66 SUMMER 2021 | WWW.SHAKER.LIFE
ww
The Future of the IC
During the 2020-21 school year, IC
enrollment more than doubled to its
current enrollment of 77 students.
Simon says the reason for the growth
is two-fold: pandemic-related learning
challenges and the program’s growing
positive reputation, thanks in no small
part to High School principal Eric Juli.
“Some parents came to me
because traditional school in the
pandemic wasn’t working for their child
and they wanted to know if there were
other options,” Juli says. “I knew that
Matt Simon and I shared a mindset to
imagine school differently.”
Juli found that families who didn’t
know about the IC or who previously
didn’t believe the IC was a good fit
for their students began to consider
it as an option. “We’ve shifted the
narrative to be that the IC is a place
for creatively meeting the needs of a
student, no matter what those needs
are. And that’s an entirely different
framing of the IC.”
While the growing enrollment is
indicative of the IC’s strengths, Juli
says that the program may shine a
light on what can be improved at the
main campus of the High School.
“We have some students who
are at the IC because they may be
on the Autism spectrum, or because
they have struggled for any number
of reasons,” he explains. “So, for
example, if there’s an increase in
students on the Autism spectrum
who want to go to the IC, then that
would indicate that we need to
make changes at the main campus to
support those students.”
In the meantime, Simon will
continue doing what he does best: meet
students’ learning styles creatively and
show them that they belong.
“We want to be the school where
we learn who our students are and
build a system around them. And then
we learn more about their strengths
and interests and figure out a way to
use them,” Simon says. “If we function
as a strengths-based and interestbased
school, then students will feel
like we’re meeting their needs. And
that’s very powerful.” SL
Innovative Center coordinator Matt Simon works with student
Henry Barefoot.
Cynthia Miller goes over an English assignment with student
Tori Winstead at the Shaker Heights Schools Innovative Center
for Personalized Learning.
/WWW.SHAKER.LIFE