Nurturing 'School Minds'

Through order and English immersion, a network of charter schools strives to turn Latino students into informed citizens and leaders inside and outside the community.

Chicago

As a new school day begins, Donyell Beck praises her 7th graders for forming straight lines and keeping their shirts tucked in.

“I’m very proud of how you have been lining up,” says the teacher here at UNO Veterans Memorial School. The conduct shows that the students are thinking with a “school mind” rather than a “summer mind,” she says.

That philosophy of quiet and order as a foundation for learning is a trademark of educators at Veterans Memorial and the other eight charter schools run by the Chicago-based United Neighborhood Organization , or UNO, a Latino advocacy group with a...