Chicago’s Urban Prep Does it Again; Every Senior College Bound

This is certainly something that's worth celebrating. We need some good news about young black males doing big things because all too often we hear negative stories about them getting murdered or committing crimes. I just wish we could hear more stories about this:

*For the third consecutive year, every single senior at Urban Prep Academy, the only all-black, all-male charter high school in Chicago, has been accepted to college, school officials announced.

The academy also said that 83 percent of its first graduating class in 2010 has re-enrolled in a second year of college, a rebuttal to critics of the school who have charged that students aren’t always ready for college, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Critics have also suggested that Urban Prep squeezes out students with academic and discipline problems who other schools have to work with. Urban Prep officials acknowledge that this year’s senior class of 85 was almost twice that size when the boys started out as freshmen.

But Urban Prep CEO Tim King, in a meeting Thursday with the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board, vigorously denied that troubled students are forced out or encouraged to leave.

“We take the opposite view,” King said. “We devote time and energy to those students so that they understand they can do well and they can have success if they modify their behavior.”

And the $12K they spend on their own students is a lot more than the Chicago Public Schools do on their students. So far it we're getting notice that there is a return on this investment. Even at that for those who do go away to school they are at least keeping in touch with them to see how they're doing.

Now, if only the regular CPS schools are doing that for their seniors. While it's great to see this school have success, I really would like to see this same success noted at my old high school Harlan Community Academy (GO FALCONS!!!!)