Cristo Rey Network

The Cristo Rey Network comprises 25 high schools that provide a quality, Catholic, college preparatory education to urban young people who live in communities with limited educational options. The schools utilize an innovative work-study program to help make private education affordable to students who might not otherwise have access to traditional private schools.

Background

Cristo Rey Network schools utilize a longer school day and year, academic assistance, and counseling to prepare students with a broad range of academic abilities for college. All students at Cristo Rey Network schools participate in a work-study program through which they finance the majority of the cost of their education, gain real world job experience, grow in self-confidence and realize the relevance of their education.

Book about Cristo Rey

In January 2008, Loyola Press released More than A Dream: How One School's Vision is Changing the World. The book, authored by G. R. Kearney, a writer and former volunteer teacher for two years at the school as part of a Georgetown University postgraduation program, documents the development of the Cristo Rey model and the successes of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago and the Cristo Rey Network of Schools. These schools operate with a funding model that Marvin Hoffman's book review in the Chicago Tribune described as the "genius of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School", in which clusters of five students each rotate working one day a week at a job gaining work experience, with the salary covering a portion of the each student's tuition.^[1]

Schools in Network

In order of the year they joined the network, here are the current 25 Cristo Rey Network high schools:^[2]

• Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Chicago, IL (1996)
• De La Salle North Catholic High School, Portland, OR (2001)
• Verbum Dei High School*, Los Angeles, CA (2002)
• Arrupe Jesuit High School, Denver, CO (2003)
• North Cambridge Catholic High School*, Boston, MA (2004)
• St. Martin de Porres High School, Cleveland, OH (2004)
• Notre Dame High School, Lawrence, MA (2004)
• Cristo Rey New York High School, New York City (2004)
• San Miguel High School, Tucson (2004)
• St. Martin de Porres High School, Waukegan, IL (2004)
• Cristo Rey Kansas City High School, Kansas City, MO (2006)
• Cristo Rey High School, Sacramento, CA (2006)
• Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Baltimore, MD (2007)
• Holy Family Cristo Rey High School*, Birmingham, AL (2007)
• Providence Cristo Rey High School, Indianapolis, IN (2007)
• Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Minneapolis, MN (2007)
• Christ the King Preparatory School, Newark, NJ (2007)
• St. Peter Claver Cristo Rey Catholic High School, Omaha, NE (2007)
• Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School, Takoma Park, MD (serves Washington, DC metro area) (2007)
• Lourdes Academy High School, Brooklyn, NY (2008)
• Detroit Cristo Rey High School, Detroit, MI (2008)
• Christ the King Jesuit College Prep High School, Chicago (West Side), IL (2008)
• Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory of Houston, Houston, TX (2009)
• Immaculate Conception Academy* (All-Girls), San Francisco, CA (2009)
• DePaul Cristo Rey High School, Cincinnati, OH (2011)^[3]

*Existing school converted to Cristo Rey Network program.

Future schools

Other schools are in development in:

• Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Columbus, Ohio
• Dayton, Ohio
• Des Moines, Iowa
• San Diego, California
• Toronto, Ontario, Canada

External links

• Cristo Rey Network website
• Equity Schools: Origin of the school model
• Official website for More than a Dream: How One School's Vision is Changing the World
• New Yorks Times Company - Boston Globe - With sense of purpose, students cut class for a day (highlights aspects of the Cristo Rey Network scholastic model)
• Partners newsletter, 2003 issue - Cristo Rey Network Update
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Announcements - Success of Innovative Urban Catholic School Sparks Major Investment

Notes and references

1. ^ Hoffman, Marvin. "'More Than a Dream: The Cristo Rey Story' - Dreams and compromises at Chicago's Cristo Rey Jesuit High School", Chicago Tribune, April 12, 2008. Accessed September 23, 2008.
2. ^ CRN. "Directory of Schools". Cristo Rey Network website. http://www.cristoreynetwork.org/about/directory.shtml. Retrieved 2007-05-11. 
3. ^ Bessette, Jeanne, OSF. "Welcome from the President". DePaul Cristo Rey High School. http://www.depaulcristorey.org/page.cfm?p=355. Retrieved 2011-03-18.