Legacy of Excellence Academy

Upon its discovery and rapid pervasiveness, COVID-19 forced schools around the world to go remote immediately, without adequate preparation time. While schools abroad and here in Rwanda have done their best to weather this storm, a grave mistake that many of them have made (and continue to make) is trying to force their traditional way(s) of "doing school" into the mold of this non-traditional way, analogous to an infant trying to place a star toy into a circular hole. Consequently, along with restrictive measures that have made effective teaching and learning even more difficult upon reopening, this has caused massive headaches for administrators, teachers, students, and parents/guardians, alike. LEA is a solution that is customized for the present time and for the future, anchored by contemporary research, much more than just a "stop-gap-measure." Its virtual design would allow students in Rwanda and across Africa and Europe to attend with ease.

LEA exists to solve issues around equity that have both been created and exacerbated by COVID-19. In Rwanda, specifically, children from umudugudus (villages) where COVID-19 cases are particularly high are placed at a serious disadvantage, especially now that schools have reopened. If their village gets locked down, they simply cannot attend school, missing critical instructional hours. Schools here, even private schools with more resources at their disposal, have no virtual option for these students and are disinterested in providing one. Instead, they opt to send work packets to those children, an unfair substitute to the teaching and learning experience. Rwanda's dropout rate for children in primary 6 (the last stage of primary school before secondary school) was also a driving factor behind LEA. According to a recent policy brief by Laterite (2019), lack of access to high-quality education due to low socioeconomic status is a primary reason for this dropout rate. These students' families simply cannot keep up with the outrageous price tags that private schools here tend to carry, resulting in thousands of children leaving school for menial work. A secondary-only school (for now), we want those students; LEA is set up to support them as much as possible. 

Legacy of Excellence Academy is a virtual-only school (with rare exemptions made for students with severe cognitive impairments) that is able to rival any other private, independent school in terms of course offerings. Due to the dearth of research that exists in support of educating primary school-aged children in this way, LEA currently, exclusively serves students in secondary grades. In a typical week, LEA students take a total of 7 synchronous classes within an A, B, A, B bell schedule, with Fridays being asynchronous days (for students) and PD days (for teachers). In a typical day, LEA students take no more than four classes, with multiple breaks built into the day to counteract the effects of too much screen time. There are also designated times on specific days built in for non-academic enrichment and community gatherings (thank goodness for Zoom Pro's enormous meeting capacity!), so that socioemotional progress is not stymied. As a virtual school, we, of course, must rely on the best of the best when it comes to software and IT solutions. We will rely on Zoom as our primary web conferencing tool, PowerSchool as our primary Student Information System, and Schoology as our primary Learning Management System.

LEA may very well attract and serve every kind of socioeconomic, cultural population, with the exception of those who live too far out of its time zone reach. However, LEA was created with an intent focus on giving students from poor and working class backgrounds access to high-quality education. In recent years, Rwanda has undergone incredible efforts to ensure that even people in rural areas may connect to the internet. My wife and I were pleased to experience this progress, firsthand, during a recent trip with our children to Gisenyi (nearly four hours away from Kigali City) where we had unfettered access to our mobile data and to WiFi. Therefore, we believe that going 1:1 (i.e., providing each of our students with their own laptop) to help ensure connectivity to our school, alongside of offering a financial aid program, will help change the lives of our students who fall into these particular populations. We are adamant about playing a role in breaking the cycle of generational poverty and exposing these children to new and improved life paths.

A child should not be deprived a high-quality education due to his or her inability to attend school (i.e., COVID situation in their his or her village, his or her family's socioeconomic status, etc.). At the click of a button, LEA students, regardless of where they are, so long as internet connectivity is possible, can have just that. As carefully delineated earlier in this application, LEA's intentional design prioritizes physical and mental safety while also (as carefully delineated later in this application) promoting interactive engagement through guided practice facilitated by teachers and collaborative, project-based work facilitated by students among themselves. 

Virtual learning in the K-12 space has been done before, but never in the way that LEA is seeking to do so, especially not in Africa. We are piloting this newer approach to rendering educational services throughout Rwanda, a country pregnant with innovation and forward thinking ideas, with hopes of reaching at least 25-50 students in year one. 

