Ednovate names nationally known USC Rossier alum as chief executive officer and president to grow USC Hybrid High School into innovative national model
[12/22/2014: Post updated to reflect a change in USC Hybrid High School hours]
USC Rossier School of Education Dean Karen Symms Gallagher has announced that Rossier alumnus Oliver Sicat BS ’01 will become the new chief executive officer/president of Ednovate, the charter management organization overseeing USC Hybrid High School. Hybrid High is a public charter school authorized by LAUSD, now in its first year, that was designed and built by the USC Rossier School.
Sicat (pronounced SEEcat), the former chief portfolio officer for Chicago Public Schools and the founder of the highly successful UIC College Prep, a campus of the Noble Street Charter Schools, will assume the position on May 6.
USC Hybrid High School, which opened in September 2012 and now serves 130 9th graders, is a unique blended learning environment using highly personalized instruction, expanded school hours, digital curriculum and technology, connectedness to caring adults, and real-world applications to prepare students for success. The academically rigorous program has the goal of graduating 100% of the student body fully prepared for college and careers. The majority of HHS students come from neighborhoods near to USC’s University Park campus.
“Oliver Sicat is an education leader with a reputation for driving change and fostering student success. He is the perfect person to head this remarkable school and contribute to the growth of this model beyond our USC neighborhood,” stated USC President C.L. Max Nikias.
According to Dean Gallagher, Sicat will oversee USC Hybrid High’s downtown Los Angeles campus, and he will lead the effort to refine this new model and to create up to five schools over time to serve additional students and families. All school principals in Ednovate will report to Sicat.
“We are thrilled to have Oliver join our team and to lead Ednovate,” said Dean Gallagher, who chairs the Ednovate Board. “His extensive and strong experience in classroom teaching, in charter school leadership, and innovative problem solving for districts coupled with his ties to the Trojan Family make him an ideal leader for this extraordinary effort.”
Before working with Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean Claude Brizard, Sicat was the founding principal of UIC College Prep – Noble Street Charter School. UIC College Prep is the highest performing non-selective school in Chicago for the last 2 years. Sicat was a math teacher in Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago, and was named Boston Teacher of the Year in 2006. He holds an education Master’s degree in Education from Harvard.
USC Hybrid High School was developed and designed at USC Rossier by David Dwyer, the Katzman/Ernst Chair in Educational Entrepreneurism, Technology and Innovation. Its student population mirrors the population of the USC neighborhood, with 64% Latino/a, 28% African American, 4% White and 4% Asian students. About 82% of the students qualify for free or reduced price lunch. Spanish is the primary language in 40% of the homes.
