History

Village Preparatory School opened in August 2009, admitting a class of 90 kindergarten students.  Over the next six years, Village Prep will grow to serve grades K-5, adding one grade level each school year.  As each kindergarten group moves up a grade, a new group is admitted.  

The school was started by the same individuals who founded Entrepreneurship Preparatory School (E Prep), which is a successful middle school (grades 6-8) that has been serving Cleveland students since August 2006.  Both schools are Ohio community schools (also known as charter schools) and both are authorized by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.  Like all charter schools, these are public, tuition-free schools, open to any family that chooses them, until capacity is met.  (Students are chosen through a lottery system if interest exceeds capacity).  

The Village Prep staff studied some of the highest-performing urban charter schools in other U.S. cities in preparation for opening.  Like the schools after which Village Prep is modeled, there is a particular emphasis on literacy, with about three hours of literacy instruction each day in the kindergarten year.