Overview

Our country’s education statistics are staggering.  More than 7,000 students are dropping out of school every day.  Less than 50% of Black and Hispanic students are earning their high school diploma.  For each dropout, society pays an estimated 2M over the course of their lifetime through income supports and/or incarceration.   For detailed reports on the drop-out crisis, visit the Diplomas Count Report at:  http://www.connectforkids.org/node/6695

The StreetSchool Network™ exists for these very students, working nationwide to meet the challenges of youth at-risk by developing a network of schools that provide personalized education, a moral code, and tools for self-sufficiency.  Our purpose is to facilitate the development and accreditation of schools based on the  StreetSchool Model of Essentials for At-risk Education to serve as educational intensive care units for those being left behind.

Schools belonging to the StreetSchool Network™ are Christian or community based schools, though differentiated from what is typically thought of as a Christian school by the type of student they target for admittance. StreetSchool Network™ is not affiliated with a particular church or denomination, therefore, does not espouse a particular denominational doctrine, and is not financially supported by a particular denomination, but rather by churches from many denominations.  StreetSchool Network™ schools do adhere to both a general statement of Christian faith and an Essentials/Non-essentials document that describes the spiritual approach we take with students.

A StreetSchool Network™ school is differentiated from other Christian schools in that the StreetSchool Network™ design has a policy of access for all, regardless of race, religion, gender, academic or economic status.  Acceptance of the student where they are is a defining characteristic of a StreetSchool Network™ school.

• The model is open to students expelled from public schools, private schools, and other alternative schools, those coming out of incarceration and those that are chronically truant and struggling academically and personally.
• Some schools also serve students that due to predictable factors are likely to end up in that situation.  These include students whose parents have a low educational attainment and employability level or are incarcerated, are a racial minority, live in a violent neighborhood, are assigned to a failing school, live in poverty and have struggled with school from an early age.
• Each year, the majority of the students admitted to StreetSchool Network™ schools are not Christians, nor are students required to be. They are exposed to the basics of the Christian faith as a choice that they can make, but are never required to believe as a condition of continued enrollment at the school or graduation from the school.

Although tuition is charged, it is low enough to allow access for low-income students.  Schools are to be primarily donation based, not tuition based and schools use a sliding tuition scale. With the majority of students living below the poverty level, on average they contribute approximately 5% of the cost of their education.  The rest is supplied by caring individuals in the community that seek to give our students a true opportunity for educational success.

StreetSchool Network™ schools are primarily privately funded and may receive limited public school monies through title funding (vouchers and faith-based funds may become an additional exception to this). StreetSchool Network™, then, is concerned with supporting individual schools with fundraising and operation as a 501 c (3) non-profit organization in addition to academics.

The ministry focus impacts staff recruitment and motivation, worldview, the dynamics of the caring environment, the cycle of student change, the selection of curriculum and outside partnerships, and is seen as the most powerful influence on healing students, transforming their lives, preparing them for the future and sustaining that transformation into the future.