The Alain Locke Initiative Announces Plan to Create Elite National Corps of High-Impact Charter School Leaders

CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alain Locke Initiative (www.alainlocke.org), a national education nonprofit, today announced an initial commitment of five million dollars from the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Foundation to support the creation of an elite, national corps of new school principals uniquely qualified to accelerate student achievement, attacking the issue of underperforming charter schools. Building off the success of its nationally renowned Chicago charter school and its success in training high impact principals, the Alain Locke Initiative will identify prospective new school principals across the country with the specific qualities and characteristics required to drive new school achievement.  Working in collaboration with Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, the future leaders selected will participate in a one year paid fellowship to develop expertise in Achievement Accelerating management capabilities before being placed as principals in charter schools in major cities across the United States.

"As I've said repeatedly, 'I'm not a fan of all charters, I'm a fan of good charters,'" said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. "I've challenged the charter community to work toward ensuring that their schools serve a diverse student population, build strong relationships with the community and interest groups, and embrace thoughtful, data-driven evaluation. This is an enormous and critical challenge, and I commend the Alain Locke Initiative for undertaking this innovative initiative to increase and support talented school leaders who can help the charter community better serve the interest of our nation's children."

The Alain Locke Initiative has a proven history of success in charter school leadership and management.  The brainchild of former inner-city teacher and gang narcotics police officer, Pat Ryan Jr., Alain Locke Charter School holds the record for #1 test score gains in Chicago over the past decade and was identified by the U.S. Department of Education as one of the best examples of "Closing the Achievement Gap"(1) among charter elementary schools in the United States.  Instead of replicating the bricks-and-mortar school, Ryan, currently Founder and CEO of INCISENT Technologies, ranked the #4 fastest growing software company in the U.S. in the 2008 INC 500 rankings, chose instead to develop a leadership curriculum with the Kellogg School of Management, based on the management capabilities found in high achieving new schools.  Principals from that program, called ExSL, have attained an average increase of 32 percent in student achievement in the start-up year.

"The primary cause of underperforming charter schools is leadership without experience and expertise in creating and leading an achievement accelerating school.  The Ryan Foundation grant will enable us to build on the success of our ExSL principal training program and create a national corps of principals uniquely prepared and qualified to create high performing charter schools," said Pat Ryan Jr., founder of the Alain Locke Initiative.  "We call Accelerate graduates 'achievement-accelerating' principals because they are black-belts in the management capabilities that are consistently found in high performing new schools."

The new national program funded by the Ryan Foundation is called Accelerate and is the successor to its successful ExSL new principal training program.   High performing teachers with strong leadership potential will be selected to participate in an intense, year-long leadership development program which includes a summer institute at Kellogg, a leadership internship at a high performing charter school, as well as support and mentorship as these leaders launch or take over a new charter school campus. In its first year, Accelerate staff will recruit high-caliber education professionals in important urban education markets – Chicago, the New York metro area, Los Angeles and the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose area.  Those selected will join Accelerate as Ryan Fellows, with salary and tuition fully paid for by the grant from the Ryan Foundation.   The Alain Locke Initiative will continue to expand the number of participants and the cities in which it recruits.

About The Alain Locke Initiative

The Alain Locke Initiative is a nonprofit education organization focused on closing the achievement gap by energizing urban schools with high-impact leaders.  Formerly named the Inner-City Teaching Corps (ICTC), the Alain Locke Initiative was founded in 1991 by former inner-city teacher and gang narcotics police officer, Pat Ryan Jr., currently Founder and CEO of INCISENT Technologies, ranked the #4 fastest growing software company in the U.S. in the 2008 INC 500 rankings.  The Alain Locke Initiative is anchored by three key programs: the Alain Locke Charter School, which holds the record for #1 test score gains in Chicago over the past decade and was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as one of the best examples in the United States of  "Closing the Achievement Gap" among charter elementary schools; ICTC, a teacher development program for top recent college graduates and accomplished career changers who will become future urban education leaders; and the Accelerate New School Leadership Program, which seeks to solve the issue of underperforming urban charter schools by developing principals with the leadership qualities and management capabilities to achieve rapid success in new charter schools.  Visit www.alainlocke.org for more information.

SOURCE The Alain Locke Initiative