I had the pleasure of experiencing a day with the rugby teams of the ICEF schools today. The Inner City Education Foundation is a project to spur education in the inner city of Los Angeles through charter schools.
The schools are initially funded through philanthropy, but by full enrollment after about 4-5 years, are self-sustaining. The ICEF currently has 9 schools in South Los Angeles with plans to increase to 23 schools within 5 years (2013) and an estimated 2014 enrollment of 9,200 students.
The mission of the ICEF in LA is truly amazing. The schools are scoring at the top of the charts for academic performance and testing and are graduating practically every student with a majority of them going on to four-year colleges. The increase in education for South Los Angeles is staggering. The area itself represents a city that would be the 19th largest city in the nation and would be the 33rd largest school district. Yet it sends only 300 high school students per year on to four-year college educations. That number is already skyrocketing thanks to the ICEF program and soon plans to be sending 1,000-1,375 additional students on to four year colleges.
Just as important, the program is trying to spur business and the economy in South Los Angeles both through first hand efforts plus the follow through of college educated students returning to the area. Currently, South Los Angeles must import 90% of its professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants, dentists, etc). Hopefully, through this program, the communities economy will be much more self sufficient.
After speaking briefly with the leaders of the ICEF I got a much better feel for their current needs. It seems that their biggest issue is finding high quality principals for their new schools. Apparently teachers, money, and supplies are not as much of an issue. I would like to encourage anyone with any principal connections to share this story and help out.
Please read more about the ICEF on their website. To quote their goals:
Our Mission
The Inner City Education Foundation will transform South Los Angeles into a stable, economically vibrant community by providing first-rate educational opportunities to minority youth.
Our Vision
ICEF will build an “Education Corridor” of high performing schools that will dramatically increase the number of college graduates in South Los Angeles, thereby catalyzing an economic transformation.
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