Education experts training Houston’s next school leaders

BY MELISSA BENNETT
Special to the Rice News

Traditionally, entrepreneurs are thought to offer groundbreaking products in the business world. However, the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program (REEP) at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business is fostering the same qualities and the same entrepreneurial spirit in the world of education.

This month 28 REEP students are experiencing the Education Entrepreneurship Summer Institute, a three-week intensive-learning program taught by world-renowned education thought leaders and practitioners, such as Chris Barbic, founder and head of schools of YES Prep Public Schools, and Mike Feinberg, co-founder of KIPP. The sessions began July 6.

The program combines the educational entrepreneurship and business courses to build the future leaders of Houston-area schools, said REEP Director Andrea Hodge.

The students are aspiring educators from traditional independent school districts such as Houston, Aldine, Alief, Humble, Klein and Spring Branch and from charter schools like YES Prep and KIPP. They take part in discussions about the history of education reform and the fads of educational change. They also learn how to apply managerial theories such as change management, managing people and budgeting.

REEP offers educators two distinct pathways to gain leadership knowledge: a two-year MBA program and a one-year Business Certificate program. REEP students become true entrepreneurs with leadership skills, management abilities and team-building capabilities, Hodge said.

“By the end of the summer, the 28 participants should be equipped to use their managerial skills and leadership abilities to implement change in the education system throughout the Houston area,” Hodge said.

Recent REEP graduates are already making strides to change the system. Eldridge Gilbert from YES Prep was named the next school leader. He will pair his newly acquired skills and abilities with his passion to open the next YES Prep school in Houston. He has already started using his managerial and communications skills to make connections in the community and build rapport with the neighboring businesses.

Gilbert’s classmate, Paul Castro, KIPP’s head of high schools, is incorporating his management skills from his organizational behavior courses to gain schoolwide buy-in to new grading policies he has implemented at the high school.

For more information on REEP, visit reep.rice.edu.

— Melissa Bennett
 is marketing and communications manager for the 
Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program.