Chicago Urban Prep Program: 3 years with 100% College Acceptance

[Prince Akeem]

For the third year in a row, the program has achieved a 100% College acceptance for its graduating class. Shock and awe results, I know. When people actually take the time and do a good job addressing a rising problem, positive results can be obtained. There seems to be a negative mindset with some that minority students in low-income areas can't be help, which is clearly bull. Wish all the graduates the best of luck and applaud all the instructors involved.

"Our graduates have been admitted to more than two hundred different colleges and universities including:

Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Northwestern University, Denison University, Grinnell College, Hampton University, St. John's University, DePaul University, Howard University, Illinois State University, Morehouse College, University of Illinois, University of Michigan,
University of Rochester, and the University of Virginia"

According to our records, for the Class of 2010:
• 100% were accepted to a 4-year college
• 94% enrolled in a 4-year college
• 80% completed their first year of college

• Urban Prep’s 100% college acceptance and 94%
college enrollment numbers compare favorably to
CPS, which has a 4-year college enrollment rate of
approximately 40% for all graduates and 33% for
African-American male graduates.

Urban Prep Academies is a nonprofit organization that
operates a network of public charter high schools for
boys. Currently, that network includes three high schools
in Chicago called Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young
Men—Englewood Campus; Urban Prep Charter Academy
for Young Men—East Garfield Park Campus; and Urban
Prep Charter Academy for Young Men—South Shore
Campus. Currently, the schools enroll 925 students and
when they are all at capacity, total enrollment will be
approximately 1,500 students. Urban Prep schools are
non-selective/open enrollment and students are admitted via lottery with no evaluation of test scores, grades, or
special needs. Across our network, Urban Prep students
are African-American males; on average approximately
85% of our students are low-income (high of 93% lowincome), 15% have IEPs (high of 20% with IEPs), and
85% begin at Urban Prep reading below grade level (high
of 94% entering reading below grade level).

While the vast majority of students come to us below
grade level, we are able to accelerate them because we
have an extended school day, extended school year,
double periods of English and Math, Saturday school,
mentoring and a positive school culture.

Approximately three-tenths (30%) of Urban Prep students
leave us between freshman and senior year. While some
people are critical of this number it is actually a huge
indicator of our success. In CPS, about three-fifths (56%-
61%) of Black boys will drop out of high school. The
number of students leaving Urban Prep is almost half of
what the drop-out rate is for Black boys in CPS overall.
It is important to note that students transfer out of
Urban Prep for a variety of reasons including moving to
another district or state, and when they do transfer, they
enroll in other high schools—they don’t just drop-out
of school entirely.

http://www.urbanprep.org/sites/default/files/documents/annual-reports/FY11 Data Findings.pdf

 

[Prince Akeem]

It turns out when you properly educate kids you get positive results.

Who would have thought?

 

[TheBigBopper]

No hate, but I'd like to know where the majority of these guys are going to college. Let's not front here. Most colleges in America either have an open admissions policy or lax admissions standards. It'd be something if all these young men were admitted to the top 20 or even top 50 undergraduate schools, but to someplace like CSU-Chico?

 

[theworldismine13]

No hate, but I'd like to know where the majority of these guys are going to college. Let's not front here. Most colleges in America either have an open admissions policy or lax admissions standards. It'd be something if all these young men were admitted to the top 20 or even top 50 undergraduate schools, but to someplace like CSU-Chico?

even going to chico state>>> not going to college

 

[Huellz Santana]

No hate, but I'd like to know where the majority of these guys are going to college. Let's not front here. Most colleges in America either have an open admissions policy or lax admissions standards. It'd be something if all these young men were admitted to the top 20 or even top 50 undergraduate schools, but to someplace like CSU-Chico?

read teh post nikka

Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Northwestern University, Denison University, Grinnell College, Hampton University, St. John's University, DePaul University, Howard University, Illinois State University, Morehouse College, University of Illinois, University of Michigan,
University of Rochester, and the University of Virginia"

thos are some good schools​

 

[TheBigBopper]

read teh post nikka



thos are some good schools​

Okay, so maybe 8 people out of how many graduates of their program. And besides Howard (and perhaps Hampton) those other schools they listed that you didn't bold are very mediocre. In this economy, unless you're going into engineering or something else quantitative, it's not worth going to a school outside the top 20, especially if you're black.

 

[TheBigBopper]

even going to chico state>>> not going to college

Not if you're majoring in something that isn't quantitative. That debt and opportunity cost

 

[No1]

Not if you're majoring in something that isn't quantitative. That debt and opportunity cost

I try not to agree with you too often because our worldviews are far apart, but there is some truth to what you said. But top 20 is extreme. I have lots of friends with jobs that went to the local state university, but they networked and all that other stuff. Major in what you want, but weigh the costs/job opportunities and consider double-majoring if you really want that other major.

But with that said, let's not negate what this school has been able to do.

"With just a little ambition, just look what we can become here."

 

[theworldismine13]

Not if you're majoring in something that isn't quantitative. That debt and opportunity cost

actually even if you take debt and opportunity cost it's better than not going to college

Btw you do know that Chico state and the csu system is probably one of the cheapest colleges in the country right? You may want to choose a different example

 

[TheBigBopper]

I try not to agree with you too often because our worldviews are far apart, but there is some truth to what you said. But top 20 is extreme. I have lots of friends with jobs that went to the local state university, but they networked and all that other stuff. Major in what you want, but weigh the costs/job opportunities and consider double-majoring if you really want that other major.

