---
title: Excellence Has Always Lived in Los Angeles
description: U.S. News & World Report recognizes a group of Los Angeles-area charter public schools among California’s top performers. That recognition is worth celebrating. But the rankings also tell a much bigger story.
image: https://info.ccsa.org/hubfs/Innovate%20Educate%20Banner_FINAL.png
---

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- Excellence Has Always Lived in Los Angeles

[Myrna Castrejón](https://info.ccsa.org/blog/author/myrna-castrejón) 10/22/2026

## Excellence Has Always Lived in Los Angeles

![Excellence Has Always Lived in Los Angeles](https://info.ccsa.org/hubfs/Innovate%20Educate%20Banner_FINAL.png "Excellence Has Always Lived in Los Angeles")

Inglewood. Lennox. Hawthorne. Lawndale.

These are communities where generations of Latino families have worked hard, dreamed big for their children and, too often, been told—directly or indirectly—to expect less from their public schools.

But something remarkable is happening in these communities.

In its latest rankings of the nation’s best high schools, U.S. News & World Report recognized a group of Los Angeles-area charter public schools among California’s top performers. \>\> [*Click here to read CCSA's press release about the big news.*](https://www.ccsa.org/posts/21-california-charter-public-schools-rank-among-states-top-100)

Schools in Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lennox, Lawndale and Los Angeles earned top marks, with graduation rates as high as 100 percent.

That recognition is worth celebrating. But the rankings also tell a much bigger story.

They remind us of something families have always known: Our children are capable of extraordinary things when they are given extraordinary opportunities.

They do not need us to lower the bar. They need schools that give them the opportunities and support to reach it—and believe they can.

[Ánimo Leadership High School](https://greendot.org/leadership/) in Inglewood is a Green Dot Public School where 99 percent of students graduate. Young people there can explore biomedical science, take college courses through dual enrollment and choose from Advanced Placement classes while still in high school.

Just a few miles away, [Ánimo Inglewood Charter High School](https://greendot.org/inglewood/), also a Green Dot Public School, has built a college-going culture around rigorous academics, counseling and partnerships that help students see higher education not as a distant possibility, but as an attainable next step. Its graduation rate is 97 percent.

At [Alliance Marc and Eva Stern Math and Science](https://sternmass.org/)in Los Angeles, students learn in an environment built around rigorous math and science instruction and preparation for college, career and life. [Alliance Ted K. Tajima High School](https://tajimahigh.org/), also in Los Angeles, combines rigorous college preparation with an emphasis on leadership, resilience and student advocacy.

And at [Environmental Charter High School](https://ecsonline.org/echs-lawndale/) in Lawndale, students experience yet another approach to excellence. There, environmental sustainability becomes a vehicle for learning.

Students tackle real-world issues through interdisciplinary projects, internships, environmental leadership and hands-on experiences that connect what happens in the classroom to the communities around them.

Different schools. Different approaches. Different opportunities for students to discover what excites them and where their talents can take them.

That matters.

One of the great strengths of charter public schools is that they do not all have to look the same. But while their approaches may differ, the expectation remains the same: Every student deserves the opportunity to achieve at the highest level.

For Latino families, that message carries particular meaning.

For generations, education has been at the heart of the sacrifices made by parents and grandparents who came to this country, or moved across this state, determined to create greater opportunity for the next generation. We know the conversations that happen around kitchen tables: Work hard. Study. Take advantage of the opportunities we did not have.

Behind those words is a profound belief in what our children can become.

Our public education system should reflect that same belief.

That is why these *U.S. News & World Report* rankings deserve our attention. Not because a number or national ranking can tell us everything that makes a school excellent.

They matter because they offer another reminder of what is possible in communities that have too often been underestimated.

Where a child lives should never determine how much we believe that child can achieve.

The students walking into classrooms every morning in Inglewood, Lennox, Hawthorne, Lawndale and across Los Angeles are every bit as capable of excellence as students anywhere else in California.

They always have been.

Our responsibility is to make sure they have schools that believe it, too.

*[Myrna Castrejón](https://www.ccsa.org/team/myrna-castrejon)has been the President and CEO of the California Charter Schools Association since January 2019. Innovate & Educate is an occasional column in which she explores statewide K-12 issues through a charter public school lens.*

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