The Urban Assembly is a non-profit organization that creates and manages a community of New York City Public Schools dedicated to preparing students from under-resourced neighborhoods for success in four-year colleges.   We currently operate 16 small public high schools and junior high schools, serving over 4,300 students. Three more schools are scheduled to open in 2007. (Our Schools) Each is organized around a central educational and professional  theme, ranging from law, government and justice to design and  construction, that connects academic achievement, college, and  career. (School Themes) Our schools are located, by design, in poor neighborhoods where our predominantly low-income students would otherwise attend underperforming and failing schools. In neighborhoods where truancy is epidemic, our attendance rate averages 90 percent. We do not screen applicants to select high achievers. Upon entering, many students perform below grade level in both math and reading. Our non- competitive admissions policy and community-based recruitment strategies produce a student population that averages 95 percent African American and Latino, and  5 percent Asian, Caucasian and  other. (How to Get Involved as a Parent, Guardian, or Student) We provide a rigorous academic education, personal attention, and close relationships with teachers, partnering organizations, and individual mentors that connect the classroom to college and the working world.   The demanding curriculum in Urban Assembly schools develops the skills and the habits of mind it takes to earn a college degree. (College Readiness) In our small schools, where enrollment averages 100 students per grade, each student receives a personalized education. All our schools are enriched by close working partnerships with major public agencies, colleges and universities, and private and nonprofit organizations, ranging from the New York City Parks Department and Polytechnic University to Time Warner and the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore. (Our Partners) We are striving to provide all our students with trained adult mentors to guide their personal and academic progress to college and during their freshman year. (How to Become a Mentor) Our unique model instills in every student the ambition and the skills to succeed in college and a career. Our students learn early that attending college is not only a possibility for them but a necessity if they are to succeed in life. Approximately 90 percent of our seniors graduate, and 86 percent are accepted by colleges, including highly selective schools such as Dartmouth, Smith, Brandeis, and NYU. This contrasts with an average New York City public high school graduation rate of 58 percent and college acceptance rate of 38 percent. Our goal is that every one of our seniors graduate from a four-year college. Because attrition is high among low-income college students, we are determined to track our graduates' performance and offer them continuing support until they earn a bachelor's degree. We are at the cutting edge of educational innovation, transforming schools and the lives of low-income students. The Urban Assembly is creating not only individual schools but a scholastic network that is greater than the sum of its parts. Our principals, administrators, and teachers inspire and spread innovation by pooling resources, sharing best practices and curricula, and addressing common challenges collaboratively. Our schools are small but our scale is large and growing because we are determined to reach as many students as possible. New York City's Department of Education recently recognized and expanded the Urban Assembly's pioneering role with an unprecedented collaborative management agreement that may become a prototype for other public/private school management contracts. In 2006, we became the first non-charter organization to operate public schools and assume responsibility for their success and student achievement. Like charter schools, we enjoy considerable autonomy, which frees us to develop and implement innovative programs. Unlike charter schools, we work closely with public school teachers, principals, and their unions, because we recognize that systemic reform of the public school system cannot happen without their cooperation and contributions. Drawing on the talents and resources of the public as well as the nonprofit and private sectors, the best of all worlds, the Urban Assembly develops   and maintains outstanding schools within New York City's public   school system.