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Without the tremendous generosity and support of our funders, Uncommon Schools would not be able to achieve its mission. From helping to fund homes for our schools, to partnering with us as we recruit exceptional leaders and teachers, to providing strategic guidance related to both our short-term and long-term goals, our funders make our work and growth possible. Thank you! |
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The Achelis & Bodman Foundations are stalwart supporters of the charter school movement in New York and northern New Jersey, and have provided start-up grants for some of Uncommon's newest schools in Brooklyn and Newark. |
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The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, a leading national education venture philanthropy that supports efforts designed to dramatically improve urban student achievement, sponsors Uncommon's NYC growth and future school leader residencies. |
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A long-time supporter of community organizations, after-school programs, and schools in the metropolitan areas of New York City and Boston, The Charles Hayden Foundation has provided consistent support for North Star Academy since its inception. |
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The Charter School Growth Fund is a philanthropic venture fund founded to develop and grow networks of high quality charter schools. It has made Uncommon one of its pioneer portfolio investments, providing a revolving line of credit, and key management support. |
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November 5, 2007
North Star Academy Receives Education Trust Award - School Recognized for Closing the Achievement Gap - The Education Trust
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October 31, 2007
"Talent rich and resource poor" - New York Public Radio
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September 5, 2007
"Specialty Schools Part of City Education Reform Efforts" - NY Daily News
"Brooklyn also opened one new charter school this year, Kings Collegiate Charter School, which boasts an extended school year and started classes two weeks ago."
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August 28, 2007
"Chartering a Quick Start" - NY Daily News
"At Kings Collegiate in East Flatbush - one of two newly opened charter schools this school year - 81 girls and boys in French blue shirts and desert khakis listened attentively last week as they were told they had lots of work to do in their 190 days of school."
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August, 2007
Kings Collegiate profiled on News 12 Brooklyn
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August 23, 2007
Interview with Joel Klein - Charlie Rose,
Charlie Rose interviews Joel Klein, Chancellor of New York City Department of Education.
Chancellor Klein notes the outstanding academic performance of Excellence Charter School: "Paul [Tudor Jones] opened up a charter school in Brooklyn. It's called Excellence. Excellence is all-boys 100 percent African-American, Latino boys in the school...It's a high-poverty community in Bedford Stuyvesant. Excellence this year got 100 percent proficiency in math and 92 percent in English."
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August, 2007
Uncommon Schools Director of Operations Lindsay Kruse profiled in The Broad Center Education Quarterly
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August 2, 2007
"Charter school sought in Troy" - The Albany Times-Union
"A new charter school, True North Troy Preparatory Charter School, has filed an application with the state Charter Schools Institute to open for the 2008-09 school year."
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June 28, 2007
"School's Out: Interview with Joel Klein, New York City Schools Chancellor" - New York Public Radio
In this interview, Chancellor Klein discusses education reform efforts in New York City and also highlights the success of Excellence Charter School: "[At Excellence Charter School] this year, their first year of testing...100% of kids were proficient or better in Math and 92% in English Language Arts. That's one of the most high-performing schools in the state and that school uses data and information to make sure students master the skills that they need to know."
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June 1, 2007
"Tale of two public schools: Inequitable funding harms charters' kids" - The Times of Trenton
"Two siblings in Newark attend different public schools: One attends North Star Academy Charter School and has an almost certain prospect of attending a four-year college. The other child attends East Side High School and has only a 15 percent chance of attending a four-year college."
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April 1, 2007
"Full funds for charter students" - The Times of Trenton
"And if you're looking for further proof that North Star has its act together, you need only look at what happened to last year's graduating class: Every one of them enrolled in college."
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March 26, 2007
"Kudos for KIPP" - Wall Street Journal
"The public school establishment and its political supporters continue to talk about closing academic achievement gaps, but charters like KIPP, Uncommon Schools, Achievement First and others are actually getting the job done."
