ACE Charter School is a 5th-8th grade middle school that seeks to recruit incoming students who have fallen significantly below grade level and help those low-achieving students change their academic trajectory away from failure and accelerate them toward proficiency as a stepping stone to college. The school's graduates will enter 9th grade proficient in English-Language Arts and Math as measured by the California Standards Test (CST) portion of the state STAR program, and will possess the skills, knowledge, and work ethic to thrive in a rigorous college-prep high school curriculum.
BRONZEVILLE LIGHTHOUSE ACADEMY
Lighthouse Academies was founded in November 2003 by the current President and CEO, Michael Ronan. The first school, Bronx Lighthouse Charter School, opened its doors in September 2004 to 128 students. In the first five years, LHA has developed, opened and is operating public charter schools in four states and the District of Columbia. Since inception, Lighthouse Academies has been supported by generous grants from the Doris and Donald Fisher Fund, New Schools Venture Fund (NSVF) and the Walton Family Foundation. Lighthouse Academies is a member of the NSVF Community of Practice, sharing experiences with other education entrepreneurs who share their passion and mission.
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EDUCATION FOR CHANGE
Founded in 2005 by experienced educators and entrepreneurs, Education for Change (EFC) is a nonprofit public benefit corporation. As a Charter School Management Organization, EFC operates public elementary schools designed to offer a high quality education at no cost to parents. EFC serves ethnically and economically diverse student bodies. EFC currently operates three schools in Oakland, California: Cox Academy, World Academy, and Achieve Academy.
The mission of Education for Change is straightforward. "We will provide a superior public education to Oakland's most underserved children by creating a system of public schools that relentlessly focuses on our students' academic achievement. We believe that high quality instruction, and its continuous refinement, will lead to success for our students."
Galapagos
“Evolution of Education”
Galapagos Charter School is dedicated to preparing scholars to be responsible, productive, college-educated adults capable of adapting and prospering in a changing global economy. They believe that by working collaboratively to clearly communicate the mission, vision, and values of Galapagos to they are ensuring that the entire community is invested and empowered to deliver on the promise of the mission. Additionally, Galapagos promotes a school culture that produces successful, productive, responsible, respectful scholars committed to their own improvement and on course to graduate from college. They strive to ensure that a rigorous, individualized curriculum is developed to accelerate academic growth, develop critical thinkers, and promote investment in learning to place scholars on the path to college. “We will work together to continue to develop as a community of learners to ensure we are using best practices to meet the needs of every scholar.” Galapagos Charter School currently operates campuses in Chicago and Rockford.
LEARN and its predecessor, Lawndale Community School, have provided a high quality education to children living in low-income communities for over 30 years. Lawndale Community School began with 11 students in a small apartment in the North Lawndale community on Chicago’s west side.
Over the past 30 years, LEARN has grown from serving 11 students to nearly 1,400 students from Preschool to Eighth Grade across four schools. In 2001, LEARN transitioned to a public charter school and in September 2010, LEARN welcomed the addition of their fourth school, LEARN South Chicago Campus. With this growth, LEARN’s commitment to providing children in need with an outstanding elementary education and preparing them for college prep high schools and eventually college continues. The Mission of LEARN Charter School Network is to provide children with the academic foundation and ambition to earn a college degree and this commitment and passion is as powerful today as it was in 1981.
Rocketship Education is a national non-profit elementary charter school network dedicated to eliminating the achievement gap. Using a unique hybrid education model, Rocketship Education creates schools that are both high-performing and operate solely on government funding. Rocketship operates high-need elementary schools serving nearly 1,000 students at two campuses in San Jose, California. The mission of Rocketship is to help low-income elementary school students reach academic proficiency by the time they graduate from Rocketship so that they are prepared for a rigorous middle and high school education leading to a four-year college. Rocketship Education focuses on locating schools in areas that have federally identified Program Improvement elementary schools. In San Jose, there are currently about 15 Program Improvement schools and an additional 15 neighborhoods with large populations of low-proficiency students. This provides Rocketship with a clear growth path in San Jose. Rocketship received a $5 million grant to start its next five schools in 2009 and a charter grant for five schools from the Santa Clara County Office of Education. The organization intends to open several schools each year, with primary focus in San Jose for the next several years.
ROWE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Rowe Elementary School, operated by Northwestern University Settlement, prepares students to succeed in and graduate from college by cultivating the desire and expectation to go to college and delivering an academically rigorous curriculum infused with unique social and emotional programming, as led by Northwestern Settlement House.
"We best serve our students and their families by instilling in them the college mindset — holistically preparing them to successfully navigate the road to college graduation. We believe that our community is full of brilliant young people who, when provided an excellent education, are able to compete at colleges across the country."
Summit
“Academic excellence and community involvement are the winning formula for our students in high school, college and in life.” Born from the aspirations, dreams and vision of local parents, teachers, and community leaders, Summit’s grass-roots organizers committed themselves to creating an exemplary school that puts every single attending student into college. Since 2003, they’ve prepared a diverse student population for success in four-year colleges, not only with academic excellence, but also with the vital knowledge and experience that helps students to build strong character and feel involved with their communities. Summit's track record of success is altering what's possible in public education. Summit is proud that their track record of graduate success is making a broad and lasting impact on public education by shifting how education is seen in California and around the world. See them featured in the movie "Waiting for Superman" that delivers the powerful message that every child deserves an education.
