The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools

The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, is a network of Middle Schools and High Schools in Los Angeles, California. It currently operates 11 schools, 8 High Schools and 3 Middle Schools.

Governance

The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools is located and governed at the Frank E. Baxter Education Complex (next to Gertz-Ressler High School and on the east end of Richard Merkin Middle School). It is governed by a board of 27 directors. They are:

1. Richard Riordan, Chairman

2. Harold Williams, Vice Chair

3. Alan Arkatov

4. Kurt Benjamin

5. David S. Cunningham, III

6. Rebecca Wolf DiBiase

7. David I. Fisher

8. Jeffrey L. Glassman

9. Stewart Kwoh

10. Arthur Levine

11. Harry Levitt

12. Richard Merkin, M.D.

13. Neal Millard

14. Gayle Miller, Secretary

15. Theodore R. Mitchell

16. John C. Morrissey

17. Molly Munger

18. William G. Ouchi

19. Tony Ressler

20. Virgil Roberts

21. Eva Stern

22. C. Frederick Wehba

23. Robert F. Erburu

24. Antonia Hernández

25. Paul C. Hudson

26. Dan Katzir

27. Robert E. Wycoff

chools

The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools currently operates 11 schools. They are:

1. [http://www.gertzresslerhigh.org/ Gertz-Ressler High School]

2. [http://www.heritagecollegeready.org/ Heritage College-Ready Academy High School]

3. Huntington Park College-Ready Academy High School

4. College-Ready Academy High School #4

5. [http://www.collegeready5.org/ College-Ready Academy High School #5]

6. William and Carol Ouchi High School (formerly College-Ready Academy High School #6)

7. [http://www.collegeready7.org/ College-Ready Academy High School #7]

8. [http://www.sternmass.org/ Marc and Eva Stern Math and Science School]

-and-

1. [http://www.merkinms.org/ Richard Merkin Middle School]

2. [http://www.skirballmiddle.org/ Jack H. Skirball Middle School (formerly College-Ready Middle Academy #2)]

3. College-Ready Middle Academy #3

Mission

The mission of the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, a nonprofit charter management organization, is to open and operate a network of excellent small high-performing 9-12 and 6-8 public schools in historically underachieving, low income, overcrowded communities in Los Angeles that will significantly outperform other public schools in preparing students to enter and succeed in college.

Vision

The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools will initially create a network of 20 high performing schools over the next five years and ultimately create a network of up to 100 public schools that will serve as highly accountable models of innovation with highly qualified teachers guided by core principles based on what research has shown to be the best educational practices. Alliance College-Ready schools will consistently demonstrate student readiness for success in college with a high success rate in student proficiency on state academic standards, 100 percent success rate on passing high school exit exams, dramatically reducing dropout rates to less than 10 percent, and achieving a 100 percent success rate of students, in attendance for two years, who will graduate ready to successfully enter college. The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools will provide a choice of excellent schools with a high success rate for parents in Los Angeles whose children attend overcrowded, low-performing schools.

Values/Beliefs

The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools will be guided and known by our core values and beliefs which reflect best practices researched in high performing schools that consistently produce well-educated students prepared to enter and succeed in college.

Personalized Learning Environment - Students learn best in small learning communities where their education is personalized so that students know their teachers and are well known as individuals by all adults in the school.

Student Engagement - Student voice is essential in all aspects of the school that directly affect student learning, interests and needs through structures such as advisory groups that connect each student with a personal learning team.

College Readiness for All Students - All students, including students in historically underachieving communities, can learn successfully at high levels and have a fundamental right to high expectations and quality instruction that prepares them to enter and succeed in college. All students must pass A-G college entrance course requirements and be proficient in core academic standards (reading, writing, math, science, history/social science) to be ready for success in college.

Increased Time for Learning - All students must have sufficient time in school to learn successfully with a minimum of up to 190 regular days of instruction and an ongoing opportunity for extended learning time for intervention or enrichment to meet individual student needs. Daily instructional learning time must be structured in longer blocks of time to allow for focused in-depth learning.

English Learners - College-readiness requires proficiency in English for all students. Structured English language development curriculum and instructional strategies must be provided for all students including students learning to speak English as a second language and for English only students who speak non-standard English.

How Students Learn Best - We believe that students learn best when there is rigorous standards-based curriculum with high thinking demand that challenges students to test their understanding of concepts through experiencing real life applications; when students know clearly the expectations and criteria they are trying to meet and can judge their own work; and when students participate actively in classroom talk about the concepts and standards they are learning.

Integrated Technology - Students and teachers must have adequate access to technology to use it effectively in student learning, classroom instruction, data management and communication. We believe that technology used as an effective tool in high performing schools must provide electronic assessment and electronic student portfolios that provide immediate access to student progress data for teachers, students and their parents.

Principal Leadership - Excellent schools must have exemplary principals who are capable instructional leaders and entrepreneurs in managing resources. We believe that exemplary principals are developed through in-depth leadership training and through apprenticeship with principals who have demonstrated success in their schools.

Highly Qualified Teachers - Students learn best with teachers who know their subject field, are well trained to deliver rigorous instruction and can attend to the diverse needs of individual students. We believe that teachers work best in small collaborative teams with common planning time where lessons are studied as a learning community and where accountability for student success is a shared responsibility.

Parents as Partners - Parents must be meaningfully and actively engaged in their children’s education and have a right to choose to send their children to excellent high performing schools. Parents must be responsible and accountable for supporting their children’s learning at school and at home. They must understand what it will take to prepare their children for college, and they must support the goals of the school and through their voice and through volunteering.

Authentic Ongoing Assessment - There must be multiple ongoing opportunities to measure student learning and to inform instruction through real life projects, analysis of student work portfolios, interim assessments and student-led conferences as well as standardized on-demand assessments.

Accountability for Results - Principals and teachers must be responsible and accountable to the school community for implementing the core values, beliefs and best practices of the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools education model insuring that each and every student gets what they need to achieve their individual and school performance goals.

Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools provide a choice of excellent schools with a high success rate for parents in Los Angeles whose children attend overcrowded, low-performing schools.

External Links

[http://www.laalliance.org/index.html The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools Homepage]

[http://www.gertzresslerhigh.org/ Gertz-Ressler High School]

[http://www.heritagecollegeready.org/ Heritage College-Ready Academy High School]

[http://www.collegeready5.org/ College-Ready Academy High School #5]

[http://www.collegeready7.org/ College-Ready Academy High School #7]

[http://www.sternmass.org/ Marc and Eva Stern Math and Science School]

[http://www.merkinms.org/ Richard Merkin Middle School]

[http://www.skirballmiddle.org/ Jack H. Skirball Middle School (formerly College-Ready Middle Academy #2)]