American Youth Works Service Learning
Academy (AYW)
1901 E. Ben White Blvd., Austin 78741
512-744-1900; www.americanyouthworks.org
Enrollment: 116; Grades:
9-12 (ages 16-21)
Sponsoring Entity: American Youth Works
Mission/Philosophy: A fully accredited public
high school, the focus of the AYW Charter
School is to “recover youth who have dropped
out of school, are at risk of dropping out, or
who are seeking a different way of learning.”
AYW was the first charter school in the U.S.
named a National Service Learning Leader
School, and has been recognized as a national
model charter school by the U.S. Department
of Education.
Austin Can! Academy Charter School
2406 Rosewood Avenue, Austin 78702
512-477-4226; www.texanscan.org
Enrollment:
298; Grades: 9-12
Sponsoring Entity: Texans Can!/America Can!
Mission/Philosophy: The focus of the Austin
Can! Academy is on “at-risk, 16- to 21-year-old
students who have been unsuccessful in tradi-
tional educational settings,” and to “empower
young, disadvantaged Texans and their families
to break the cycle of failure, poverty, hope-
lessness and economic dependency through
education and training.”
Austin Discovery School
8509 FM 969, Suite 200, Austin 78724
512-674-0700 ; www.austindiscoveryschool.org
Enrollment: 400; Grades: K- 6
Sponsoring Entity: Our Lady’s Catholic Church
Mission/Philosophy: At Austin Discovery
School, “caring, sharing, helping, and empathizing are actively encouraged. Taking the
time to teach children to be caring individuals
is not at the expense of academics, but will
enhance academic success through increasing
the student’s comfort level, thereby increasing
their brain’s learning capacity.”
Cedars International Academy
8416 N. Interstate 35, Austin 78753
512-419-1551; www.cedars-academy.org
Enrollment:
250; Grades: PK- 8
Sponsoring Entity: Our Lady’s Catholic Church
Mission/Philosophy: Public free tuition charter
school that offers a small private school
A good resource for more information on charter
schools in Austin and around the state is the
San Antonio-based Resource Center for Charter
Schools. Call the Center at 210-348-7890; visit at
40 NE Loop 410, Suite 408, San Antonio, Texas
78216; or log on to www.charterstexas.org for more
information. There’s also the Texas Charter Schools
Association ( www.txcharterschools.org); parents
can search for schools and get more information (see
listing of National Educational Resources in this
section). There are more than 390 charter schools
statewide that educate more than 120,000 students,
and about 100 in Austin. The following is a
sampling of Austin’s charter schools.
