Alliance College-Ready Public Schools is an independent non-profit charter management organization that has grown to 20 high performance small public high schools and middle schools created in Los Angeles between 2004 to 2011. Ultimately the Alliance plans to grow to 50 middle and high schools in California that ultimately will serve 23,000 students.
Alliance's brand of high performance schools delivers a consistent educational environment and experience for students-preparing every student with the skills, experience, and knowledge to enter college. The measures for success are that all students continuously enrolled for at least four years will graduate from high school prepared for success in college as indicated by:
- Students passing University of California and California State University A-G course requirements with a grade of C or better
- Students taking and passing Advanced Placement Courses with a grade of C or better and passing AP Exams with a score of 3 or higher
- Students meeting college readiness criteria on exams including SAT, ACT and Early Assessment Program (EAP)
- 100 percent of the graduates accepted into college
- Fewer than 15% of students required to take remedial English or Math upon college entrance
- Middle school students enrolled for at least three years will culminate ready for success in high school indicated by taking and passing Algebra 1 by grade 8
Alliance guarantees a powerful learning experience for each student. Key attributes include:
- All Alliance schools provide small and personalized learning environments with a school size of 500 students for high schools and 450 students for middle schools. Within these schools, small learning communities of 100 - 125 students each are created, where no teacher works with more than 75 students per day in core academic areas, and 85 percent of teacher-student time is spent together within that small learning community. In addition, teachers will stay with students for at least two years. Each student will be known personally by at least one adult through advisory groups of 15 - 20 students.
- A significant part of learning is accomplished through interdisciplinary projects, bringing real-world applications into the classroom.
- Each student has a personalized learning plan that represents an agreed-to plan by teacher, student, and parent on how the student will learn and that insures no student will slip through the cracks.
- Every person in the system is held accountable for student success and uses data to appraise improvement efforts.
- A culture of high expectations of the abilities of all students permeates Alliance schools. This includes a belief that all students can and will succeed.
The Alliance organization has several important roles in the development and operation of its new schools:
- The Alliance's primary role is to ensure the effective and consistent operations of its schools and quality experience for each individual student. The Alliance provides its schools with operational services, resources, guidance, and oversight.
- The Alliance defines and implements key non-negotiable parameters that define the Alliance brand of schools. These parameters cover both the educational model and operational dimensions.
- The Alliance is the charter holder of record and local operator of its schools.