Nativity School Model

For over 450 years, Jesuits have excelled at providing secondary education. We see this tradition in Washington, D.C. in schools such as Georgetown Prep and Gonzaga. In 1972, New York City Jesuits adapted the rigor and intensity of their tradition to the middle school level and created the Nativity model, an extended-day, extended-year program specifically designed to help low-income, inner-city youth succeed at higher academic levels. Today there are 64 Nativity or San Miguel Schools serving over 4,300 middle school age boys and girls in 27 states. Approximately 90% of the students attending

Nativity and San Miguel Schools qualify for the Federal Government's Free and Reduced Cost Lunch program, an indication that a family is living at or near poverty. At WJA, 100% of families qualify for Federal Free or Reduced Lunch.

Noting that many inner-city schools have dropout rates of 50% or more, NativityMiguel model schools have succeeded where so many others fail. Ninety-two percent (92%) of nativity school students graduate from high school, as compared to the national rate for African-American and Latino students of 55%, and the four-year dropout rate for the network's high school graduation class this year was 6 percent, and 96 percent enrolled in a two- or four-year college this fall.