ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Karim Abouelnaga - Education entrepreneur
Karim 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.

More profile about the speaker
Karim Abouelnaga | Speaker | TED.com
TED2017

Karim Abouelnaga: A summer school kids actually want to attend

Filmed:
1,211,003 views

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.
- Education entrepreneur
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
0
1280
2021
00:15
is a 20-year investment.
1
3325
2155
00:18
When you're growing up poor,
2
6400
1655
00:20
you're not accustomed
to thinking that far ahead.
3
8080
2936
00:23
Instead, you're thinking about
where you're going to get your next meal
4
11040
3336
00:26
and how your family
is going to pay rent that month.
5
14400
2856
00:29
Besides, my parents
and my friends' parents
6
17280
3136
00:32
seemed to be doing just fine
driving taxis and working as janitors.
7
20440
3640
00:36
It wasn't until I was a teenager
8
24920
1896
00:38
when I realized I didn't
want to do those things.
9
26840
2480
00:42
By then, I was two-thirds of the way
through my education,
10
30120
3616
00:45
and it was almost too late
to turn things around.
11
33760
2320
00:49
When you grow up poor,
you want to be rich.
12
37680
2320
00:52
I was no different.
13
40800
1200
00:54
I'm the second-oldest of seven,
14
42600
1736
00:56
and was raised by a single mother
on government aid
15
44360
2416
00:58
in Queens, New York.
16
46800
1200
01:00
By virtue of growing up low-income,
17
48720
1936
01:02
my siblings and I went
to some of New York City's
18
50680
2336
01:05
most struggling public schools.
19
53040
1520
01:07
I had over 60 absences
when I was in seventh grade,
20
55200
3200
01:11
because I didn't feel like going to class.
21
59280
2000
01:13
My high school had
a 55 percent graduation rate,
22
61880
3056
01:16
and even worse,
23
64959
1297
01:18
only 20 percent of the kids graduating
24
66280
2296
01:20
were college-ready.
25
68600
1200
01:22
When I actually did make it to college,
26
70960
2136
01:25
I told my friend Brennan
27
73120
1416
01:26
how our teachers would always ask us
to raise our hands
28
74560
3696
01:30
if we were going to college.
29
78280
2000
01:33
I was taken aback when Brennan said,
30
81400
1736
01:35
"Karim, I've never been asked
that question before."
31
83160
2680
01:38
It was always, "What college
are you going to?"
32
86720
2976
01:41
Just the way that question is phrased
33
89720
1936
01:43
made it unacceptable for him
not to have gone to college.
34
91680
2760
01:47
Nowadays I get asked a different question.
35
95960
2040
01:50
"How were you able to make it out?"
36
98680
2280
01:53
For years I said I was lucky,
37
101760
2360
01:57
but it's not just luck.
38
105320
1200
01:59
When my older brother and I
graduated from high school
39
107280
2576
02:01
at the very same time
40
109880
1256
02:03
and he later dropped out
of a two-year college,
41
111160
2216
02:05
I wanted to understand why he dropped out
42
113400
2456
02:07
and I kept studying.
43
115880
1200
02:10
It wasn't until I got to Cornell
as a Presidential Research Scholar
44
118240
3376
02:13
that I started to learn about
the very real educational consequences
45
121640
3736
02:17
of being raised by a single mother
on government aid
46
125400
2775
02:20
and attending the schools that I did.
47
128199
1801
02:22
That's when my older brother's trajectory
began to make complete sense to me.
48
130919
3841
02:28
I also learned that our most admirable
education reformers,
49
136280
3376
02:31
people like Arne Duncan,
the former US Secretary of Education,
50
139680
3656
02:35
or Wendy Kopp, the founder
of Teach For America,
51
143360
2696
02:38
had never attended an inner city
public school like I had.
52
146080
2800
02:41
So much of our education reform
is driven by a sympathetic approach,
53
149520
3816
02:45
where people are saying,
54
153360
1256
02:46
"Let's go and help
these poor inner city kids,
55
154640
3016
02:49
or these poor black and Latino kids,"
56
157680
2000
02:52
instead of an empathetic approach,
57
160320
2376
02:54
where someone like me, who had grown up
in this environment, could say,
58
162720
3416
02:58
"I know the adversities that you're facing
59
166160
2216
03:00
and I want to help you overcome them."
60
168400
1840
03:03
Today when I get questions
about how I made it out,
61
171560
2696
03:06
I share that one of the biggest reasons
62
174280
2496
03:08
is that I wasn't ashamed to ask for help.
63
176800
2080
03:11
In a typical middle class
or affluent household,
64
179840
2616
03:14
if a kid is struggling,
65
182480
1776
03:16
there's a good chance that a parent
or a teacher will come to their rescue
66
184280
3936
03:20
even if they don't ask for help.
67
188240
1936
03:22
However, if that same kid
is growing up poor
68
190200
2136
03:24
