The Charter School Capital team congratulates IDEA Public Schools on winning the 2016 Broad Prize. The Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools is awarded to Charter Management Organization (CMOs) honors the public charter management organization that has demonstrated the best academic outcomes in recent years, particularly for low-income students and students of color.
The award is given out annually at the National Charter School Conference. It includes at $250,000 grant for college-readiness programs at schools run by the winning CMO.
IDEA Public Schools was founded in 2000. The brainchild of Teach for America alumni Tom Torkelson and JoAnn Gama, IDEA now serves 300,000 students at 51 schools across Texas.
Serving predominately low-income and Hispanic students, IDEA schools have delivered amazing results year-after-year. US News & World Report routinely ranks the CMO’s schools among the nation’s top 500. In addition, IDEA’s College Prep high schools rank in the top 1% of America’s Most Challenging Schools, according to The Washington Post. IDEA’s 2016 graduating class has an impressive 100% college acceptance rate.
IDEA’s founding and development was recently chronicled by author Richard Whitmire in his book, The Founders. Whitmire’s book documents the rise and best practices of the country’s most successful CMOs.
Want to share?