Student engagement - a prerequisite for improved learning outcomes - is a major aspect of schooling that has taken a hit during the [ongoing] era of COVID-19. When schools have been forced to go online, teachers have typically taught from a passive, sedentary, and, quite frankly, uninspiring position in front of their computers. However, at LEA, each teacher will have his or her own virtual classroom to work out of, outfitted with a large monitor screen that will display students from Zoom, a motion-detection camera that will track the teacher's movements around the room, and a whiteboard for the teacher to use when modeling and/or demonstrating key concepts and ideas. This setup allows for a familiar, interactive classroom experience for both the teachers and the students, while also prioritizing health and safety, given the distance. Some colleges and universities like Rosemont College in Pennsylvania, USA have already begun experimenting with this type of lesson delivery model. However, primary and secondary schools have not. LEA seeks to be a trailblazer in this regard. We expect other K-12 schools to eventually adopt this type of model, especially once we have refined and demonstrated success with it (and with the surge of COVID-19 cases around the globe if that holds steady against vaccination efforts, of course).

Current Number of Students: 0

Year One Projected Number of Students: 40

Year Five Projected Number of Students: 100 

Data pointing to student enrollment trends will be our greatest indicator of success. Revenue generation will also be a major indicator of success. Our goal is to have a 100% rate of being "in the black" or "breaking even" every quarter, every school year. In the same vein, we hope to retain at least 85% of our private donor pool, each school year. 

Currently, me (LEA's Executive Director) and LEA's Executive Assistant are the school's only two, full-time employees (this does not include our five volunteers who sit on the school's Board of Directors). We will launch a full hiring campaign to build our faculty and staff once we have raised enough funding to guarantee them all fair, competitive salaries and benefits packages. 

Humbly stating, in addition to hiring a stellar team of professionals who will be deeply-committed to our cause, my extensive experience, training, and networks in the world of education will be perhaps our school’s greatest assets with regard to its growth and sustainability. In my 11 years of experience, I have served as a classroom teacher, an instructional coach (where I successfully coached teachers, virtually), an assistant school principal, a school principal (two different appointments), and an Adjunct Professor (where I successfully taught emerging school leaders, virtually). Therefore, I am spearheading this solution with a deep, multi-tiered respect and understanding for what it takes to run a school successfully. I was a member of the Charles F. Donovan Urban Teaching Scholars Cohort, recipient of the Bank of America Leaders in Urban Education Scholarship, recipient of the United States Department of Education Title III Scholarship, and member of the Wisconsin Idea Executive Ph.D. Cohort in K-12 Leadership. I also understand and love connecting with people. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, but the eldest son of Nigerian immigrants, I have a cultural background and lens that enables me to understand a wide range of life experiences, crucial when working with school personnel and student families from all over. My wife and fellow Founder also brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. Raised and educated in Denmark, she is an integral member of our team, as we seek to incorporate Scandinavian principles of schooling into our day-to-day operations with her input. 

Similar to what I have done and am still doing with my Board of Directors, as I am seeking to expand the illustrious group that we have now with people from other walks of life, I will take a multi-pronged approach to building and sustaining a diverse, equitable, and inclusive leadership team, beginning with a thorough hiring process that includes a screening phase, a follow-up interview phase, and a performance task phase. My sincere desire is to have a balance of men and women on this team that are well-versed and experienced in different ways, in areas such as culture building, finance management, and academic achievement, to name a few. Having a mosaic of people on my team will almost certainly guarantee diverse perspectives, whether we all agree on them or not. I would embrace dissent among team members, as I believe it can be a healthy stimulant for growth, so long as communication is kept respectful. Once I have assembled this "dream team," my top priority will then be to determine a meeting cadence for us and then to, furthermore, determine the structure of our regular meetings; I would need to structure them in such a way that there is equity of voice among us all (not simply my dominating conversations because I am the Executive Director). It is also important that I meet with each team member individually and on a regular basis to ensure that he or she feels supported and heard on that level as well. 

I am applying to MIT Solve because for years, this dream of mine, Legacy of Excellence Academy, has remained just that: a dream. I believe that an opportunity like this is what is needed to finally get LEA "off the ground" and to make it a reality; a school that will change the lives of thousands of children for generations to come. 

