Winner of Inaugural Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools Announced
Winner of Inaugural Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools Announced
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has announced YES Prep Public Schools in Houston as the winner of the first Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools. The prize honors the urban charter school system that has demonstrated the most outstanding overall student performance and improvement while reducing achievement gaps for poor and minority students.
Comprising ten middle schools and high schools serving more than fifty-four hundred primarily low-income and minority students, YES Prep has eliminated nearly all income and ethnic achievement gaps. In 2011, YES Prep students scored higher than the state's non-poor and white students in middle and high school math, science, and reading, while YES PREP schools achieved higher Advanced Placement participation and passing rates than other CMOs, as well as higher SAT participation rates and scores.
Chosen from among twenty large, established charter school systems across the country based on publicly available student achievement data going back to the 2007-08 school year, the YES Prep charter management organization will receive $250,000 in support of its college-readiness efforts.
"We are delighted to award the first Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools to YES Prep because they serve as an example for other public schools systems across the country," said Eli Broad, founder of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. "YES Prep and other high-performing public charter models demonstrate that students of all backgrounds can meet high expectations and thrive when teachers get the support they need, and when parents — of all income levels — have access to world-class public schools."
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