Alliance contact

For Immediate Release:   
March 24, 2009       

Los Angeles, CA – Celebrating the unique collaboration between a high-performing charter school organization and a university, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools will, this Thursday, hold the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the state-of-the-art Marc & Eva Stern Math and Science School (Stern MASS). Thursday’s official opening of the new campus, located on the California State University Los Angeles (CSULA) campus, will include the university president, current Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa and former Mayor Richard Riordan, city and state officials, teachers, parents, students and representatives from the Eastside communities in Los Angeles.

The partnership—the first of its kind in Los Angeles—represents the first charter school to be located on a Los Angeles University campus. Stern MASS will allow its students and teachers to have access to university resources and professional development at a school whose goal is to prepare students for advanced degrees in math and science.

"Through our partnership with CSULA and the generosity of our funders, we have created a school that is truly a community school—open to all students regardless of ability or aptitude—and dedicated to improving the quality of education offered in the vibrant Eastside communities of Los Angeles," said Alliance College-Ready Public Schools President & CEO, Judy Burton. "Thanks to Marc and Eva Stern, The Weingart Foundation, The Broad Foundation and an anonymous donor, this state-of-the-art school will help open up doors of opportunity for thousands of underserved students by preparing them to pursue careers in math, technology, engineering and science."

CSULA President James Rosser, who worked diligently with Burton to make the school a reality, said the university will put its weight behind the school to ensure that the students in its neighboring communities have the opportunity to enter universities, and are prepared to succeed in higher education.

“Given the requisite opportunity, education and support, these students will excel in higher education, earn advanced degrees, and ultimately find themselves considered among the brightest scientists, engineers, educators and doctors in the world,” Rosser said. “We need these students to succeed. They are our next generation of scientists and engineers.”

The vision of then City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, Stern MASS provides a high quality, rigorous academic program that is open to all children in one of L.A.’s traditionally lowest achieving communities. In its three years of operation, Stern MASS students have been achieving at levels far outpacing their neighborhood public schools and boasting the largest academic achievement gains in the state. Last year, the school achieved an API score of 792—more than 180 points higher than the neighboring high schools that Stern MASS students would have otherwise attended.

"Stern Math and Science School is proof that we can create opportunities for our youth and prepare them with the skills they need to succeed in this new global economy," Villaraigosa said. "The East L.A. community deserves high-quality schools that provide its students with a rigorous, college-prep curriculum, and that's what Stern MASS is offering to them."

Completed in January 2009, the new $13 million Stern MASS campus houses 22 classrooms, four science labs, a multi-purpose room, a library and a CSULA professional development center on a 34,000-square-foot campus that will ultimately serve 500 students from grades 9 to 12.

The school currently enrolls 438 students in grades 9-11, 98 percent of whom are Hispanic, 21 percent are English Language Learners and 91 percent are eligible for free and reduced lunch.

The school was named after early donors Marc and Eva Stern, L.A. philanthropists who were impressed by the vision of Stern MASS Principal Derrick Chau. After meeting Chau at a dinner party, Eva Stern told her husband that donating to the school was how she wanted to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. Other donors who made the school possible include: The Weingart Foundation, The Broad Foundation and an anonymous donor. Financing for the project was provided by ExED, C. Frederick Wehba Chairman, BentlyForbes, and the Low Income Investment Fund. To date, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools has raised $33.4 million through private fundraising to develop permanent sites for their high-achieving charter schools.

Alliance College-Ready Public Schools currently manages a network of 11 high-performing charter middle and high schools in neighborhoods with among the lowest performing and most overcrowded public schools. Five additional Alliance schools will open next fall, bringing the total number of students enrolled in Alliance schools to more than 5,000. Alliance public charter schools are safe, small, personalized schools and offer students a quality learning environment with high expectations. All students are required to take and pass the college-prep A-G curriculum. The schools are tuition-free and open to any and all students in California regardless of ability or aptitude.

About Alliance College-Ready Public Schools
Since 2004, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, a nonprofit charter management organization, has led a highly-successful network of small, personalized, high-achieving public schools. Alliance students, 97 percent of whom are poor, live in LA's traditionally lowest-performing communities and achieve the highest levels of academic excellence. In communities where more than half of the student drop out of high school, 100 percent of Alliance high school graduates were accepted to college, and 80 percent of them to four-year colleges or universities.

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