As the most reputable institute of technology in the world, MIT's attachment to and endorsement of LEA would give us much needed exposure and would further legitimize virtual learning as the new-age, 21st century model for schooling. This would almost instantly help us overcome the challenge of trying to convince folks of more traditional modes of thinking that virtual learning is legitimate and can be done well without quality being compromised.

Re: Human Capital

Right now, my Board is outstanding. However, collectively, we are too programmatic and specialize heavily in the education sector. For LEA's short and long term sustainability, we have recognized a real need to add individuals from other walks of life to our team, particularly those with strong business and legal minds. 

Re: Financial

We believe in our brand and product. However, we know that all the belief in the world does not matter without financial backing. I feel as though we are just one or two major financial contributions away from being able to show the world what we already know to be true about our solution to this current educational crisis. We just need a fair opportunity to do so.

Re: Public Relations

Beyond our website, our social media pages, and my personal social media pages, my media and marketing reach is limited. MIT Solve would be instrumental in getting us known more broadly and also helping us attract interested families.

Re: Technology

As previously described, cutting edge technology for each of our students, each of our virtual classrooms, and as our school database systems will be absolutely critical in making LEA a truly unique and special school, set apart from all the rest.

Admittedly, I do not have specific names or organizations in mind. However, we would love to partner primarily with individual tech enthusiasts and tech-based organizations that believe in our mission and purpose and also believe in the power of technology and the endless possibilities it can create. 

During the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi, many Rwandan locals fled to countries like Uganda for refuge. 100 days later, upon re-entry to Rwanda, they came back to virtually nothing, thousands of homes and lives destroyed. While it has been well-documented that Rwanda has made astronomical strides in the 27 years since that dark period of history, there is a population of Rwandan adults and children who have still struggled to [re]gain their footing in the areas of education and employment. As previously mentioned, LEA could serve as a catalyst for breaking the wheel of generation poverty still experienced today and for closing opportunity gaps for countless families.

LEA is a solution that seeks to create smart, safe, and sustainable communities around the world by the simple fact that it was designed largely as an intervention against the deadly spread of COVID-19. Additionally, LEA's course catalogue features a rich suite of science courses centered on teaching science disciplines that are accepted all over the world (e.g., Physics, Biology, Chemistry, etc.).

Yes, I believe that LEA also qualifies for The AI for Humanity Prize and should be strongly considered for it. As previously stated, no child should be deprived of a high-quality education due to his or her inability to attend school due to COVID proliferation in his or her immediate community or because of his or her socioeconomic status, for that matter. Considering that education is a pillar in every society - one that can be used to drastically improve the human condition - such a deprivation is nothing short of a social injustice. We would ensure that the laptops we provide our students are equipped with Assistive Technology (e.g., Dragon Speech) and forms of Artificial Intelligence to enable full access to learning, especially for LEA students with greater, more severe learning needs.   

Yes, I believe that LEA also qualifies for The AI for Humanity Prize and should be strongly considered for it. As previously stated, no child should be deprived of a high-quality education due to his or her inability to attend school due to COVID proliferation in his or her immediate community or because of his or her socioeconomic status, for that matter. Considering that education is a pillar in every society - one that can be used to drastically improve the human condition - such a deprivation is nothing short of a social injustice. With this prize, we could ensure that the laptops we provide our students are equipped with Assistive Technology (e.g., Dragon Speech) and forms of Artificial Intelligence to enable full access to learning, especially for LEA students with greater, more severe learning needs.   

Hopefully I have done an adequate job substantiating how my team and our solution could qualify for this prize by this point in the application. If not, I would add that complex issues like what we have seen and continue to see with intermittent surges of COVID-19 cases require complex, sophisticated solutions. LEA is a simple idea, yet would need to have many moving nuanced parts working in sync to help make it successful and scalable. We would use this prize to advance our solution by investing in software and hardware, distinguished by longevity. Furthermore, we would invest in the general maintenance, upkeep, and updating of these particular tech solutions. This prize would also be quite useful in helping us send our IT Specialists to technology-focused conferences that would help them expand their tech savviness and toolkits, for LEA's benefit.