The mission of Citizens of the World Charter Hollywood: A Public School is to provide a socio-economically, culturally and racially diverse community of students in the heart of Hollywood with an intellectually challenging, experiential learning environment that develops each individual student's confidence, potential, and individual responsibility as citizens of the world in which we live.

The four cornerstones of our operation work collaboratively to embody a true "community of learners" in which we all learn from and with one another:

Students: CWC students engage in rigorous, active learning processes that develop conceptual understanding and self-knowledge. CWC embraces the diversity of individual student's skills, learning styles and array of multiple intelligences, ensuring that children have the opportunity to grow not just in core academic areas, but also in the arts, music, physical education and character development. Our standards-based curriculum is continuously tailored to individual needs. We utilize assessment data throughout the year to ensure that each student meets and exceeds state performance standards and the academic performance of neighboring schools, as we help each child develop a true lifelong passion for learning.

Teachers: Our collaborative professional community supports CWC's teachers with ample planning time, training, resources and autonomy. Teachers are able to continually develop their skills, collaborate with one another, and create, evaluate and refine curriculum that best fits their students utilizing a variety of ongoing assessments to track students' progress.

Families: CWC emphasizes the school/home partnership and free-flowing communication as integral to the success of the children. All CWC families are urged to participate actively in the school community as volunteers, valued stakeholders and participants in regular family education workshops and school community activities.

Community: As Citizens of the World, we cultivate leadership, independence, self-knowledge, appreciation for different perspectives and respect, both within and beyond school walls. Just as we ask the community to support our school, so too will the school support the community. Student-designed service-learning projects, created during weekly classes devoted to this endeavor, enable each member of our community of learners to make a real and lasting contribution to the world around us.

Our vision is to establish a dynamic, welcoming, high-performing learning environment in Hollywood, one of the most diverse neighborhoods in urban Los Angeles. We seek to ensure that all of the diverse components of this remarkably unique neighborhood are welcome and active participants in our school, creating a hub for community activity that truly reflects and embraces the ethnic, racial, linguistic and socioeconomic diversity of the neighborhood. Our students and their families will have come to our school from all over the world, and we will value the unique perspective and experience each brings to CWC. Our activities on campus will focus on our role as contributing citizens of the neighboring community and larger world in which we live. Student-planned service-learning activities will enable students, as well as their families and other community members, to make a meaningful contribution and impact those around us.

Modeled after some of the most acclaimed private and public schools in the country, CWC has great expectations for all of the members of our school community: students, teachers, parents and community members alike will be asked to work hard to ensure that all of our students meet the challenges of a rigorous academic program. CWC's emphasis on multiple intelligence theory will expand on the concept of diversity and perspective, as we recognize differences in the ways individuals learn and the unique combination of intelligences that each child may possess. As we work to incorporate and further develop best practices in curriculum and community-building in this uniquely diverse educational setting, we will share our model with schools throughout Los Angeles and the larger world of education.

Well beyond academic success however, we also will work diligently to ensure that our students develop self-confidence, sense of belonging, and motivation to succeed within and beyond school walls. As members of our community of learners - students, teachers, administrators, families and the neighboring community - come together, we will learn from one another's perspectives and experiences, ensuring that we all become caring and contributing citizens of the world in which we live, and members of the human community. "If we can mobilize the spectrum of human abilities, not only will people feel better about themselves and more competent; it is even possible that they will also feel more engaged and better able to join the rest of the world community in working for the broader good." (Howard Gardner, 2006.)

To read CWC's full charter petition, click here: