Diverse Approaches: One Goal
We understand that transforming the lives of all young people demands more than a cookie-cutter approach. Our campuses are designed for our communities, with innovative approaches as diverse as the communities we serve.
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Personalized learning | Turnaround | Project-based learning | Identity-affirming pedagogy |
Here’s how we make breakthrough change happen:
We run a vibrant and diverse network of 14 schools, with a commitment to deliver excellence for each of the 8,000 students from the 56 Chicago communities that we serve.
CICS develops and supports a diverse portfolio of schools by partnering with school management organizations (SMOs) and directly managing schools. Our SMO partners join our network for the opportunity to autonomously design, launch and manage innovative school models.
Our ambitious Vision of Excellence defines what students and families can expect from every CICS campus:
We’re spreading the joy of learning every day.
Every school promotes a safe, thriving culture filled with joy, a love of learning, and a relentless focus on results.
Our schools offer rigorous content for every child.
All students tackle complex, culturally-responsive, standards aligned content, ideas, and tasks to sequentially build knowledge and experiences that support active, informed civic engagement and college success.
We’re all in for our students.
The whole CICS community is invested in the success of all our students, cares deeply about them, believes they have the potential to be successful in any life path they choose, expects them to persevere through challenges, and is fully committed to providing learning environments for students to learn and experience the world.
We’re all in for our adults, too.
In our schools, educators are empowered to grow and lead. They are given the opportunity to succeed individually while supporting better student outcomes.
Our schools are designed for our students.
CICS’s portfolio of schools provides a rich mix of school models and learning environments that together meet the unique interests, preferences, and needs of families in the communities they serve.
Our schools are hubs of excellence and equity.
CICS uses its scale to push every possible resource to schools so they are thriving learning spaces that promote equity.
When families speak, we listen.
All students and parents have a meaningful voice in their education experience.
Our schools are diverse and culturally-sensitive.
Our schools reflect the diversity of our beloved city. We value and expect cross-cultural competence and know that this requires a continuous commitment to self-reflection and self-awareness. Through policies, practices, and attitudes, we nurture a culture that prepares staff and students to thrive in a cross-cultural world.
We’re taking calculated risks that pay off for students long-term.
Every school and provider is encouraged to implement evidence-based innovations to meet student needs, with long-term student success as their North Star.
We create a vibrant oasis for Chicago education entrepreneurs.
CICS’s vibrant, thriving network attracts bold, ambitious, outstanding, creative talent that is willing to take risks and is committed to lifelong learning.
We’re nurturing mind and body.
All students receive individualized support and access to enrichment activities that nurture the social and emotional competencies they’ll need to become happy, healthy, mature, and aware adults.
We identify brilliant education entrepreneurs eager and ready to commit to the same ambitious vision, and we support them as they launch innovative new school models and organizations that redesign the learning environment.
We provide supportive infrastructure and resources to help our schools thrive, including a collaborative network of like-minded innovative leaders, efficient shared services, actionable data, and an accountability framework.
3-Year Blueprint: Our Shared Vision of Excellence
Our bold and ambitious plan to achieve excellence for every child, every day.
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