Fairdale High School is a public school in Louisville, Kentucky. About three-quarters of its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. In 2011, just 20 percent were deemed college- or career-ready.

This fall, Fairdale High School sent its first student to an Ivy League university. She was raised by a single mom in Louisville’s west end and, like many of Fairdale’s kids, grew up with numerous barriers to education. Now, she’s attending Harvard, studying political science. She’s going to be a lawyer. The best part: She’s not alone in showing what Fairdale students are capable of if they’re given the right kind of help — and expectations.

I was Fairdale’s principal until I became an assistant superintendent for Jefferson County Public Schools in November 2016. In the half-decade I led Fairdale, we improved our college- and career-readiness rate by 38 percentage points and increased our graduation rate to 89.4 percent. Adopting a rigorous, college-level curriculum has been a key part of our turnaround.

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