The Cristo Rey Network comprises twenty-eight private schools serving 9,000 students nationwide. Ninety-six percent of network students are minority (largely Hispanic), and 100 percent are economically disadvantaged (defined as households earning less than 75 percent of the national median income). The schools utilize an innovative education model that honors its Catholic roots while simultaneously embracing new ways of preparing economically disadvantaged high school students for future success. This report from the Lexington Institute profiles the Cristo Rey model and looks at how—despite great success—the laudable network is still searching for ways to improve. A defining feature of the schools is a work-study program that requires students to work at least one day a week in the community while keeping up with rigorous high school coursework. In lieu of wages, companies donate money to the schools that’s used to cover most of the operating costs. More than 2,000 employers invested upwards of $44 million in 2013–14, lowering the average tuition costs for parents to $1,000 annually. Other features include extended school days and school years and a summer preparatory program that focuses on both academic and work skills. The results are impressive: All 1,400 of Cristo Rey's 2014 graduates were accepted to college, and 90 percent enrolled. Nevertheless, refusing to rest on its laurels, the network’s newest school—Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit—is the first to utilize a blended-learning approach that integrates technology into math, English, Spanish, science, social studies, and even religion. Still in its infancy, the experiment has already improved instructional and operational efficiency in a way that’s likely adaptable to other Cristo Rey schools. This report gives readers a taste of the success already achieved and a vision of what’s to come.
NB: Fordham is proud to host a student from Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School; see here for information on becoming a Corporate Work Study Partner, too.
SOURCE: Ashley Bateman, The Cristo Rey Network: Serving Sustainable Success (Arlington, Virginia: Lexington Institute, November 2014).
