Jumpstart

James Cleveland. James Cleveland, President, has been a dedicated member of Jumpstart’s staff since 2002, first joining the organization as the Executive Director of Jumpstart’s Northeast Region. During his 18 months of oversight in the Northeast, James established a performance focused regional team that achieved and exceeded revenue and program goals. James’s accomplishments earned him a national role as Vice President and… See full bio.

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Story: Here’s the story of Emilio Rodriguez, a college student and community volunteer: Before joining Jumpstart, my life revolved around my own interests, my free time, and my needs. More importantly, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. That all changed when I met Octavio, my partner child. My experience with Jumpstart showed me the influence I could have on someone else. Every session, Octavio would choose the same book, Green Eggs and Ham. I decided to use my acting skills to bring the characters to life with distinct voices, accents, and gestures. One day, Octavio noticed that there were two copies of Green Eggs and Ham. “Here you go,” he said handing me one of the books. “What are we going to do with that?” I asked. “Read,” he replied. We sat down and he opened the book. When I started to read the first line, he reached over and opened my copy to the same page. As we continued reading I noticed Octavio was saying something in an angry voice. “What’s wrong, Octavio?” I asked. “I will not eat on train or plane, here or there,” he said, staring at the pictures. I realized that he was imitating the voices that I had used to read the story to him. He was able to recall all of the key points in the story. He even spoke with the same accents and gestures that I had created for the characters! I never thought that I could engage a child into reading. Octavio was defying those who doubted him: he was reading! Octavio showed me that everything we do can influence someone in a special way. The things we overlook as small occurrences can be major events to someone else. I also learned that you should never set low expectations for someone, because if you give them your time, any child can succeed. I always thought that I would need to travel someday to make a difference, but I soon realized that I could make a difference in my own community. (Source: http://www.readfortherecord.org/site/PageServer?pagename=WhoWeAre_Story3)

Evidence of Impact Summary:

Jumpstart is a nationally-scaled organization that uses researched base, relevant curricula, and instructional practices to help support early literacy. Actual achievement gains are carefully measured, and the organization has commissioned studies to demonstrate this impact. Further, Jumpstart effectively engages college students (as tutors) and the broader community (through Read for the Record).
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Organization Strengths Summary:

Jumpstart has a very well-refined and innovative model of training, curriculum development, and is dedicated to assessment. They have a strong and high profile board, and some of the best marketing in the sector.
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Areas for Improvement Summary:

Experts note a variety of operational areas in which Jumpstart could improve. In particular, they cite streamlining programming, revising their staffing model, enhancing scalability, and standardizing the quality of their programs. Experts also recommend improving collaboration to build upon their early success.
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James Cleveland, President, has been a dedicated member of Jumpstart’s staff since 2002, first joining the organization as the Executive Director of Jumpstart’s Northeast Region. During his 18 months of oversight in the Northeast, James established a performance focused regional team that achieved and exceeded revenue and program goals. James’s accomplishments earned him a national role as Vice President and General Manager in 2004. In this role, James worked to strengthen Jumpstart’s operations infrastructure to support the organization’s aggressive growth with quality strategy. In 2007, James was named President. His extensive expertise in operations and performance management combined with his knowledge of the Jumpstart network make him an ideal leader for the organization, ensuring the expansion of Jumpstart’s impact for years to come. As a graduate of Stanford University (1993), James has made a palpable impact in the education field for more than a decade. From 1994-2000, he worked at SCORE! Educational Centers. SCORE! provides communities throughout the nation with centers that offer parents and schools a positive, effective supplemental education resource for children K-8th grades. James’s aptitude for leadership and business management allowed him to move quickly into one of SCORE!’s first Region Manager roles. James managed a region in San Francisco, CA and was responsible for up to fifty-five direct reports and over $4 million in revenue. He also opened four additional centers, implemented new tutoring service offering, established new community partnerships with schools and youth oriented organizations, and ultimately improved year-over-year revenue generation by 300%. The success in his efforts allowed him to hold other significant roles at SCORE!, which included the Director of Customer Service at eSCORE.com and the National Director of Professional Development and Recruiting. Late in 2000, James connected with the original founders of SCORE! to build a new education company – InsideTrack – this time targeting college students. InsideTrack was created to help college students make excellent decisions about their academic and career goals, and then provide the support and resources needed to achieve their goals. James was a co-founder and also the COO for InsideTrack; his primary focus was to establish the company infrastructure and operational processes needed to operate remote business units on college campuses. As InsideTrack gained traction with a sustainable plan for growth and success, James transitioned to Jumpstart, and has since utilized his operational expertise and best practice management capabilities as an exemplary leader in the field of early education.

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