[September 16, 2014]

Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund and Rocketship Education Celebrate Opening of Nashville's First Rocketship School

Andre Agassi, Bobby Turner and other leaders from the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund joined with Rocketship Education, Rep. Rev. Harold M. Love, Jr. and local dignitaries today to celebrate the opening of its first charter school in Nashville, Rocketship Nashville Northeast Elementary.

Opened in July, Rocketship Nashville Northeast Elementary serves 450 students in kindergarten through fourth grade in a brand-new building at 2526 Dickerson Pike in North Nashville. Enrollment will grow to 565 students by 2016.

Rocketship Education is a growing network of public charter schools serving primarily low-income students in neighborhoods where access to excellent schools is limited. The Rocketship Model combines teacher development, parent engagement and personalized learning to enhance instruction and help eliminate the achievement gap.

The school's 37,000-square-foot building was developed for Rocketship Education by the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund, a mission-driven investment fund designed to accelerate the growth of high-performing charter schools throughout the United States.

"Rocketship Education is a proven charter school operator generating remarkable results for thousands of young people in communities with great need," said Bobby Turner, the Fund's Co-Managing Partner and Principal and Chief Executive Officer of Turner Impact Capital. "We're thrilled that our fund is enabling Rocketship to expand its transformative work to Nashville. This project exemplifies the scale and impact that a socially responsible investment fund like the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund can have on an underserved community and its residents."

Securing high-quality, long-term facilities is often the greatest impediment faced by charter school leaders, who frequently lack adequate capital or expertise to develop facilities on their own. Turner-Agassi provides resources, development experience and a passion for educational excellence to help the most successful school operators focus on their first priority: helping students excel in the classroom.

A joint venture of Turner Impact Capital and Agassi Ventures, the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund is positioned to invest over $500 million over the next several years, developing 70-75 school sites for up to 35,000 students.

"A great elementary school education is essential in the foundation of those who graduate from college," said Andre Agassi, te Fund's co-managing partner, CEO of Agassi Ventures and founder of the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy. "My appreciation for the power of a successful school has only grown over the years. I'm proud to celebrate the start of this promising new school and to remind its students they can all be champions if they push themselves to succeed."

Nashville is the third region in the Rocketship network, joining Milwaukee and its home of San Jose. Rocketship operates nine schools in San Jose, where it has become one of California's highest-performing low-income school systems, and one school in Milwaukee. That school, Rocketship Southside Community Prep, was another Turner-Agassi investment. Rocketship will soon expand to Washington, D.C., and plans to serve 25,000 students by 2017.

"Too many students in North Nashville and around the country aren't getting the education they need simply because of a lack of opportunities where they happen to live. Our mission is to eliminate the achievement gap with transformative schools, with the help of talented teachers, engaged parents and supportive communities," said Preston Smith, CEO and Co-Founder of Rocketship Education. "This beautiful new school gives us a strong platform to carry out this mission with our unique approach to public education."

In addition to learning-friendly instructional space, Rocketship Nashville Northeast Elementary includes a gymnasium, learning lab and a space dedicated for parents. The school's 2.9-acre site was previously a sales lot for a mobile home business. Many parents, community members and other local supporters were on hand today to participate in the ribbon-cutting celebration.

"Students and families in our community deserve a great education, and I'm excited to have another school for families in northeast Nashville," said Tennessee Rep. Rev. Harold M. Love Jr. "It was exciting to see the community come together for the ribbon-cutting today and I look forward to seeing these Rocketeers succeed."

Nashville joins a growing list of cities to host charter schools developed by the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund, which has also been active in high-need communities in the Bronx, New York; Philadelphia, Dallas, Phoenix, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Newark, and other locations.

Turner-Agassi serves school operators by taking the lead on site selection, acquisition, design and construction. School facilities are then leased at affordable rates to school operators, who can then purchase the sites once they reach full occupancy. The Fund will help operators obtain permanent financing using New Market Tax Credits, tax-exempt bond offerings, or funding from the U.S. Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.

"The Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund represents an innovative approach to social change that is quickly gaining momentum," said Glenn Pierce, the Fund's President. "By harnessing market forces, we can serve students, families and communities on a broad scale without relying on philanthropy. The inspiring results, like what we've seen in Nashville, motivate all of us to continue our work everywhere there's a need."

About the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund

The Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund is a market-driven real estate investment fund designed to accelerate the growth of high-performing charter schools throughout the United States. The Fund will develop 70-75 schools in the coming years, serving up to 35,000 students, and is a partnership between an affiliate of Turner Impact Capital, LLC and Agassi Ventures, LLC. For more information, please visit www.turneragassi.com.

About Rocketship Education

Rocketship Education (www.rsed.org) was founded in 2006 as the first elementary blended school model in the country, and has become both the highest growth charter school system in the country and one of the highest performing low-income school systems in California. Rocketship creates transformative schools using the Rocketship Model, which combines teacher development, parent engagement and personalized learning to improve student achievement. Rocketship is rethinking elementary school from the ground up, with the bold mission to eliminate the achievement gap across the United States in our lifetime.

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