Indy “innovation” school aims to send high schoolers abroad

Traveling the world to teach and work in Bangladesh and Rwanda was so transformative for Emma Hiza that the Oakland-based educator is determined to find a way to send American teens abroad for school.

That dream is on course to create an unusual new school in Indianapolis that will send every one of its students to another country for five months a year.

Hiza’s Thrival Academy was one of five new “innovation” schools that were awarded fellowships today by the non-profit the Mind Trust, which advocates for educational change. The winning school leaders will receive funding to plan and open new schools in the Indianapolis Public Schools innovation network, which will be part of the district but have charter-like flexibility.

Hiza, who has been working to launch a network of publicly-funded schools that will give teens the chance to travel around the world, plans to open Thrival in Indianapolis as soon as 2018.

Her plan is to open the one-year program to 10th- and 11th-grade students who will prepare for travel, spend five months abroad and complete a capstone project about their experience when they return.

Thrival is also launching a pilot program with 20 students in Oakland next fall.

“We have got to be able to effectively work across cultures and borders,” Hiza said. “This, I think, is the only way that we can really, truly embed those skills in our young people at an early age.”

For affluent families, international travel is a common part of their children’s education — from summer volunteer trips to college study abroad programs. But for low-income families, those experiences are often out of reach.

“Families from wealthier communities, they make it happen,” Hiza said. “It’s one of many ways that our students from underserved communities continue to be left out of our future.”

If the schools in Indianapolis and Oakland are successful, Hiza and her colleagues hope to expand the Thrival network nation-wide. They aim to offer publicly-funded study abroad programs to as many as 50,000 students.

Initially, Hiza expects to spend about $15,000 per student per year. That includes the travel, housing and insurance expenses of sending kids to other countries plus all of the usual teaching and curriculum expenses of typical schools.

Thrival staff are fundraising to make up the difference between the cost of Thrival and the per pupil school funding made available by the state.

If the program can reach a larger group of students, the cost will drop to just under $11,000 per year, Hiza estimates, since the school can save money by, for example, buying plane tickets in bulk.

Thrival is the most surprising idea among the innovation fellowship winners announced by the Mind Trust today. The other awards went largely to educators from established Indianapolis charter schools who are aiming to replicate existing schools or create new schools serving older kids.

Since the Mind Trust started granting fellowships three years ago, the program has attracted increasingly experienced, high quality applicants, said David Harris, chief executive officer of the Mind Trust.

“To build a school from scratch is an enormous undertaking,” Harris said. “We don’t come to any of the work that we do … with a preset idea for what these folks should be proposing.”

The other winning fellows announced today include:

  • Shy-Quon Ely II and Brooke Beavers who helped start Tindley Summit Academy. The pair aim to open an elementary school that incorporates neuroscience, physical health and mental wellness into its curriculum.
  • Tommy Reddicks and Kyle Beauchamp of Paramount School of Excellence. Leaders of the school known for its urban farm, are planning a second elementary school that would share the current school’s focus on science and project-based learning.
  • Earl Martin Phalen, founder of Phalen Leadership Academies, and Nigena Livingston. Phalen currently runs two elementary schools that offer an extended school day and computer-based lessons. The leaders are hoping to open a middle school with a similar program. This is the fourth fellowship that Phalen has won from the Mind Trust.
  • Kelly Herron, principal of Avondale Meadows Academy, and Chrystal Westerhaus-Whorton, a staffer at sister-school Vision Academy at Riverside. The pair plan to start a rigorous college prep middle school, which they say is in high demand from parents.

The latest innovation schools mark a growing partnership among the Mind Trust, the city and IPS. Some of the schools selected will likely be chartered by the mayor’s office, in addition to contracting with the school district. Mayor Joe Hogsett and Superintendent Lewis Ferebee both attended the announcement.

Hogsett said every child in Marion County should have access high quality schools in their neighborhoods.

“This means … that parents don’t have to drive 30 minutes out of their way to get their kids to a high-quality, high-performing school,” Hogsett said. “It means that our kids can walk.”

The IPS school board will review more detailed proposals from the school leaders before approving final contracts for new schools. District leaders are heavily involved in the school selection process, however, so they have already indicated support for the fellowship winners. The board has approved innovation restart contracts with three schools that were incubated with the Mind Trust.

Ferebee highlighted the experience of the winning educators.

“We have proven leaders in this group who have shown that they know how to move the dial on student achievement,” Ferebee said. “We have the opportunity to give them the keys and get out of the way.”