Washington, D.C. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools today congratulates the Uncommon network of charter public schools on being recognized as a top awardee in the Department of Education’s 2016 Investing in Innovation (i3) competition – a program that awards funds to launch and expand evidence-based practices that support educators and transform students academic experiences. Uncommon Schools joins the public K-12 Fresno County Office of Education, and public higher education institution Texas A&M University, as awardees in the Validation category, meaning that the three awardees from across the educational spectrum have demonstrated evidence of effectiveness and are contributing a strengthened public education system.
“Uncommon Schools is putting its scholars on a pathway to success, and we are pleased that the high-quality education that’s working for students today can be scaled for students tomorrow,” said Nina Rees, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter schools. “Investing in Innovation has been critical to expanding innovative approaches to education. Innovation is a founding principal of the charter school movement, and we are grateful that the Department has recognized this in Uncommon Schools.”
Uncommon’s network of 49 charter schools across Boston, New York, and New Jersey serves 16,000 students. Graduates go on to earn Bachelors degrees at five times the rate of low-income students nationally.
About Charter Public Schools
Charter public schools are independent, public, and tuition-free schools that are given the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement. Since 2010, many research studies have found that students in charter schools do better in school than their traditional school peers. For example, one study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University found that charter schools do a better job teaching low income students, minority students, and students who are still learning English than traditional schools. Separate studies by the Center on Reinventing Public Education and Mathematica Policy Research have found that charter school students are more likely to graduate from high school, go on to college, stay in college and have higher earnings in early adulthood.
About the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is the leading national nonprofit organization committed to advancing the public charter school movement. Our mission is to lead public education to unprecedented levels of academic achievement by fostering a strong charter movement. For more information, please visit www.publiccharters.org.
