TED2017
Karim Abouelnaga: A summer school kids actually want to attend
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In the US, most kids have a very long summer break, during which they forget an awful lot of what they learned during the school year. This "summer slump" affects kids from low-income neighborhoods most, setting them back almost three months. TED Fellow Karim Abouelnaga has a plan to reverse this learning loss. Learn how he's helping kids improve their chances for a brighter future.
Karim Abouelnaga - Education entrepreneur
Karim Abouelnaga is working to provide kids with access to high-quality academic summer programming. Full bio
Karim Abouelnaga is working to provide kids with access to high-quality academic summer programming. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
Getting a college education
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is a 20-year investment.
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When you're growing up poor,
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you're not accustomed
to thinking that far ahead.
to thinking that far ahead.
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Instead, you're thinking about
where you're going to get your next meal
where you're going to get your next meal
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and how your family
is going to pay rent that month.
is going to pay rent that month.
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Besides, my parents
and my friends' parents
and my friends' parents
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seemed to be doing just fine
driving taxis and working as janitors.
driving taxis and working as janitors.
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It wasn't until I was a teenager
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when I realized I didn't
want to do those things.
want to do those things.
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By then, I was two-thirds of the way
through my education,
through my education,
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and it was almost too late
to turn things around.
to turn things around.
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When you grow up poor,
you want to be rich.
you want to be rich.
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I was no different.
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I'm the second-oldest of seven,
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and was raised by a single mother
on government aid
on government aid
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in Queens, New York.
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By virtue of growing up low-income,
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my siblings and I went
to some of New York City's
to some of New York City's
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most struggling public schools.
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I had over 60 absences
when I was in seventh grade,
when I was in seventh grade,
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because I didn't feel like going to class.
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01:13
My high school had
a 55 percent graduation rate,
a 55 percent graduation rate,
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and even worse,
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only 20 percent of the kids graduating
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were college-ready.
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When I actually did make it to college,
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I told my friend Brennan
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how our teachers would always ask us
to raise our hands
to raise our hands
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if we were going to college.
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I was taken aback when Brennan said,
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"Karim, I've never been asked
that question before."
that question before."
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It was always, "What college
are you going to?"
are you going to?"
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Just the way that question is phrased
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made it unacceptable for him
not to have gone to college.
not to have gone to college.
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Nowadays I get asked a different question.
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"How were you able to make it out?"
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For years I said I was lucky,
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but it's not just luck.
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When my older brother and I
graduated from high school
graduated from high school
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at the very same time
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and he later dropped out
of a two-year college,
of a two-year college,
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I wanted to understand why he dropped out
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and I kept studying.
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It wasn't until I got to Cornell
as a Presidential Research Scholar
as a Presidential Research Scholar
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that I started to learn about
the very real educational consequences
the very real educational consequences
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of being raised by a single mother
on government aid
on government aid
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and attending the schools that I did.
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That's when my older brother's trajectory
began to make complete sense to me.
began to make complete sense to me.
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I also learned that our most admirable
education reformers,
education reformers,
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people like Arne Duncan,
the former US Secretary of Education,
the former US Secretary of Education,
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or Wendy Kopp, the founder
of Teach For America,
of Teach For America,
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had never attended an inner city
public school like I had.
public school like I had.
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So much of our education reform
is driven by a sympathetic approach,
is driven by a sympathetic approach,
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where people are saying,
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"Let's go and help
these poor inner city kids,
these poor inner city kids,
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or these poor black and Latino kids,"
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instead of an empathetic approach,
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where someone like me, who had grown up
in this environment, could say,
in this environment, could say,
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"I know the adversities that you're facing
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and I want to help you overcome them."
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Today when I get questions
about how I made it out,
about how I made it out,
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I share that one of the biggest reasons
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is that I wasn't ashamed to ask for help.
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In a typical middle class
or affluent household,
or affluent household,
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if a kid is struggling,
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there's a good chance that a parent
or a teacher will come to their rescue
or a teacher will come to their rescue
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even if they don't ask for help.
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However, if that same kid
is growing up poor
is growing up poor
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and doesn't ask for help,
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there's a good chance
that no one will help them.
that no one will help them.
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There are virtually
no social safety nets available.
no social safety nets available.
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So seven years ago,
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I started to reform
our public education system
our public education system
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shaped by my firsthand perspective.
