About Catalyst
We are agents of change. We are community builders. We are charter schools. We are the Catalyst Schools.
Rooted in Chicago’s urban communities, the Catalyst Schools cover two campuses: Circle Rock Charter and Howland Charter. Our college-preparatory schools partner with urban communities to offer K–8 students welcoming educational settings that nurture academic, social, and emotional growth. Through classroom development and graduate support, we help students and alumni to discover a fruitful path to high school, to college, and to a citizenship that embraces peace, justice, and respect. We actively engage students’ families and neighborhoods, striving to create strong connections between students’ education and the communities they live in.
2010
The Catalyst Schools undergo a large-scale rebranding campaign that results in a new logo, slogan, website, and communications system.
2009
Gordon Hannon, one of the founding forces at the Catalyst Schools, becomes chief executive officer.
2008
At the end of its first year of operation, Circle Rock Charter sees an average advancement per student of 1.7 academic years over a nine-month period. In other words, many students who arrived at Catalyst performing well below grade level in reading and math saw tremendous steps toward state and national standards in just one academic year.
2007
The Catalyst Schools—Circle Rock Charter (initally a contract school) admits its first students at its building in Chicago's Austin neighborhood. The school is opened in partnership with Circle Urban Ministries and Rock Chruch, bedrock organizations in the Austin community that faciliated a smooth and successful beginning for Circle Rock Charter.
2006
The first of the schools to open its doors is the Catalyst Schools—Howland Charter. Members of the community are wary of a new school moving into the neighborhood — a wariness that the Catalyst Schools have made great efforts to allay in the years since its opening. This school is set in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood.
2005
A proposal for the new school is developed and submitted to the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education. The board approves the proposal, on the condition that the not-yet-named Catalyst Schools open two schools, not just one.
2002
Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools Arne Duncan — today the U.S. Secretary of Education — recognizes high success at Lasallian model at San Miguel and convinces the San Miguel board of directors to consider opening a public school in the tradition of San Miguel. No other religiously based organization in the country has tried this, making San Miguel's efforts pioneering.
2002
San Miguel opens a second school in Austin, an African American community on Chicago's West Side.
1995
The school, called the San Miguel School, opens with 18 students in the dining room of a house.
1994
Gordon Hannon and Brother Ed Siderewicz approach the Christian Brothers to sponsor a school in Back of the Yards, a Latino community on Chicago's South Side.
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