The mission of City on a Hill Charter School is to graduate responsible, resourceful, and respectful democratic citizens prepared to advance community, culture, and commerce. All students read Shakespeare, write essays, speak in public, use computers, study algebra, read primary documents in history, and learn to swim. Last year, the students were able to extend their education beyond the classroom by visiting museums, climbing Mount Monadnock, and travelling to Ellis Island.
Most students spend the summer in internships and academic programs throughout Boston.
Teachers at City on a Hill are free to manage their own classrooms as they see fit, but are evaluated on the basis of student outcomes. These outcomes are derived, in part, by 130 members of the public who served on juries at year-end to assess students in reading, speaking, math and science. Ann Connolly Tolkoff and Sarah Kass, the school's founders, were teachers at Chelsea High School. Frustrated by low academic standards and the system in which they were being asked to teach, the two began to talk about creating a different kind of school.