MEMPHIS, Tenn. — After only being open for a little over a month, Individualized Intellect Institute (I3), which focused on implementing a new approach to learning, was forced to shut its doors.
School officials said the reason for the sudden close was a lack of sustainable resources.
I3 was a tuition-free private school that operated mostly on grants and donor dollars.
The school model was year-round. Students went to school for three weeks and had every fourth week off. They also didn't have classes on Fridays. The model gave students freedom to choose their learning style.
ABC24 spent part of the school day at I3 before it closed to see how the learning model worked.
“We're not learning just based off standard like any other school in Memphis or across America,” said Rachel Ellis, a former I3 senior. “You're learning skills that will help you. That's what I wanted to learn, skills, so I can apply it to everything.”
Ellis transferred to I3 from an MSCS Charter School. She was one of 92 students who attended I3.
“The way you learn, the way you're going about school is based on you, so it suits me because I made it,” Ellis said.
Dr. Michael Miles founded I3. He started the approval process at the beginning of this year. He secured the building in April, and the doors opened to students at the end of August, only to abruptly close three weeks later.
Miles said they wanted to give a private education option to low income students. And, they had students traveling from all over the city for the opportunity.
“I think that's very freeing to the student because they're no longer in competition with the person sitting next to them,” Miles said. “They're in competition with themselves...because we're a year-round school, students can progress as quickly or slowly as they need to or want to.”
Dr. Miles used to be a principal at a Memphis school. He said he saw what wasn't working.
“We saw kids rolling in around 9 o’clock, and so to me, I said, if we started at nine, we addressed that problem,” Miles said.
He said 97 percent of students at I3 showed up to school every day.
Ellis said she applied to several HBCUs, but she is hoping to stay in the Mid-South. She wants to major in mass communication.
I3 officials said most of the students have already enrolled in other schools.