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Propel, based in Pittsburgh, PA, is a not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to catalyze the transformation of public education in Southwestern Pennsylvania so that all children have access to high performing public schools. This mission is pursued by opening and operating high performance schools of choice in educationally underserved communities. We do this on the belief that establishing a competitive dynamic in public education is the best way to provide the region’s public schools with sustained incentives for the hard work of continuous self improvement.
Propel’s first school opened in 2003 with 180 children; the school occupied a basement at the former Homestead hospital. In 2007-2008, almost 1300 K-8 students now attend at four newly renovated facilities in Homestead, Turtle Creek; McKeesport, and Kennedy. A high school is slated to open in Munhall in fall 2008.
 Propel is building an organization that can significantly transform the region's educational landscape, especially in communities with a shortage of good school options. This shortage is a growing problem, both here and around the country. The No Child Left Behind law, enacted by the Congress in 2001, gives parents with children in failing schools the right to choose a better school if it is available. Propel's schools ensure that such a school will be available.
Propel operates its schools as a regional federation, a new kind of non-geographic district, that blends the most effective elements of current school district operation and governance with the innovative potential and entrepreneurial spirit of small, independent schools. The non-profit federation of charter schools model provides distinct advantages over existing local school districts, stand-alone charter schools, and private schools.
Unlike existing districts, Propel:
1) pursues long-term strategies without the disruption of politically motivated leadership changes;
2) operates as a growth organization that provides new opportunities for its teachers and eliminates the battling over resources that stagnant or declining enrollment causes; and
3) operates at substantial scale without becoming bureaucratic by spawning new entities with varying levels of independence.
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Unlike stand-alone charter schools, Propel:
1) has the capacity to continually grow new schools;
2) offers governance and management consistency, with which stand-alones have struggled;
3) attracts excellent instructional leaders who are not interested in the range of non-instructional tasks running a stand-alone demands; and
4) can offer its teachers more professional development and a better career ladder. Unlike private schools, Propel's schools are free and open to all. As a not-for-profit, Propel can share best practices with others and enhance the public school community by example.
Organizations like Propel are a new force bringing change to communities around the country by opening new schools. In Los Angeles, the LAAMP/LEARN Alliance is opening 100 schools that will serve more than 5 percent of the children in that city. Aspire Public Schools has already opened seven schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Bringing significant change to Western Pennsylvania is a tremendous challenge. Propel has a big idea and is successfully marshalling the substantial resources required to succeed. The R.K. Mellon Foundation, the Grable Foundation, the CL Fund, and civic and business leadership are lining up behind this idea. Propel already has financial commitments exceeding $2 million.
Propel continues to actively seek the involvement and support of entrepreneurial and civic-minded leaders who find the creation of quality public schools in resource-poor communities an urgent and personally compelling endeavor.
For more information, please contact Jeremy Resnick at
412-325-7305, ext. 100 or by e-mail at jresnick@propelschools.org.
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