and doesn't ask for help,
69
192360
1240
03:26
there's a good chance
that no one will help them.
70
194240
2320
03:28
There are virtually
no social safety nets available.
71
196880
3000
03:33
So seven years ago,
72
201160
1376
03:34
I started to reform
our public education system
73
202560
2816
03:37
shaped by my firsthand perspective.
74
205400
2320
03:40
And I started with summer school.
75
208960
1572
03:43
Research tells us that two-thirds
of the achievement gap,
76
211960
3336
03:47
which is the disparity
in educational attainment
77
215320
2336
03:49
between rich kids and poor kids
78
217680
2176
03:51
or black kids and white kids,
79
219880
2136
03:54
could be directly attributed
to the summer learning loss.
80
222040
2680
03:57
In low-income neighborhoods,
kids forget almost three months
81
225640
2816
04:00
of what they learned
during the school year
82
228480
2056
04:02
over the summer.
83
230560
1336
04:03
They return to school in the fall,
84
231920
1616
04:05
and their teachers
spend another two months
85
233560
2056
04:07
reteaching them old material.
86
235640
1416
04:09
That's five months.
87
237080
1496
04:10
The school year in the United States
is only 10 months.
88
238600
2616
04:13
If kids lose five months of learning
every single year,
89
241240
2616
04:15
that's half of their education.
90
243880
1480
04:18
Half.
91
246120
1200
04:20
If kids were in school over the summer,
then they couldn't regress,
92
248080
3160
04:24
but traditional summer school
is poorly designed.
93
252000
2320
04:26
For kids it feels like punishment,
94
254920
2056
04:29
and for teachers
it feels like babysitting.
95
257000
2040
04:32
But how can we expect principals
to execute an effective summer program
96
260320
4016
04:36
when the school year
ends the last week of June
97
264360
2456
04:38
and then summer school starts
just one week later?
98
266840
2360
04:41
There just isn't enough time
to find the right people,
99
269960
2576
04:44
sort out the logistics,
100
272560
1256
04:45
and design an engaging curriculum
that excites kids and teachers.
101
273840
4200
04:51
But what if we created a program
over the summer
102
279760
3976
04:55
that empowered teachers
as teaching coaches
103
283760
3696
04:59
to develop aspiring educators?
104
287480
2000
05:02
What if we empowered
college-educated role models
105
290720
2736
05:05
as teaching fellows
106
293480
1280
05:07
to help kids realize
their college ambitions?
107
295560
2536
05:10
What if empowered high-achieving kids
108
298120
2256
05:12
as mentors to tutor their younger peers
109
300400
3416
05:15
and inspire them
to invest in their education?
110
303840
2320
05:19
What if we empowered all kids as scholars,
111
307640
3736
05:23
asked them what colleges
they were going to,
112
311400
3216
05:26
designed a summer school
they want to attend
113
314640
2960
05:30
to completely eliminate
the summer learning loss
114
318400
2536
05:32
and close two-thirds
of the achievement gap?
115
320960
2200
05:37
By this summer, my team will have served
over 4,000 low-income children,
116
325280
4616
05:41
trained over 300 aspiring teachers
117
329920
2936
05:44
and created more than 1,000 seasonal jobs
118
332880
2296
05:47
across some of New York City's
most disadvantaged neighborhoods.
119
335200
3040
05:51
(Applause)
120
339000
3800
05:56
And our kids are succeeding.
121
344840
2336
05:59
Two years of independent evaluations
122
347200
1976
06:01
tell us that our kids
eliminate the summer learning loss
123
349200
2936
06:04
and make growth of one month in math
124
352160
2176
06:06
and two months in reading.
125
354360
1240
06:08
So instead of returning to school
in the fall three months behind,
126
356200
3496
06:11
they now go back four months ahead in math
127
359720
2640
06:15
and five months ahead in reading.
128
363560
2056
06:17
(Applause)
129
365640
3400
06:24
Ten years ago, if you would have told me
130
372760
1936
06:26
that I'd graduate in the top 10 percent
of my class from an Ivy League institution
131
374720
4176
06:30
and have an opportunity to make a dent
on our public education system
132
378920
3976
06:34
just by tackling two months
of the calendar year,
133
382920
3040
06:38
I would have said,
134
386680
1736
06:40
"Nah. No way."
135
388440
2120
06:43
What's even more exciting
136
391720
1496
06:45
is that if we can prevent
five months of lost time
137
393240
3176
06:48
just by redesigning two months,
138
396440
1960
06:51
imagine the possibilities
that we can unlock
139
399480
2656
06:54
by tackling the rest of the calendar year.
140
402160
2560
06:58
Thank you.
141
406160
1216
06:59
(Applause)
142
407400
4661

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Karim Abouelnaga - Education entrepreneur
Karim 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.

More profile about the speaker
Karim Abouelnaga | Speaker | TED.com