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Posts tagged as “Kari Croft”

Teachers Erin Whalen and Kari Croft Win $10 Million Prize to Start School for Homeless and Foster Youth

By goodblacknews on September 15, 2016

Los Angeles educators Kari Croft and Erin Whalen have won $10 million to start their own school, courtesy of a nationwide competition funded by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs.
Los Angeles educators Kari Croft and Erin Whalen have won $10 million to start their own school, courtesy of a nationwide competition funded by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

article by Joy Resmovits via latimes.com
Instead of going to school, school will come to you.
That’s the prize-winning idea behind RISE High, a proposed Los Angeles charter high school designed to serve homeless and foster children whose educations are frequently disrupted.
Los Angeles educators Kari Croft, 29, and Erin Whalen, 26, who came up with the idea, won $10 million in XQ: The Super School Project, a high school redesign competition funded by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs.
RISE is one of 10 $10-million winning school projects nationwide. Winners receive the prize money over five years.
XQ officials, in announcing the winners on Wednesday, described RISE as a “completely new” model. The idea is to have three to four physical sites sharing space with existing nonprofits as well as an online learning system. A bus will also be turned into a “mobile resource center,” to bring Wi-Fi, a washer/dryer and homework help to the neediest students.
That way, if a student suddenly moves or can’t get to school, he or she will have various options to get tutoring or the day’s lesson.  “The model exists outside the traditional confines of space and time,” Croft said.
RISE, which stands for Revolutionary Individualized Student Experience, is in its preliminary stages. It will be a charter school, but the staff is still figuring out governance structure, facilities and partnerships. As of now, the plan is to open with a small group of students next fall, but eventually to serve between 500 and 550.