Excel is committed to closing the unconscionable achievement gap that persists in Massachusetts despite the state leading the country in educational achievement. Only 8% of low-income minority students in places like Boston and Chelsea will graduate from college, while over 80% of students from wealthy families in suburbs like Newton and Wellesley will earn a college diploma. Excel has already made tremendous progress in closing the gap.  Over the last few years Excel has been the top-performing urban public middle school as measured by state tests, and one of the top ten public middle schools in the state as a whole.

We feel a sense of urgency and obligation to expand.  Around Boston, there are thousands of students who want the kind of high-quality public education Excel offers but who are put on waitlists; we are forced to turn away roughly 80% of students who enter our admission lottery each year.   We don’t believe that your zip code, race or income level should determine your future, nor should a lottery.

Excel’s plan is to open approximately one new school a year for the next five years in the Boston area.  As a result of the recent education reform law that was passed in January 2010, we were granted state charters to open three additional schools.  We opened our second middle school, Excel Academy- Chelsea, in August 2011.  We will subsequently open a third middle school in East Boston in 2012 and a high school in Boston in 2015.  We aim to have all three middle schools feed into the high school. Once all of our current charters are open and at full capacity Excel will serve more than 1,000 Boston area students and their families.