The Mind Trust Fellow, Earl Martin Phalen, Honored by Indiana Department of Education for Nationally Acclaimed Summer Program

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Mind Trust, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit that supports education innovation and reform, is pleased to announce that Earl Martin Phalen, a recipient of The Mind Trust’s prestigious Education Entrepreneur Fellowship, will be recognized by the Indiana Department of Education for the results achieved by the 3,000 Indiana students served by his Summer Advantage USA program this past summer.

“From the moment we met Earl, we knew he was exactly the type of education entrepreneur we wanted to support through our Fellowship. We’re thrilled with the results Earl has accomplished in such a relatively short time period.”

Summer Advantage USA is an initiative that helps close the achievement gap and produce substantial academic gains for children (or “scholars”) in grades K-8 during a five-week academic and enrichment program over the summer. The program currently serves 3,000 scholars in the area and has plans to extend to 100,000 statewide and nationwide in the coming years.

Now in its second year, Summer Advantage USA is pleased to release this summer’s results. Demonstrating how the summer can be used to dramatically improve academic outcomes, this year’s results show scholars gained 2.3 months of math skills and 2.1 months of Language Arts skills, accounting for an astonishing five-month cumulative turnaround considering the average three-month learning loss over the summer. Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett announced these results during a press conference today at Central Elementary School in Pike Township.

“We’re so proud of the impact Earl Martin Phalen and Summer Advantage USA are making in Indiana, and look forward to seeing this powerful initiative expand to benefit more students statewide and eventually nationwide,” said David Harris, Founder and CEO of The Mind Trust. “From the moment we met Earl, we knew he was exactly the type of education entrepreneur we wanted to support through our Fellowship. We’re thrilled with the results Earl has accomplished in such a relatively short time period.”

As an established education entrepreneur, Earl Martin Phalen had his choice of locations and organizations to partner with for the launch of Summer Advantage USA. He credits The Mind Trust for its funding support, continuous assistance on the ground, and leadership in arranging key meetings with community, education, and civic leaders.

“I’ve had the opportunity to start education programs in New York City, Boston and numerous other cities, but The Mind Trust was the first group that made everything I asked for happen – and fast,” said Phalen. “In 18 months, the program went from nonexistent to serving 3,000 children in Indiana. The Mind Trust is a phenomenal partner in this venture, and they’re the reason Indiana has been the best state in which to realize my vision for transforming education and improving outcomes for children.”

The Mind Trust’s Education Entrepreneur Fellowship is a unique national initiative designed to develop and nurture innovative strategies for taking on education’s greatest challenges. The Fellowship is an incubator in which talented education entrepreneurs, such as Phalen, are able to develop, build and launch their break-the-mold education ventures. It provides its Fellows vital seed funding as well as ongoing support to ensure successful implementations. Fellows receive two years of salary, benefits, a travel and training stipend and the daily assistance of The Mind Trust accessing key stakeholders in the civic, philanthropic, business, and education sectors in Indianapolis. With this support, Fellows work to bring change, new hope, and real opportunity to some of our nation’s most underserved children.

For more information about The Mind Trust, their Education Entrepreneur Fellowship or other education initiatives, please visit www.themindtrust.org.

About The Mind Trust

The Mind Trust is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to dramatically improve public education for underserved children by empowering education entrepreneurs to develop or expand transformative education initiatives. To achieve its mission, The Mind Trust has two strategies: (1) a nationally unique Education Entrepreneur Fellowship that serves as an incubator for transformative education ventures; and (2) a Venture Fund to recruit to Indianapolis the nation’s most successful entrepreneurial education initiatives. The Mind Trust has invested over $3 million from its Venture Fund to successfully attract Teach For America, The New Teacher Project, College Summit and Diploma Plus to Indianapolis. www.themindtrust.org

About Summer Advantage USA

Summer Advantage USA engages thousands of children each summer in highly effective summer learning, physical fitness and enrichment courses such as art, drama and music. Participation in Summer Advantage USA makes a net five month difference in learning achievements for children. www.summeradvantage.org