Jalen Rose's Tuition-Free High School Achieves 93 Percent Graduation Rate

[JHan]

Other than being an ESPN analyst, Jalen Rose also works tirelessly to serve his local community. The retired NBA player opened in September 2011 the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy (JRLA), an open enrollment, tuition-free public charter high school in Northwest Detroit. It serves 400 students in ninth through 12 grade from metro Detroit with a 9-16 model, in which students are supported not only through high school graduation but through college graduation via a college success team that works with current students and alumni.

The JRLA has a 93 percent graduation rate and 100 percent college and post-secondary acceptance rate.

Rose spoke exclusively with EBONY.com about why the school is important, what he hopes his students get from their time on campus and the controversy surrounding the national anthem.

Why do you think it’s important to give back to your community by opening a school as opposed to other ways you can help?

Education is a valuable tool that unlocks the future of so many young people, and the dynamics in our country have changed, which is [why I chose to] be the founder of a tuition-free public charter high school that gets zero state funding for the facility. It was important not only from myself but our co-founder, Michael Carter, as well. [We wanted] to not only be able to influence the dynamics of our scholars graduating from high school nine through 12 but [also] to give them that level of support and guidance that allowed them the opportunity to graduate from college, which was 13 through 16.

We’re proud and unique in a lot of ways to carry a nine through 16 model, whereas we approximately have 450 kids in the building this upcoming school year and around 300 in college or university community college, military and trade school. In June, it will be the first time we have JRLA scholars that graduated from colleges across the country that will have the opportunity to attend our graduation and speak to the graduates of our senior class. So that is what I think allows our scenario to be really unique and I’m proud of that dynamic.

Several people I know in the education sector complain about how the curriculum is more based on setting kids up to pass state exams as opposed to teaching skills that would benefit them in the future. How would you say the JRLA enriches your student body with skills that will help them in the future?

That’s not a school thing, per se. That’s a society thing that has continued to foster throughout our country and look no further than the dynamics of how many people work in a field that was their major in college.

I’m one of the few that I know.

I am too, communications: radio, TV & film. So that dynamic in our educational system [whether it be] public charter, magnet, private, college, university, high school, elementary school and middle school is all theory. So, to me, that’s one conversation.

So now what we’re able to do, as a charter school [is] craft programs that allow the young people to get skills other than reading, writing and arithmetic.

We have a leadership course. We teach young people about decision-making, problem-solving, sex, drugs, violence, gangs and etiquette. [Our school] has advisory, where we get to know our scholars up-close and personal, [including] what makes them tick and their interests; we try to steer them in that direction. We’re also unique because while most public schools and charter schools are not open in July, we are.

The JRLA has something called Summer Session, which is not summer school for students who failed classes. Through this program, we create other experiences, college experiences on-campus experiences and we provide each of our scholars with an internship.

It’s crucial for us to get our scholars out in the community to do charity work and to give them the life skills they will need to be successful in the endeavors that they have, and it’s more for us than just obviously the curriculum that’s required to graduate from school.

https://www.ebony.com/entertainment-culture/jalen-roses-tuition-free-high-school-boasts-93-percent-graduation-rate?amp

[catbyte]

1. Awesome! Those stats are incredible. I worked in education for 35 years and what people

like Rose & LeBron James are doing will positively impact the world for generations to come. Now, that is money very well spent. Bravo!

[JHan]

2. K&R , it's really wonderful.

[laserhaas]

3. Yes it is - both Awesome & Wonderful.

Efforts such as this can really make a world of difference; because education is one of the biggest ketlys to ending inequality.

KUDOS

[lamsmy]

4. Don't celebrate

While it seems wonderful that celebrities or the wealthy would personally underwrite schools, this sets a terrible precedent.

First, there is a gross underinvestment in American education across the entire system. Having a few individuals step up when they can, while laudable, does not even begin to address a nationwide problem affecting thousands of schools and tens of millions of students.

Second, the US already suffers from the highest inequality among all the richest nations. This inequality is driven by tax policies that favour the wealthy and social policies that make upward mobility extremely difficult. This inequality is reinforced in the education system: rich kids go to great schools in safe places with abundant resources. Poor kids go to overcrowded, understaffed schools with the most meager support systems.

Privately funded schools may provide needy students with exemplary educations and produce world class scholars, but in effect, it is like an educational lottery system: a lucky few (miniscule few) hit pay dirt, while the vast majority are forced to go without. This is no way to go about fixing the problems in the American education sector.

The countries that produce the best student testing results (think Finland, Singapore, Canada...) do so because their students perform strongly AS A GROUP. The scores of their best performers are not dragged down by masses of underperforming students. This high educational achievement provides the foundation for a solid middle class, less crime, and so on.

No one should be celebrating the rise of celebrity schools. It is a mark of a failed system when a tiny number of the uber rich try to plug a few holes in a dam with millions of holes.

[JHan]

5. I look at it this way: I won't make perfect the enemy of the good.

I don't have an issue with examples like this where improvements - tangible improvements- are being made in people's lives.

I agree with you in the main though, the focus has to be on improving the system - the public school system. But I won't fault the celebrity who tries to do their bit with the resources they have. Jalen and others are responding to an actual problem with initiative of their own - I can't really quarrel with that.

Otherwise, I agree with your synopsis.

[The Polack MSgt]

6. This is very perceptive

That’s not a school thing, per se. That’s a society thing that has continued to foster throughout our country and look no further than the dynamics of how many people work in a field that was their major in college.

I’m one of the few that I know.

Says the self aware Basketball player who has been famous since he was 19