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November 26, 2006
"What It Takes to Make a Student"
- New York Times Magazine
"The methods these educators use seem to work: students at their schools consistently score well on statewide standardized tests. At North Star this year, 93 percent of eighth-grade students were proficient in language arts, compared with 83 percent of students in New Jersey as a whole; in math, 77 percent were proficient, compared with 71 percent of students in the state as a whole."
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March 28, 2006
"Single-sex schools can work"
- USA Today
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April 2005
"Alumni Spotlight: Jabali Sawicki"
- The League Online
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Winter 2005
"Jabali Sawicki and the Excellence Charter School"
- Klingenstein News
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September 7, 2004
"'Every Second Counts' at This School: City Gets Its First Charter School Exclusively for Boys"
- The New York Sun
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June 13, 2004
"In Newark, Graduates Ace the Final: Charter School's 19 Seniors Will All Go On to College"
- New York Times
"North Star shouldn't be called college prep," [Edaine Murray, the class salutatorian of '04] said, "It should be called life prep." ...Shennelle Barnes, who will be going to Howard University in the fall, said she was accepted at 8 of the 17 colleges to which she had applied. "I would have gone to college no matter what," she said. "But I wouldn't have gotten into the school I wanted. North Star is the extra backbone you need."
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October 2003
No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning by Abigail Thernstrom and Stephan Thernstrom.
- Published by Simon & Schuster, 2003
North Star Academy is featured in the Thernstroms' book. In a November 2, 2003 Boston Globe Review of No Excuses, Kim Marshall writes:
"Over the last 25 years, there have been many attempts to improve urban schools: busing students for racial integration; pouring money into schools; emphasizing Afro- or Latino-centered curriculum; increasing the number of minority teachers; reducing class size; setting up after-school programs; regulating and taking over failing schools; and introducing standards and high-stakes tests. The Thernstroms feel that none of these have even begun to close the racial gap.
"What gives them hope is a small number of highly successful inner-city schools (including South Boston Harbor Academy, KIPP Academy in the Bronx, and North Star Academy in Newark)." |
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December 2, 2002
A Matter of Choice - Newsweek
"The critics make sure you hear about the failures, but the successes receive less attention. Boston boasts the "Academy of the Pacific Rim" that gets some of the highest test scores in town using Asian instruction techniques with blank kids; Mesa, Arizona, opened an Arts Academy in a Boys and Girls Club that has local gangs on the run and academic results surging. Whenever I visit Newark, New Jersey's North Star Academy I'm amazed by how much learning is going on. the level of enthusiasm and commitment by teachers and students is phenomenal."
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Spring 2001
Charting Success - Colby Magazine
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The Gleason Foundation has been a key philanthropic investor in Uncommon Schools since the network expanded to Rochester, New York. James Gleason, its founder, was a founding board member of Rochester Prep.
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The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has made a significant three-year investment in Uncommon Schools to support home office growth and provide professional development for teachers and leaders. It has also made Uncommon Schools a partner in its Young Scholars Program. |
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NewSchools Venture Fund is a venture philanthropy fund working to transform public education, and has made a five-year investment in Uncommon Schools to help it grow and become sustainable. Jim Peyser, a NewSchools partner, is on the Uncommon board. |
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The Polo Ralph Lauren Foundation has provided support to Uncommon through its Adopt-A-School program, which includes funding for Excellence's Super Scholars program and North Star Elementary's literacy program. It has also made grants for school uniforms to Excellence.
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Robertson Foundation is a private family foundation which targets education, the environment, medical research, and religion & spirituality within the U.S. It has made significant investment in the growth and development of Uncommon Schools. |
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The Robin Hood Foundation, a leading NYC charity, has made grants to all of Uncommon's Brooklyn schools. It provides office space and management assistance to the organization, and was involved in the development of facilities for Excellence Charter School and the Uncommon high school.
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The first investor in Uncommon Schools, the WKBJ Foundation has provided ongoing operations and capital support to the organization. WKBJ Executive Director Bob Howitt has served on the boards of both North Star Academy and Uncommon Schools for 11 years.
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The Walton Family Foundation is a national leader in education reform, school choice, and charter schools. Working through the Charter School Growth Fund, the foundation makes start up grants to each new Uncommon school.
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