LAWNDALE, Calif., April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Environmental Charter High School (ECHS), an award-winning college-prep public charter school in Los Angeles, announced today it was recognized by The White House and the Department of Education for its academic excellence and has been named a finalist in President Obama's Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge.

ECHS is one of six public schools selected to compete for a presidential commencement address from Obama.  The Commencement Challenge invited the nation's public high schools to submit applications.  Over one thousand applicants were judged based on the schools' performance, four essay questions and supplemental data.  To become a finalist, in their essay ECHS focused on demonstrating how the school is helping prepare students to meet the President's 2020 goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. 

"I congratulate the finalists for demonstrating effective approaches to teaching, learning and preparing students to graduate ready for college and a career," said President Obama. "I look forward to visiting and speaking at the winning school later this spring."

With 92% of last year's graduating class accepted into a four-year university, ECHS is one of the country's highest performing college prep schools and a model school for the country. In fact, ECHS' Green Ambassador program, which empowers youth to be agents of change in their communities and the world by working to tackle critical environmental issues, is being implemented by other schools around the country.

"We engage students in learning experiences that center around issues that are meaningful to them.  This motivates them to pursue and achieve the ambitious academic goals and become engaged citizens as they share their solutions with the community," says Jenni Taylor, principal of ECHS.

"Boosting academic performance is crucial to our nation's success in a global economy and the path to the American Dream," added Alison Suffet-Diaz, founder & executive director of Environmental Charter Schools.  "ECHS has instilled in our students, their parents and the community a passion for learning and when students see what a difference they make in the world, they are motivated to pursue higher education."  

"At ECHS the question is not whether you will go to college.  It is which college will you go to?" said student Jordan Howard, a senior at ECHS.

Environmental Charter High School (ECHS): (http://www.echsonline.org) is a public charter high school serving Lawndale and surrounding communities in south Los Angeles.  ECHS offers a rigorous college prep program that is made relevant by guiding students to critically examine and take action to solve environmental challenges in their local communities. The award-winning high school has outperformed 80% of comparable high schools in its state API ranking – a key performance indicator. ECHS and its Green Ambassadors program have been honored with the EPA Environmental Award, the California Service Learning Leader Award, the California Charter Schools Dissemination Grant, and Green Teacher of the Year Award.

SOURCE Environmental Charter High School

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http://www.echsonline.org