Urban Prep Academy seeks Charter Renewal from CPS Board
Urban Prep Academy, president and CEO, Tim King, lobbied for the school’s charter renewal during a Chicago Public School’s (CPS) Board of Education meeting last week at CPS headquarters, 42 W. Madison Ave., as his students stood alongside of him.
“[Urban Prep Academies] provides an option for students in the communities across the city of Chicago,” said King. “It provides a beacon of hope for them; our college going culture and our focus on strong academics create an environment that leads to success for our students and I think that resonates with many parents and that is why they choose to send their sons to Urban Prep.”
Urban Prep Academies is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that operates a network of all-boys public schools including the country’s first charter high school for boys. According to Urban Prep’s website, for six consecutive years, 100% of its seniors from Urban Prep's Englewood, West and Bronzeville campuses have been accepted to four-year colleges and universities.
The Chicago Board of Education (CBOE) is responsible for the governance, organizational and financial oversight of Chicago Public Schools. The CBOE authorizes the opening, closing and reinstatement of charter schools within the district.
Charter school renewals are based on graduation rates, college enrollment rates, average ACT scores, average PSAE Composite scores and a field visit by CPS staff who rank the institutions using the School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP), where a Level 1+ as a high performing school and a Level 3 as an underperforming school.
This year, Urban Prep Bronzeville received a Level 1 ranking, Urban Prep Englewood received a Level 2 and Urban Prep West received a Level 2+. Based on those scores, CPS Chief of Innovation and Incubation Jack Elsey recommended to the CBOE that Urban Prep Bronzeville’s charter be renewed for five years and Urban Prep Academy Englewood and Urban Prep Academy West charters be renewed for three years each.
“For each of the Urban Prep Englewood and the Urban Prep West campuses we do have some concerns about their academic performance over the last few years so we are recommending shorter renewals of three years for each those campuses,” said Elsey.
In response to the rankings, King remarked, “During the renewal process Urban Prep’s three campuses met or exceeded all expectations related to the comprehensive evaluation teams’ review of their three campuses and we’re proud of that and we’re proud to keep moving forward,” said King. “We’re hopeful that the board will renew the charter so that we can continue to have the success that we’ve had thus far with the African American men we serve.”
Urban Prep Academies produced some of the finest students in the city this past school year.
Jesse Olalusi, a senior at Urban Prep Englewood, said at the CBOE meeting that Urban Prep prepared him academically for college and that his school counselors told him that he was going to attend a world renowned university. How right they were.
Olalusi was accepted to Cornell University where he plans to major in Applied Economics at the Dyson School of Business.
Olalusi is also a Gates Millennium Scholar. The Gates Millennium Scholarship Program promotes academic excellence and provides an opportunity for outstanding minority students with significant financial need to fulfill their academic goals.
The Chicago Board of Education is expected to make its charter decisions at its next monthly meeting.
To learn more about Urban Prep Academies visit http://www.urbanprep.org/.
To learn more about Chicago Public Schools visit http://cps.edu/Pages/home.aspx.
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