In 2000, IDEA Public Schools opened its first campus on the U.S.-Mexico border. Today, IDEA operates 79 schools serving 45,000 students in six regions, proving that it’s possible to grow rapidly while maintaining quality. And IDEA plans to keep its foot on the gas. It’s on track to enroll 100,000 students by 2022, and one day, a million.
Elsewhere in the U.S., charter growth is slowing down as charter operators struggle to hire enough great talent, secure suitable facilities, acquire sufficient capital, and overcome other growth-inhibiting barriers. As families and communities across the country demand better schools, though, the country must find ways to overcome these barriers.
In Built to Grow: How IDEA Public Schools is Expanding to Serve a Million Students, Public Impact’s Daniela Doyle and Juli Kim show how IDEA develops solutions to its challenges so it can expand rapidly without diminishing quality.