More Resources Pan-American Elementary School

Pubelo, Colo. — U.S. Department of Education Assistant Deputy Secretary Morgan Brown today visited Cesar Chavez Academy in Pueblo, Colo., to celebrate the release of the Department's new Innovation in Education guide, K-8 Charter Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap. This new resource profiles seven charter schools from across the U.S., including Cesar Chavez, making strides under No Child Left Behind to close the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and their peers.

K-8 Charter Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap examines factors contributing charter schools' successes including a mission-driven focus, innovative academic programs, positive school culture, partnership with families, accountability for achieving results, and continuous professional learning and improvement. Unveiled last month by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings during a charter school visit on her No Child Left Behind back-to-school bus tour, the guide highlights practices that inform educators on ways to help students meet high academic standards.

"Charter schools like Cesar Chavez Academy are helping students thrive under No Child Left Behind. They are igniting in students a love for learning and proving that through an innovative, challenging academic environment, all students can achieve," Secretary Spellings said.

Joining faculty and students for a school assembly, Brown presented a U.S. Department of Education video case study featuring remarkable progress at Cesar Chavez to tackle the achievement gap and produce consistent academic gains for students. Brown also toured classrooms and presented faculty and students with copies of K-8 Charter Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap and the case study video.

In just six years, the Cesar Chavez Academy has quadrupled its attendance and garnered recognition as one of Colorado's most improved Title I elementary schools. Moreover, in 2005, 100 percent of the school's third- and fifth-grade students were reading at or above grade level. In 2006, Cesar Chavez was the only Pueblo elementary school to receive an excellent rating on the annual Colorado School Accountability Report.

In addition to Cesar Chavez, the schools profiled in the Innovation in Education guide are: Alain Locke Charter Academy (Chicago, IL); Amigos Por Vida—Friends for Life Charter School (Houston, TX); Amistad Academy (New Haven, CT); Carl C. Icahn Charter School (Bronx, NY); The Intergenerational School (Cleveland, OH); and Pan-American Elementary Charter School (Phoenix, AZ).

The K-8 Charter Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap guide is available at the following link: http://www.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/charterk-8/index.html.

This book is one of a series of innovation guides produced by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement.

All books in this series are available as free downloads at http://www.ed.gov/about/pubs/intro/innovations.html.

The U.S. Department of Education case study video featuring the Cesar Chavez Academy is available at: http://www.ed.gov/news/av/video/2007/match-cca.html.

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