Uncommon Schools

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Uncommon Schools, Inc. (USI) is a nonprofit charter management organization, led by Norman Atkins, CEO, and Evan Rudall, COO, that starts and manages urban college preparatory charter schools working to close the achievement gap in the Northeast. Playing on Horace Mann’s notion of the “common school,” Uncommon was founded to create more uncommon schools by developing and managing philosophically aligned, high unaccountable, and geographically linked networks. All of the schools are predicated on standards-based instructional models, proven curricula driven and informed by assessment, highly structured environments, and the design of other top-performing urban schools.[1]

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[edit] History

The organization first supported the creation of North Star Academy Charter School of Newark, which opened in 1997. North Star progressed to eventually outperform its district counterparts.[2] In 2005, Uncommon formalized its mission as a charter management organization with the goal of starting schools in the Northeast that provide college prep opportunities for low-income children.

Uncommon Schools has been raising funds, managing facilities, and providing management support to North Star Academy on an informal basis since the school’s inception. The organization was also involved in the development and launch of The Excellence Charter School of Bedford Stuyvesant. The school opened in 2004 as New York City's first all-boys public school, with 90 kindergarten and first grade students. Chartered by the State University of New York, Excellence plans to grow to 600 students, pre-K to eighth grade. Uncommon and the Excellence Board recently completed development of a 90,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility to house the school.[3]

Uncommon Schools has provided planning, start-up, and management services to Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School, which opened in 2005, having been chartered by the New York City Department of Education,[1] as well as Leadership Preparatory Charter School, which opened in 2006 in Brooklyn, True North Rochester Preparatory Charter School, which opened in 2006 in Rochester, NY, and Kings Collegiate Charter School, which opened in 2007 in Brooklyn.

[edit] Awards and Achievements

In 2007 Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School was ranked as the best school in the New York City school system[4], receiving a grade of A and a raw school of 117 out of 100.[5]

[edit] Schools

The schools are divided into five separate networks, run by managing directors Paul Bambrick-Santoyo, John King, Doug Lemov, and Brett Peiser:

  • The Excellence Network
  • The Preparatory Network
  • The North Star Network
  • The Collegiate Network
  • The Truth North Network

As of the summer of 2007, Uncommon schools invited two top-performing Boston schools, Roxbury Preparatory Charter School and Boston Collegiate Charter School, into the network as associate members.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Tough, Paul (November 26, 2006). What It Takes to Make a Student. The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-12-11.
  2. ^ Lawlor, Julia (13 June 2004), “In Newark, Graduates Ace the Final: Charter School's 19 Seniors Will All Go On to College.”, New York Times, <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905E6DF1530F930A25755C0A9629C8B63>. Retrieved on 22 October 2007 
  3. ^ About Us. Excellence Charter School of Bedford Stuyvesant (2006). Retrieved on 2007-12-11.
  4. ^ Charter Schools look good under Ed Department's Rating System. New York Daily News (2007). Retrieved on 2008-01-27.
  5. ^ NYC DOE Progress Report [PDF]. New York City Department of Education (2007). Retrieved on 2008-01-27.
  6. ^ Sacchetti, Maria (January 9, 2005). Charter students score well on tests. The Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2007-12-11.

[edit] External links