Chicago International Charter Schools

CICS opened in 1997 with two campuses, and now runs 15 campuses in Chicago serving students in grades pre-K through 12.  CICS partners with proven local and national replicators (including Victory, Edison and American Quality Schools) to run the day-to-day operations of its schools, while it holds its partners accountable for school performance.  This distributive management model allows CICS to efficiently and successfully run Chicago’s largest charter network CICS offers a unique college-preparatory program in its schools, and each of its teachers receives 150 – 225 hours of professional development annually. "The neighborhood schools never pushed kids to do more than just get by, " says Vera Evans, whose grandson Curley enrolled in a CICS school in the 6th grade.  Now at CICS Ralph Ellison High School, he works as hard on academics as basketball.  CICS currently serves 9,000 children at 14 schools across Chicago – from Altgeld Gardens to Peterson and Pulaski.  They fully expect to close the achievement gap in all their schools by 2013.  Their college acceptance rate is 97 percent.

Noble Network of Charter Schools

Noble has delivered an outstanding public education to low income high school students in Chicago for more than a decade.  With ten campuses serving more than 6,500 students, Noble is the largest and highest performing non-selective high school in Chicago.  For the last three years, all Noble campuses with junior classes were ranked in the top ten of 116 open enrollment high schools based on ACT scores, and Noble outperforms many selective enrollment high schools in the growth that students achieve over their four years.

Noble’s population is 89% low-income and Noble campuses are located in many of Chicago’s most challenging neighborhoods, where there typically are no quality options for a high school education.  Noble’s results prove what is possible in urban education – 98% of Noble graduates enroll in college and Noble’s college graduation rates are nearly eight times the rate of Chicago Public Schools.

LEARN Charter School Network

In 1980 three women started Lawndale Community School, a small private school with only eleven students, out of frustration with the lack of educational resources in the community.  In order to support growth, the board of directors decided it would be best for the students and neighborhood if the school became chartered to gain more resources and opportunities.  This resulted in the transition from Lawndale Community School to LEARN Charter School in 2001, and the subsequent expansion of the network.  LEARN replicated their successful model into four new elementary schools between 2008 and 2010, and will open a fifth school in the fall of 2011. LEARN’s Romano-Butler campus is one of ten schools recently awarded with Recognizing Excellence in Academic Leadership, a major federal grant meant to reward high-performing teachers and create mentoring opportunities. Robin Johnson is passionate about helping kids succeed – with good reason.  "I know firsthand that low socioeconomic status doesn't mean you can't succeed," says the LEARN principal who grew up on the west side of Chicago.  LEARN schools are college prep elementary schools that work.  Their students outperform their peers by 24 percentage points or more on the state test.  Moreover, 99 percent of all LEARN students graduate high school, and 95 percent attend college.

UNO Charter Schools

A world of possibilities exists for immigrants who imagine success when they come to this country.  UNO builds upon these possibilities by immersing families in its core values of community, education, and leadership.  UNO's Charter Schools engage parents through parent contracts, English immersion, adult learning programs, and parent leaders at schools.  As a result, student achievement has become an expectation in UNO schools.  With nine schools and 4,500 students, UNO serves an ever-growing community.