100% of Students in a Chicago Public School Are College-Bound

In a Chicago Tribune article published on March 5^th entitled, “Every Urban Prep senior is college-bound”, Duaa Eldeib reports that Chicago’s only public all-male, all-African-American high school, Englewood Academy, fulfilled its mission of having 100% of its first senior class accepted to four-year colleges. What makes this accomplishment even more incredible is the fact that only 4 percent of those same students read at grade level as freshmen in high school.

To promote student achievement in lieu of the ills of poverty, crime, and gang violence that surrounds the immediate neighborhood where Englewood Academy resides, the school provides extended school days hours, double the number of English credits than the rest of city of Chicago requires, and personal college counselors for each student from day one of school. With fewer than 10 students of the entering class expelled or listed as drop outs, 107 seniors at Englewood Academy gained acceptance to a total of 72 different colleges and universities.

Although college acceptance was the immediate goal for each student, school officials still want to make sure that students actually attend and eventually graduate from college. To help students through this transition, the staff made sure that every student completed his/her Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Moreover, school officials also hope to stay in touch with the college freshmen through the summer and into their first year of school.

While there is much to be celebrated in transforming this group of disadvantaged students into college-bound graduates, the question still remains as to whether these students will have the tools, both academically and financially, to graduate from college. I hope to revisit these students in four years and find out!