The mission of the Children's Aid College Prep Charter School is as follows: “The Children's Aid College Prep Charter School, a K-5 school serving the South Bronx, ensures that children will achieve academic success by providing them with the best instructional practices, advancing their physical, emotional, and social needs, fostering a sense of pride and hope, and serving as a safe and engaging community hub. As a community school, the Children's Aid College Prep will produce higher student attendance, increased grade retention, and improved test scores because teachers will be more effective, and parents and other adult caregivers will be more involved than schools serving a similar population.”

To achieve this mission, the founders created a community school focusing on students most in need. The school will implement the following key design elements in pursuit of its mission:

• comprehensive community school design;

• instructional rigor and a robust academic program including an emphasis on literacy and mathematics;

• expanded school day and year;

• an explicit focus on addressing summer learning loss;

• frequent, focused and purposeful student assessment strategies;

• talented and committed professional staff and administrators; and

• systems of supports for students with high risk factors for academic failure including school-based health services and specific supports for families.