by alyssah
Fortune Schools, a unique network of TK-12 tuition-free public charter schools, is outperforming state averages in narrowing the academic achievement gap for African American scholars, according to the California Department of Education’s 2025 California School Dashboard.
Fortune Schools in Sacramento and San Bernardino serve predominantly Black students (63%) and 20% Latino students. They are dedicated to closing the Black achievement gap by preparing scholars for college from preschool to 12th grade.
“We are looking at the data for individual students and their student achievement every week, twice a week in math, English, language, arts and science…,” said Dr. Margaret Fortune, president and CEO of Fortune.
“This year, our growth has outpaced the state, having grown by six percentage points in English, language arts and math and nine percentage points in science. We feel like we’ve gotten our mojo back post pandemic, and we really just have to give our scholars and our teachers and our families a big pat on the back for a lot of hard work that’s showing up in this high academic achievement,” she continued.
The Fortune School of Education was established in 1989 in Sacramento as a Teacher’s College and still offers a masters program, and credentials teachers and administrators online. They are also starting a new cohort for the teacher credentialing program in Jan. 2026.
So far, the Fortune School network includes nine schools based in Sacramento and one in San Bernardino, the Hardy Brown College Prep School for scholars from preschool to eighth grade. The Hardy Brown school originated from the advocacy of Black parents and grandparents in San Bernardino. One of the original grandparent advocates is Joette Spencer Campbell, who is the chair of education for the NAACP. She still sits on the board of the Fortune School.
The school is named for Black Voice News publisher emeritus Hardy Brown Sr., who also served on the San Bernardino City Unified School District Board of Education in the 1980s – 1990s.
Hardy Brown College Prep in San Bernardino achieved 47% proficiency in English Language Arts, notably above state averages for Black and Latino students. According to the 2024-25 California Statewide Assessment Results, the percentage of all students meeting or exceeding standard for ELA was 48.8% for all students, 32.8% for Black/African American students and 38.8% for Hispanic/Latino students.
“We do very intensive small group instruction with our scholars, with master teachers. So, these are veteran teachers who really know their craft and really know their content. We have a longer school day and a longer school year.,” Fortune explained. We have them practice where they have academic gaps, and we use pre- and post-testing in the same week to be able to zero in on what the learning gap is, so that we can re-teach.”
The Fortune School emphasizes narrowing the academic achievement gap for Black scholars because Black scholars remain the lowest performing subgroup of students outside of students with special needs, according to Fortune. Fortune shared that the state of California has not actively tried to fix this gap because they will not take action on the basis of a student’s race, even though the majority of the academic data has shown that Black students are academically behind.
“It’s important that local schools pay close attention to the achievement of African American students, in order for our students to excel, and our students and families deserve that attention,” Fortune expressed.
“We feel really proud of our students. For example, fifth graders at Hardy Brown College Prep have 47% proficiency in English language arts and 50% proficiency in mathematics. Hats off to the students and their fantastic teacher. Hardy Brown College Prep was recognized as a top performing school by US News and World Report, so we are really feeling proud and also eager to invite more families to join us,” Fortune stated.
The Fortune School approaches gap-closing in a multifaceted way that includes STEAM-focused curricula, partnerships with institutions such as Cosumnes River College for concurrent enrollment and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for college scholarships, and hands-on engineering and science experiences starting in fifth grade. Fortune’s results put it in the top three of California’s Best Public Schools Serving Black Students, offering scalable models for equity in the midst of broader stagnation.
Recent engineering graduate Sierra Hollinsworth, a Fortune School alumna who earned an engineering degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in June 2025, credits the school’s early exposure to STEM and scholarship support for her success. Hollinsworth graduated from Fortune Early College High School in Sacramento. She is now beginning a career in sustainable design.
Fortune stressed how more than a third of their students graduate with an associate’s degree compared to the typical 1% of students in the state overall, regardless of race.
“If our kids get into Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, competitively, they get a full ride scholarship,” Fortune stated. Currently there are 37 ‘Fortune’ scholars attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Fortune students are introduced to Cal Poly in the fifth grade by doing overnight stay at campus and doing hands-on science,” said Fortune.
“Our high school is truly a model of high academic achievement. It shows you what you can accomplish if you start with kids early, because most of the kids that graduate from our high school now, have been with us since kindergarten. So, this work of closing the Black achievement gap takes consistency, persistence and that has to happen over a long period of time, from the time the child is in early childhood education to and through college,” Fortune continued.
