Texas-based IDEA Public Schools is the winner of this year鈥檚 Broad Prize, an annual award recognizing high performing charter school networks.
The winner was announced at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools鈥� annual conference which is taking place in Nashville this year.
Finalists for the prize included and another Texas-based network, Yes Prep Public Schools.
Funded by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, the award recognizes non-profit charter management organizations in urban areas that are closing achievement gaps between low income minority students and their higher income peers.
(The Broad Foundation helps support 澳门跑狗论坛鈥榮 coverage of policy, government and politics, and systems leadership. Christopher B. Swanson, the vice president of 澳门跑狗论坛, the nonprofit corporation that publishes 澳门跑狗论坛, is a member of the review board for the Broad Prize for public charter schools.)
Money from philanthropists such as the Broad鈥檚鈥斺�攈ave been key to the rapid growth of charter management organizations in urban areas.
Although most charter schools nationally are independent from networks, CMOs account for 22 percent of all charters that have opened over the last five years, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. (For an in-depth look at the role of philanthropy鈥檚 role in the rise of CMOs, read 澳门跑狗论坛鈥榮 coverage of the 25th anniversary of the first charter school law.)
IDEA Public Schools, which was a finalist for last year鈥檚 Broad Prize as well, will receive $250,000 to spend on college readiness efforts for its students, such as scholarships and college visits.
The network includes 44 schools serving 24,000 students.
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