The Catalyst Schools

The San Miguel Schools

The Catalyst Schools grew out of Chicago's San Miguel Schools, which were founded by Brother Ed Siderewicz and Gordon Hannon in 1995 when they met with a group of 18 students and a staff of four in a convent dining room in the Back of Yards neighborhood. Today, the Back of Yards campus serves mostly Hispanics, and a second campus in Austin, which opened in 2002, serves mostly black students.

Students at the San Miguel Schools saw increased success; in the San Miguel neighborhood, the average high-school graduation rate was 40% while over 94% of students at San Miguel graduated. San Miguel graduates also started attending college.

Planning for the Catalyst Schools

In June 2004, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley launched Renaissance 2010, an initiative to increase the number of high quality educational options in communities across Chicago by 2010.

In 2005, a proposal was submitted to the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education to develop the first Catalyst Charter School to be located in the North Lawndale neighborhood. The school would open in Fall 2006 with 60 students in grades 4 and 5 and a mission "to provide quality elementary educational choice to urban students who have not been adequately served by existing educational institutions through the use of a curriculum and instruction that focuses on reading and math." In later years, the school would add additional grades and would serve up to 270 students in grades K-8.

Also in 2005, a second proposal was submitted to the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education to establish the Catalyst Elementary School, which would open in the fall of 2007 as a Contract School under the Renaissance 2010 plan. The school would start with approximately 60 students in grades 4 and 5 and later grow to serve grades K-8 and up to 270 students. In 2007, this proposal was amended so that the school could open with 250 students in grades K-8 and grow to 500 students in later years. The school's address also changed but remained in Chicago's Austin neighborhood.

In 2009, a proposal was submitted to the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education to convert the Catalyst Elementary School, which had been operating as a public school, into a charter school. Now known as the Catalyst Elementary Charter School–Circle Rock, the school would have a mission similar to that of the first Catalyst Charter School by providing quality education through a focus on reading and math to urban students whose needs have not previously been met by other institutions.

Educational Approach

The Catalyst Schools offer a college-preparatory educational experience. Since many students arrive with below-average math and reading skills, teachers focus on math, reading, and language arts every day for 80 minutes each. Because this adds up to 1,200 minutes of core instruction per week, the school days are longer than those at traditional schools to leave time for gym, cultural enrichment, and other activities. At the Catalyst Schools, the school week is 2,100 minutes, whereas the typical week at a Chicago Public Schools school is 1,500 minutes. The schools also work to make sure that students and their parents are prepared for the transition to high school by equipping them with practical life skills and helping them complete high school applications. After graduating from eighth grade at the Catalyst Schools, students are tracked for four years by the schools to assure that they have assistance in seeking employment or searching for a college as well.

The Catalyst Schools teach values in addition to core subjects like reading and math. For example, the students are met at the front door each school day by a teacher or administrator who shakes their hands and gives a word of encouragement. The graduation ceremonies celebrate achievement, unity, and a symbolic passing of the torch. Before the ceremony, teachers present neckties to eighth-grade students both as a symbol of maturation and to complete their high school uniforms. Later in the ceremony, eighth-grade students bestow ties on their seventh-grade colleagues to symbolize that it is the next class's turn to lead.

At the Catalyst Schools–Howland Charter, at least 55% of students in 2009 met or exceeded the scoring standards of the Illinois Standards Achievement Test.