INSPIRATIONAL! Teachers & all the staff ya’ll are the right ones, the real ones on this journey changing lives & numbers don’t lie. Let’s keep GROWING.”
Former president Barack Obama also acknowledged the impressive test results.
“Great work @KingJames,” he wrote April 12. “And even better work by those students. Proud to be a witness to their success.”
Keith Liechty, who’s a coordinator in Akron Public School System’s Office of School Improvement, seemed happy about the test results as well but said the finish line still hasn’t been reached.
“It’s encouraging to see growth, but by no means are we out of the woods,” he said. “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.”
