DETROIT, MI, November 09, 2009
/24-7PressRelease/ -- Ida Byrd-Hill, President of Uplift, Inc. a 501 (c)3 non profit Idea Incubator (http://www.upliftinc.org) will present a workshop "Evicting Failure: How Cyber Schools Can Rescue Cities Drowning in Dropouts" based on the research and pilot of the Detroit Hustle & TECHknow Preparatory High School at the 2009 Virtual School Symposium Monday November 16, 2009 in Austin Texas.
Hustle & TECHknow Preparatory High School was a cyber school - all virtual curriculum located in the Compuware Headquarters in downtown Detroit, that catered to dropouts and adjudicated youth with the hopes they will be prepared for the technology workforce. Hustle & TECHknow Preparatory High School closed November 2007 when its contract with Detroit Public Schools ended.
Hustle & TECHknow Preparatory High School derived its name from two competing concepts for urban teenagers' time - technology and hustling. Hustling comes from the common slang term "Hustle" which is illegal business activity that drives many young people to seek the fast cash of the streets, especially if their families are struggling to survive economically. Technology, which they love, is the key to their ascension out of poverty.
While many of Hustle & TECHknow Preparatory High School students were not traditional college bound students, college and admission standards were discussed continually within the halls creating an environment of excellence. Here are the results of its pilot year.
Hustle & TECHknow Preparatory High School 2006-2007
93 Students 70 Boys, 23 Girls, 30 % Adjudicated Youth
81% Economically disadvantaged
Its successes:
Created unique English class to solve illiteracy problem
Class moved schools' collective Lexile Reading grade level from 4.2 to 7.8
Sent three quarter finalist to the National Vocabulary Championship
80% graduation rate, 100% post secondary matriculation
Educational Program of the Year 2007, Automation Alley
Waitlist of approximately 500 students the entire timeframe it was open.
Ida Byrd-Hill, Founder of Hustle & TECHknow Preparatory High School states, "I am elated that the education profession is finally seriously entertaining the viability of Cyber Schools in urban settings. I spoke on a panel last week at the National School Boards Association Technology +Learning Conference in Denver with a fellow Californian Superintendent. I have relentlessly fought for the concept for 5 years as they have the capacity to transform traditional schools, expand technology capacity and skills attracting businesses and jobs." Cities like Detroit have been swallowed by poverty rooted in the massive dropout issue. Cyber schools can rescue them returning them to economic vibrancy. I look forward to the reopening of Hustle & TECHknow Preparatory High School as we attempt to rescue Detroit"
About Upheaval Media
Ida Byrd-Hill is President of Uplift Inc. Ida has spent 10 years as a financial advisor/ 5 years as a mortgage loan officer having advised 2200 individual clients and 10 corporate clients. She also worked 5 years in human resources and executive search trotting the globe recruiting and placing executives. She is the proud parent of teenage twins, Kevin and Karen Hill, who attend Detroit School of Arts. Ida has a Bachelor's of Arts in Economics from the University of Michigan where she attended on a full ride scholarship after scoring in the 80th percentile on the ACT.
She is extremely passion about education as both of her parents were high school dropouts. While they were lucky in the 1960's through the 1980's to provide a good lifestyle, the economy has changed that luck to struggling for those without some sort of post secondary education. She has vowed to assist as many students and parents graduate from high school and obtain post secondary training.
Her portfolio of ideas includes Hustle & TECHknow Preparatory High School - an urban cyber school for alternative youth, The Learning Odyssey- Parent Workshop Series and Upheaval Media - a Publisher of Education related materials. She is the author of Breakin' Out of Your Financial Funk!, My Daily Odyssey Journal and Follow Your Inner Compass Teen, a career exploration book. http://www.upliftinc.org. For more information call 313-483-2126
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