But with that said, let's not negate what this school has been able to do.

"With just a little ambition, just look what we can become here."

I'll admit that I often lack scope. The least successful person among my friends earns 60k a year, and I just graduated college. My standard of a good job is higher than most people's. With that said, looking at unemployment figures among recent grads tells us that even people who have degrees from elite institutions are having trouble finding any job, and these aren't just schmucks who didn't network or have strong GPAs and internships.

I'm not trying to knock the mission of this school, but I think we should examine their results more objectively. Pushing so many kids into college might be a disservice if they can make a lot more money in the trades given their skill set and aptitude. I'd rather have a strong black middle class bolstered by blue collar trades than a ton of underemployed black baristas carrying a 50k debt load after financing their English degrees.

 

[theworldismine13]

I'll admit that I often lack scope. The least successful person among my friends earns 60k a year, and I just graduated college. My standard of a good job is higher than most people's. With that said, looking at unemployment figures among recent grads tells us that even people who have degrees from elite institutions are having trouble finding any job, and these aren't just schmucks who didn't network or have strong GPAs and internships.

I'm not trying to knock the mission of this school, but I think we should examine their results more objectively. Pushing so many kids into college might be a disservice if they can make a lot more money in the trades given their skill set and aptitude. I'd rather have a strong black middle class bolstered by blue collar trades than a ton of underemployed black baristas carrying a 50k debt load after financing their English degrees.

When you looked at the employment figures for people that didn't go to college, what were those numbers looking like?

 

[No1]

I'll admit that I often lack scope. The least successful person among my friends earns 60k a year, and I just graduated college. My standard of a good job is higher than most people's. With that said, looking at unemployment figures among recent grads tells us that even people who have degrees from elite institutions are having trouble finding any job, and these aren't just schmucks who didn't network or have strong GPAs and internships.

I'm not trying to knock the mission of this school, but I think we should examine their results more objectively. Pushing so many kids into college might be a disservice if they can make a lot more money in the trades given their skill set and aptitude. I'd rather have a strong black middle class bolstered by blue collar trades than a ton of underemployed black baristas carrying a 50k debt load after financing their English degrees.

But admittedly, you know nothing about black people at the bottom and don't even associate with them. So it's clear that you lack perspective. Do you understand how remarkable an accomplishment this is given the nature of Chicago Public Schools and that city period? With that said, I'm going to assume that they got into all these schools with decent financial aid given their backgrounds. Those that went to the local schools got really cheap degrees, which is what most people should be doing if they have any intention on going to graduate school.

 

[TheBigBopper]

When you looked at the employment figures for people that didn't go to college, what were those numbers looking like?

Obviously the unemployment rate for college grads as a whole is lower than those who didn't graduate college. Older college grads had the benefit of a healthier economy and a degree that carried more value because college graduates were rarer.

1 in every 2 new grads is currently unemployed, and of those who are employed, almost half are in positions that don't even require a college degree.

In Weak Job Market, One In Two College Graduates Are Jobless Or Underemployed

About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of bachelor's degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years. In 2000, the share was at a low of 41 percent, before the dot-com bust erased job gains for college graduates in the telecommunications and IT fields.

Out of the 1.5 million who languished in the job market, about half were underemployed, an increase from the previous year.

Broken down by occupation, young college graduates were heavily represented in jobs that require a high school diploma or less.

In the last year, they were more likely to be employed as waiters, waitresses, bartenders and food-service helpers than as engineers, physicists, chemists and mathematicians combined (100,000 versus 90,000). There were more working in office-related jobs such as receptionist or payroll clerk than in all computer professional jobs (163,000 versus 100,000). More also were employed as cashiers, retail clerks and customer representatives than engineers (125,000 versus 80,000).

Even if unemployment is higher among non-college grads versus college grads in the same age bracket, at least the former group isn't liable for tens of thousands of dollars of debt.

I'm not trying to discourage people from pursuing higher education, but we should start including trade school as an option as well. The overall cost of education is lower and unless you major in something vocational, trade school offers a more direct path to a job.

 

[TheBigBopper]

But admittedly, you know nothing about black people at the bottom and don't even associate with them. So it's clear that you lack perspective. Do you understand how remarkable an accomplishment this is given the nature of Chicago Public Schools and that city period? With that said, I'm going to assume that they got into all these schools with decent financial aid given their backgrounds. Those that went to the local schools got really cheap degrees, which is what most people should be doing if they have any intention on going to graduate school.

I just think that gushing over kids who have gotten into any mediocre or in some cases poor school, is setting the bar too low. A lot of non-flagship state schools have admissions rates above 80%. You'd have to be brain dead to not get in. I'm not trying to sound like an elitist ass, but gaining acceptance into one of these places isn't a legitimate accomplishment. Let's celebrate when these kids graduate and get good jobs.

 

[Mook]

Okay, so maybe 8 people out of how many graduates of their program. And besides Howard (and perhaps Hampton) those other schools they listed that you didn't bold are very mediocre. In this economy, unless you're going into engineering or something else quantitative, it's not worth going to a school outside the top 20, especially if you're black.

ok but heres the thing, 100% of that class doesnt have to pay for p*ssy like your pathetic ass