Telpochcalli Community Arts Elementary School
In Aztec times-the three centuries before the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas-the telpochcalli served as the house of youth for the elite priest and warrior castes of the Aztec nation. With a spiritual nuance, the telpochcalli prepared future leaders to spiritually guide and politically govern the great city-states of Tenochtitlan. Today, Telpochcalli Community Arts School in Chicago's Little Village also prepares its Mexican students to be leaders in their world.
Telpochalli Community Arts School, a bilingual K-8 Chicago Public School, inspires its Mexican-American students through a curricular focus on Mexican fine arts, culture, and history. Through integrated Mexican fine arts and culture, the bilingual curriculum reflects the students' interests and backgrounds. Co-sponsored by the nearby Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, four community artists in dance, music, theater, and visual arts co-teach with 15 faculty members fluent in Spanish and English. Telpochcalli graduates bilingual and biliterate students who are able to address life issues through their unique skills in the arts.
Telpochcalli serves 257 Mexican or Mexican-American students from the neighborhood Little Village (La Villita). On the city's southwest side, the neighborhood has a history as a port of entry for immigrants and today is home to many new as well as second and third generation Mexican-Americans. Spanish is the dominant business and personal language. Approximately 40% were born in the United States while the remainder originated in various Mexican states, the most popular including Mexico City and Guanajuato. Almost 100% of the student body is enrolled in the free lunch program. The first language of the students primarily is Spanish.
Founded in 1994, Telpochcalli grew out of its neighborhood's need for a bilingual, Mexican sensitive curriculum. Several teachers gave birth to the school's philosophy of addressing these needs through curriculum that was relevant to the cultural and social experiences and expectations of the neighborhood's Mexican immigrant population. With a strong tie to the nearby Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum and through the timely Small Schools movement at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Telpochcalli initiated a planning year in 1994-95. The following year, the school opened its classroom doors as a school within a school at Spry School. After two years at Spry, in 1996, Telpochcalli moved into its own space across the street from Spry and implemented its independent Local School Council, budget, hiring, and other policies.
For more information, please contact:
Telpochcalli Community Arts Elementary School
2432 West 24th Boulevard
Chicago, Illinois 60623
Tel: (773) 534-1402
Fax: (773) 534-1404
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