than 20 percent of our students were profi-
cient in math and reading, but the 90 per-
cent threshold was not random. In a school
serving 90 percent children of color, nearly
90 percent of whom qualified for free or
reduced-price lunch, we wanted 90 percent
academic proficiency, in the spirit of the so-
called “90-90-90 Schools.”
It is in that great divide between 20 per-
cent and 90 percent of our students attain-
ing measurable levels of proficiency that
we earn our wings. While testing schemes,
presidents and political initiatives have come
and gone, we have remained resolute in our
mission; not in the pursuit of high test scores
for their own sake, but in our belief that our
students are capable of extraordinary gains
in achievement.
In fact, every year since 2001, our stu-
dents’ school-wide test results improved over
the year before. Even now, as the California
Assessment of Student Performance and
Progress (CAASPP) becomes the order of
the day, that pattern of continuous improve-
ment endures.
There are countless factors that have con-
tributed to Mueller’s success: the teachers
and support staff; the investment we have
made in student support services; the auton-
omy that our charter affords; and the steady
implementation of the next best idea, be it
home visits, 1:1 technology or our knack for
divining new data and turning trends into
promising practices.
But mainly it is in the Mueller brand – an
unyielding core belief that the only thing
standing between our students and their un-
limited capacity for academic success is our
imagination. It has consistently sparked inno-
vation and nurtured tolerance for the organi-
zational disequilibrium that a climate of con-
tinuous change engenders. And it animates
our reverence for the attribute of resiliency
– the ability and willingness to persevere, to
bounce back, and to rise above adversity.
Decades of research have documented the
importance of fostering resiliency in youth to
help them counter risk factors in their lives.
But it is not just the research that informs
us – it comes from the students themselves.
So, it is not by accident that both Mueller
Charter School and Bayfront Charter High
School are organized to cultivate three criti-
cal protective factors for children: caring and
support, high expectations, and opportuni-
ties for authentic participation.
Cristina’s legacy
Mueller has demonstrated an unlim-
ited capacity for learning from the students
we serve. So, when a fourth grade student
named Cristina was struck by a car on her
way home from school in the fall of 2002, we
learned plenty. For example, when we visited
her at Children’s Hospital and met her mom
and sister, we discovered that her little family
was homeless. We also learned that her mom
was working for minimum wage at a Burger
King, spoke no English, and was legally deaf.
And we started to ask ourselves some
critical questions: Why did Cristina have to
get hit by a car to get our attention? Why
didn’t we know she was homeless? If we
did know, how could we more efficiently
organize our resources to support her and
her family? How many students, out of the
hundreds we serve, are in similar life crisis?
How would we scale up our services to sup-
port every child at risk? And how could we
sustain those services over time?
As if by instinct, we began navigating to-
ward strategies like the Resiliency Monitor-
ing System that could help kids like Cristina
rise above their life circumstances and excel
in school. This process allows us to simulta-
neously monitor all 1,500 students in both
schools, create a personalized plan for any
child at risk, prioritize support services for
them, and shore up their protective factors
so they can compete. With this system, no
child falls through the cracks no matter how
big we get.
The key element is the strength of our stu-
dent support services – counselors, nurse,
psychologist, administrators and, of course,
our classroom teachers – collaborating with
parents on our students’ behalf. It has been so
effective, that it garnered the prestigious Cal-
ifornia Golden Bell Award in 2010, and was
cited as a key innovation when we received
the National Urban School Transformation
Award in 2012. It has also been the subject of
dozens of workshop and conference presenta-
tions we have provided over the years.
Our instinct for caring and student sup-
port permeates all aspects of our organiza-
tion. We know it’s a critical element of our
school culture because nearly 15 years ago,
we learned it from Cristina. We also learned
that when children are facing challenging
risk factors outside of school, it is vital to
maintain high expectations for their unlim-
ited academic growth and achievement.
20 universities
On Friday mornings, our custodial staff
begins the weekly ritual of raising university
flags in the center of our campus. There are
two dozen or so colorful banners from col-
leges most of our students have never heard
of. Our buildings and grade levels are clus-
tered by college names too, and the teach-
ers frequently celebrate their alma maters on
their hats or hoodies. So, our students are in-
troduced early to the college and career focus
that both Mueller an