Offers His Vision On How To Overhaul Low-Performing Schools

March 11, 2008

Washington, D.C. - Demonstrating his passion for educating our youth and his commitment to turning around public schools that aren't up to standard, Sacramento Mayoral Candidate Kevin Johnson will be participating today and tomorrow in the Mass Insight Education Conference in Washington, D.C.

The conference, which focuses on the turnaround of the nation's worst schools, invited Johnson to speak on a panel about his experience with St. HOPE Public Schools. He will be joined on the panel by Andrew Calkins of the Mass Insight Education & Research Institute, Steven Adamowski of Hartford (Connecticut) Public Schools, and Kirk Kramer of the Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit organization bringing leading-edge strategies and tools to the challenges and opportunities facing nonprofit organizations and foundations. Three other panels also delved into the turnaround of low-performing schools.

"You can't have a great city without great schools," Johnson said. "As mayor, I will be a tireless advocate for our public schools."

While playing in the NBA, Johnson founded the St. HOPE Academy and today serves as its CEO. St. HOPE is a nonprofit community development corporation created to revitalize communities through public education, civic leadership, economic development and the arts. In 2003, St. HOPE formed St. HOPE Public Schools, a pre-K through 12 independent charter school system of seven small schools.

The Mass Insight Education Conference today focused on the examination of what it takes to craft and implement a coherent school turnaround strategy. With more than 2,000 schools planning or implementing school restructuring, and recognizing that conventional efforts to restructure schools typically fall short, there has been increasing interest in reconfiguring people, institutions, and support systems to radically improve America's worst schools Ð a concept Kevin Johnson is extremely familiar with.

When Sacramento High School faced a state takeover, Johnson stepped in and created an independent charter school system that today educates 1,800 students per year. Since then, the number of kids ready to enter college has nearly doubled. The class of 2007 was the first class to attend all four years under St. HOPE's leadership. When only one in five low-income students typically attend college, 73% of St. HOPE students were accepted to college and received nearly $2 million in scholarships and grants. This year, that statistic has grown to 80% acceptance.

"Sacramento needs to be a city that works for everyone, and that means it needs to work for every student in our school system. My experience with St. Hope has prepared me to undertake this important challenge."