In 1980, four decades ago, the original LEARN school looked very different from the network of public charter schools we know today. At that time, it was not an autonomous public school at all. It was just a single private school called Lawndale Community School. It was founded by three women, two of whom were educators, because they were frustrated by the poor quality of the educational options offered to the Lawndale community in Chicago. With limited resources, women began renovating the second floor of a three-story apartment in Lawndale. It was easy to say that this new school was previously the home of a family: learning was done in the kitchen, the rooms, the cloakroom and the family room. But on that floor, they built a different type of home for the eleven founding students,

As more students and families were attracted to Lawndale Community School, the campus moved several times to other places in the community. Noelle Curtis was one of those students. “I started my education by attending an elementary school on the outskirts of Chicago. Then, my family moved to Chicago and did not feel supported by their neighborhood school. Someone suggested that I try Lawndale Community School, which was right in the street of my house, and I loved it. ” The school really became a home away from home when his brothers started attending and his mother became a staff member. When Noelle graduated from eighth grade, she was accepted into some of the city’s most rigorous high schools.

Noelle y su familia no estaban solos en su amor por Lawndale Community School. Finalmente, la demanda de la escuela fue demasiado grande. En 2001, la escuela alcanzó la capacidad de educar a 113 estudiantes, pero la lista de espera era de casi 500. Después de un año de toma de decisiones y planificación, la junta de la escuela decidió que sería mejor para la escuela y la comunidad solicitar el estatus de escuela autónoma, lo que ayudaría a la escuela a servir a más estudiantes, pero permanecer autónomo y tomar decisiones de la mejor manera. interés de sus alumnos. Cuando se aprobó el estatuto, Lawndale Community School se convirtió en LEARN Charter School. En 2004, se mudaron a un nuevo edificio, lo que les permitió atender a más estudiantes.

En 2008, LEARN comenzó el proceso de crecimiento dentro y fuera de Chicago, que contó con la ayuda de antiguos alumnos como Noelle, quienes regresaron a LEARN y trabajaron dentro de la red para ayudar en el desarrollo de los procedimientos operativos estándar para el proceso de colocación de la escuela secundaria y los Alumni Programa de prácticas de verano. Actualmente, se han expandido a diez campus en Chicago, North Chicago y Waukegan, atendiendo a más de 4,000 estudiantes. Sin embargo, su misión sigue siendo la misma: proporcionar a los niños la base académica y la ambición de obtener un título universitario.

LEARN offers a combination of a rigorous curriculum , an extended day and school year, high parental and teacher involvement, and socio-emotional learning integrated into the school’s curriculum. His approach has led his students to reach high levels with 33% of LEARN students, 96% of whom are low-income black students, graduates of 4-year universities, 10 points above the national average for all the students, regardless of their socioeconomic status. state or ethnicity, when tracked from eighth grade. In the course of its 40 years of history, LEARN has evolved immensely, and we expect success and continued growth in the coming years.