From what I can see, Urban Prep is trying very hard to raise the expectations of its students. In the kind of environment surrounding them, I think this is really great.
Quoting a Chicago Sun-Time article
http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/5061648-417/help-for-charter-schools.htmlHelp for charter schools
By ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter May 29, 2011 12:37AM
"Board members approved the renewal of Urban Prep-Englewood�s charter even though the school failed to meet its accountability targets, due to low test scores.
Only 17 percent of Urban Prep juniors passed their state exams last year, far lower than the district average of 29 percent. On the positive side, that beats the 8.4 percent passing rate in the neighborhood schools that Urban Prep kids would normally attend.
Chicago Public School officials said they were impressed by the intense college-going culture at Urban Prep, which has won headlines and personal kudos from Emanuel for garnering acceptances for every senior to four-year universities two years running. Its first graduating class included one senior who was accepted to prestigious Johns Hopkins, despite a 15 ACT score � well below the 18 often accepted at far less exclusive schools.
CPS officials noted that they put Urban Prep on a short leash by requiring it to come up with a plan to pull it out of what would normally be considered �academic probation� by the fall of 2012."
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Blogger Mike Klonsky writes this about Urban Prep:
http://michaelklonsky.blogspot.com/2010/03/winners-losers-in-race-to-top.html"The larger questions raised by Urban Prep's success have to to do with test scores, the cornerstone of Arne Duncan's school closing and turnaround policies under RTTT. Urban Prep's are nothing to write home about (I don't think test scores in general are anything to write home about, but that's me). According to the Sun-Times:
'The average ACT score of Urban Prep's all-black male student body -- 16.1 -- is below the Chicago Public Schools average of 17 but above the CPS black male average of 15.4. On state tests, Urban Prep kids fell below even the CPS black male average, with only 15.3 percent of juniors passing last year.'
It's interesting that the school's entire graduating class has been accepted to four-year universities even though only 12% of them met the college readiness benchmark in reading and only 36% met the benchmark in English on the ACT exam. And while UP's composite ACT score is a few (3) points higher than nearby high schools, it's important to remember that UP ISN'T a neighborhood school. It draws its students from 31 different zip-codes in the city."
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Sending lots of unqualified students to college is not something to boast about.