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And I started with summer school.
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Research tells us that two-thirds
of the achievement gap,
of the achievement gap,
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which is the disparity
in educational attainment
in educational attainment
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between rich kids and poor kids
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or black kids and white kids,
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could be directly attributed
to the summer learning loss.
to the summer learning loss.
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In low-income neighborhoods,
kids forget almost three months
kids forget almost three months
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of what they learned
during the school year
during the school year
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over the summer.
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They return to school in the fall,
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and their teachers
spend another two months
spend another two months
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reteaching them old material.
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That's five months.
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The school year in the United States
is only 10 months.
is only 10 months.
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If kids lose five months of learning
every single year,
every single year,
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that's half of their education.
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Half.
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If kids were in school over the summer,
then they couldn't regress,
then they couldn't regress,
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but traditional summer school
is poorly designed.
is poorly designed.
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For kids it feels like punishment,
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and for teachers
it feels like babysitting.
it feels like babysitting.
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But how can we expect principals
to execute an effective summer program
to execute an effective summer program
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when the school year
ends the last week of June
ends the last week of June
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04:38
and then summer school starts
just one week later?
just one week later?
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There just isn't enough time
to find the right people,
to find the right people,
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sort out the logistics,
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and design an engaging curriculum
that excites kids and teachers.
that excites kids and teachers.
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But what if we created a program
over the summer
over the summer
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that empowered teachers
as teaching coaches
as teaching coaches
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to develop aspiring educators?
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What if we empowered
college-educated role models
college-educated role models
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as teaching fellows
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to help kids realize
their college ambitions?
their college ambitions?
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What if empowered high-achieving kids
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as mentors to tutor their younger peers
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and inspire them
to invest in their education?
to invest in their education?
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What if we empowered all kids as scholars,
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asked them what colleges
they were going to,
they were going to,
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designed a summer school
they want to attend
they want to attend
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to completely eliminate
the summer learning loss
the summer learning loss
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and close two-thirds
of the achievement gap?
of the achievement gap?
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By this summer, my team will have served
over 4,000 low-income children,
over 4,000 low-income children,
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trained over 300 aspiring teachers
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and created more than 1,000 seasonal jobs
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across some of New York City's
most disadvantaged neighborhoods.
most disadvantaged neighborhoods.
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(Applause)
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And our kids are succeeding.
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Two years of independent evaluations
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tell us that our kids
eliminate the summer learning loss
eliminate the summer learning loss
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and make growth of one month in math
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and two months in reading.
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So instead of returning to school
in the fall three months behind,
in the fall three months behind,
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they now go back four months ahead in math
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and five months ahead in reading.
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(Applause)
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Ten years ago, if you would have told me
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that I'd graduate in the top 10 percent
of my class from an Ivy League institution
of my class from an Ivy League institution
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and have an opportunity to make a dent
on our public education system
on our public education system
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just by tackling two months
of the calendar year,
of the calendar year,
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I would have said,
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"Nah. No way."
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What's even more exciting
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is that if we can prevent
five months of lost time
five months of lost time
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just by redesigning two months,
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imagine the possibilities
that we can unlock
that we can unlock
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by tackling the rest of the calendar year.
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Thank you.
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06:59
(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Karim Abouelnaga - Education entrepreneurKarim Abouelnaga is working to provide kids with access to high-quality academic summer programming.
Why you should listen
Karim Abouelnaga wants to eliminate summer learning loss in kids and give them a fair chance at realizing their life ambitions. After experiencing the struggle to succeed in under-resourced urban public schools, he was lucky enough to benefit from nonprofits that provided him with great mentors, receiving over $300,000 in scholarships to make his college education possible. Abouelnaga is the founder and CEO of the benefit corporation Practice Makes Perfect, a full-service summer school operator that uses a "near-peer" learning model to drive academic outcomes for thousands of low-income children.
Abouelnaga is a regular contributor for Entrepreneur and Forbes, a co-founder of Gentlemen Ventures, a TED Fellow, Global Shaper and Echoing Green Fellow. He was named to Forbes' 30 under 30 in Education. In 2016 Richtopia ranked him in the top five of most influential entrepreneurs in the world under 25. Abouelnaga graduated from Cornell University with a degree in hotel administration in 2013.
Reach Karim here: karimted@practicemakesperfect.org.
Karim Abouelnaga | Speaker | TED.com