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Report cards are in and LeBron James’ I Promise School is still failing, but there’s “progress” being made, according to newly released data from the Ohio Department of Education.
The achievement scores for I Promise, the school LeBron started in 2018 in collaboration with the city of Akron to serve at-risk kids, are still bad. Real bad.
No, not as bad as in 2023 when it was revealed that not a single eighth grader had passed the Ohio math proficiency test, but there are still major issues, based on the new data that OutKick analyzed.
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LeBron James addresses the crowd during the opening ceremonies of the I Promise School on July 30, 2018 in Akron, Ohio. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
Just two out of 75 (2.7%) I Promise seventh graders passed the state math test in 2024-25. The state average is 50%.
How bad are the test scores? Most grades at the school have proficiency rates in single digits to teens. Those percentages are routinely 40-50 points below the Ohio state averages.
It’s not just math that LeBron’s school kids are struggling with. Five out of 76 sixth graders passed the English language arts test. That’s 6.6%.
The state average is 54.5%.
Not a single grade is close to statewide proficiency levels.
The school, as a whole, is firmly ranked as a one-star school in achievement. That’s as low as the state ranks schools.
Hey, but it’s not all bad for LeBron’s school
But, despite these continued problems for LeBron’s school, the Ohio DOE awarded LeBron’s team four stars for “Progress.”
The state says there is, “Significant evidence that the school exceeded student growth expectations. Based on the “statistical evidence” gathered by the DOE, it has been determined that there is “evidence of growth.”
The bright spot appears to be the 5th graders who had the best math proficiency numbers in the entire school. Twenty of the 82 students passed the test. That’s 24.4% of the class. The state average is 56.7%
Some call this progress.
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In 2019, LeBron boasted that his school was going to get kids on track after they suffered in public schools
LeBron James answers questions during a press conference on Aug, 8, 2014, in Akron, Ohio, during a ceremony to honor James. (Angelo Merendino/Corbis via Getty Images)
“LeBron James Opened a School That Was Considered an Experiment. It’s Showing Promise,” the New York Times announced less than a year after the school opened.
It was a feather in the cap to LeBron. The national media had the storyline it needed: LeBron is a hero.
“These kids are doing an unbelievable job, better than we all expected,” Mr. James told the New York Times in 2019 after test scores showed his school was working. “When we first started, people knew I was opening a school for kids. Now people are going to really understand the lack of education they had before they came to our school. People are going to finally understand what goes on behind our doors.”
It doesn’t appear the Times has written a single story about I Promise test scores since.
