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The University of Cleveland Preparatory School, which would serve grades K-8, plans to open in August at the current site of Chancellor University at 1906 E. 40th Street in Cleveland's Midtown area off Chester Avenue. I Can Schools' goal over the next two years is to have a total of seven schools in Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown, according to Marshall Emerson III, CEO and co-founder of I Can Schools. Mr. Emerson said the new school will serve about 250 students. He said the Midtown site offers the charter school operator a new flagship that will raise its profile. 


“We're really excited about that place,” Mr. Emerson said. “We stood outside the building in the morning, and we weren't really counting cars but looking at the traffic moving up and down Chester. I don't think we could have asked for a better location.”

I Can Schools will lease the building from the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority. The five-year lease carries a three-year renewal option, and I Can Schools will pay the Port Authority $15,000 per month for the first year and up to $17,500 per month by the final two years of the lease. 


Chancellor has been planning to move to a site with more parking along an interstate highway — a popular locale among for-profit colleges such as the University of Phoenix and Strayer University. Chancellor president Robert Daugherty said in an email last week that Chancellor would move to Independence this summer, but he would not comment on the specific location.

A model that works

I Can Schools operates two other schools in Cleveland. Both opened last fall — one in Tremont on the West Side and the other in Slavic Village on the East Side — and boast enrollments of about 220 students at each school, Mr. Emerson said. He noted that some in the education sector have called the organization “crazy” for employing such a rapid growth strategy. 


However, Mr. Emerson maintains the school has employed “a model that works,” which is showing in its internal assessments taken by students every six weeks. He said test results show marked improvements in proficiency for all grade levels at both schools. 


Mr. Emerson said I Can Schools is situated well financially, though impending cuts in state aid to education due to the absence of one-time federal stimulus dollars will force the organization to keep its operations lean. Also, I Can Schools doesn't receive any property tax revenue unlike the public school districts.

This year, the schools received about $7,200 per student from the state as well as federal dollars for the schools' poorest students, which brought the total amount to about $8,500 per student. Next year, Mr. Emerson said that number is expected to drop to about $7,500 in state and federal aid due to the lack of stimulus dollars.


I Can Schools relies on donations as well, and the group plans to make a push next year to bolster its philanthropic efforts. 


“Right now, we don't have an operational gap. We over-enrolled on purpose,” Mr. Emerson said.

E Prep in their bloodline

Both Mr. Emerson and Jason Stragand, the group's other co-founder and chief academic officer, previously were with Entrepreneurship Preparatory School, or E Prep, on East 26th Street in Cleveland. 


E Prep, which is sponsored by the Cleveland school district, is part of Breakthrough Charter Schools — another local charter management organization. Breakthrough plans to open both a new middle school and a K- 2 school in the fall. 


The new schools will bring Breakthrough's portfolio to six schools, and the goal is to open as many as 20 by 2020, according to John Zitzner, president of Friends of Breakthrough Charter Schools, the fundraising and advocacy arm of the organization. 


“We have to urge people to keep the focus on the creation of quality schools and have less talk about charters and non-charters,” Mr. Zitzner said. “That's where conversation is starting to shift.”

By Timothy Magaw

And, one such alternative is the forthcoming I CAN SCHOOLS.

Established by co-founders, Jason Stragand and Marshall Emerson III, I CAN SCHOOLS is nonprofit, charter management and consulting company founded in 2008 to operate schools that provide all students with a high quality educational experience. 

In there own rights, Stragand and Emerson served as founding administration of highly successful, and highly touted, Ohio charter programs – Emerson headed the thriving Entrepreneurship Preparatory School (E-Prep) – while their schools were successful in closing the achievement gap for low income students from some of Ohio’s poorest neighborhoods. 

Well, in the fall of 2010, I CAN SCHOOLS will open two locations –  Northeast Ohio College Preparatory School in Tremont and Cleveland College Preparatory School in Slavic Village –   continuing the mission to deliver quality education by serving students in grades Kindergarten through eighth with programs that are innovative, ambitious while preparing 100 percent of their graduates for the best college preparatory high schools.

Both schools are currently accepting enrollment.

I CAN SCHOOOLS programs are modeled after high-performing charter schools found in other urban centers across the country and in the fall of 2011 will open the I CAN! High School and Academy in Cleveland as well.

“The big difference in the school is the fact that a culture is created in the school,” said VP Strategic Growth, I CAN SCHOOLS. “There’s even extensive teacher training so all of the adults are on the same page. There’s a lot of upfront work that goes on before teaching.”

He went on to explain that, during the summer months, teachers will receive instruction in addition to writing curriculum based upon Ohio standards. Additionally, a rigorous assessment system is in place. There will also be a culture camp for students.

According to Emerson, I CAN SCHOOLS is a business model that works. It provides the same rigorous instruction as E-Prep yet captures children at a much younger age.

Incorporating the best practices of high performing schools, I CAN SCHOOLS offers an extended school day/year, discipline, tutoring, transportation, uniforms and free before/after care.

Students can expect 2.5 hours of homework each night.

At the same time, each child receives an individualized instructional program that’s evaluated every six weeks in attempt to continuous monitor student’s progress. 

They’ll even receive report cards every two weeks.

I CAN SCHOOLS strive for one hundred percent graduation rate.

Goler, who earned his bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in Early Childhood Education, believes the expectations should shift to expecting 100 percent of our kids to attend college.

Both Emerson and Goler, having worked as teachers themselves, are passionate about educating kids as well as ensuring they are successful. “He’s an expert on education,” said Goler of Emerson. “He’s a practitioner.”

And, they see Cleveland as having the most need for this model of schooling. I CAN SCHOOLS have a capacity of 250 students per campus. Basically, as the name states, the goal is to teach kids that they can do anything.

By Rhonda Crowder, Call & Post

Marshall Emerson III helped launch Entrepreneurship Preparatory School, or E Prep, in 2006. He recently resigned as its head of school to start I Can Schools with Jason Stragand, E Prep's former curriculum chief.

The nonprofit charter management company will open two elementary schools this fall in Cleveland. It has leased the closed St. John Cantius School in the city's Tremont neighborhood and the soon to be closed St. John Nepomucene in Slavic Village, according to Emerson.

Plans for 2011 include adding a Cleveland high school and elementary schools in Akron and Youngstown. Other schools may follow in Ohio and possibly adjoining states.

E Prep, for sixth through eighth grades, earned a rating of effective, the equivalent of a B, on its most recent state report card. I Can Schools will follow its demanding regimen of a longer school day and year, weekend remedial classes and strict rules for students and parents.

"We have an educational model that works; it works and can be replicated over and over again," said Emerson. He and Stragand are also serving as for-profit consultants to struggling charter schools.

Businessman John Zitzner teamed with Emerson to start E Prep and Village Preparatory, an elementary school that opened last fall. Zitzner said the two men parted on friendly terms.

"If he does as good a job as he did here, that would be awesome," Zitzner said.

Emerson and Stragand began recruiting students in March. They have fielded interest from about 120 families.

Charter schools receive no property taxes and typically have to solicit contributions, but I Can hopes to get by on basic state aid, which starts at $5,718 per pupil. Emerson and Stragand believe they can still pay competitive teacher salaries by forgoing luxuries, negotiating low rent and limiting schools to about 250 students each.

By Thomas Ott, The Plain Dealer