September 23, 2009

Englewood is one of Chicago’s roughest neighborhoods. It’s also home to a small high school called Urban Prep. Tyler Beck, now a senior at the school, discussed his goals last spring.

“Socio-anthropology, psychology, that’s what I want to go into. Then, come back here to Urban Prep,” he says, “I would like to teach and be an example: I went to Urban Prep and now I’m coming back to give.”

Tyler is well-dressed. He wears a blue blazer, a pressed oxford shirt and a red tie. But he doesn’t stand out. He wears the standard uniform at Urban Prep Academy for Young Men, a public high school that enrolls more than 300 teenage boys, almost all of whom are black and from low-income households.

Urban Prep is a new kind of school — a charter school — and its goal is simple: Send every student to college. Fewer than half of Chicago’s male public school students graduate from high school.

But at Urban Prep, “Our students know that they are going to college. They really feel confident about that,” says Kenneth Hutchinson, an Englewood native and administrator at the school. 
Any student in the city can attend Urban Prep, regardless of his academic past — as long as there is space, that is. Charter schools like Urban Prep often have long waiting lists.

Discipline, manners and studiousness are enforced strongly at Urban Prep. It’s a “no excuses” environment where many of the teachers are the first strong male models their students have ever had.

The idea of single-sex classes is becoming increasingly attractive to educators and parents desperate to reverse a trend in which low-income, minority students — especially boys — routinely drop out of high school. The idea is gaining traction in Chicago; Urban Prep has been approved to open two more all-boys high schools in Chicago over the next two years. Urban Prep’s model is one that should be spread across Illinois.

It’s already gaining momentum in Rockford, where district administrator Patrick Hardy has developed a school concept called Sigma Beta Leadership Charter School — a school where boys and eventually girls would attend rigorous single-sex academies.

As a young man, Hardy was what some would call a “troubled youth.” Three pivotal male role models changed that and convinced him to shape up. He went on to earn a graduate degree from Harvard and has since worked in Rockford’s beleaguered city schools.

In 2008, tired of dismal nightly news reports of violence and police arrests, he resolved to design a school where young men could learn the skills of leadership and, like students at Urban Prep, see their teachers as role models. Expectations would be high; these students would be prepared to be successful college students. The culture of the school would focus on leadership, hoping one day that each student would go on to be a role model in the workplace, in his community or perhaps even in the classroom. Hardy is hoping that the Rockford School Board will approve his school to open.

Springfield should consider opening such a school as well. A 2008 report from Mayor Tim Davlin’s office suggested that Springfield’s black high school graduation rate might be as low as 40 percent. This is economically unsustainable and culturally devastating.

District officials have stated a willingness to consider the concept of single-sex schools. Could Springfield become home to a high-expectations high school like Urban Prep? Early returns suggest yes. Compared to neighborhood public schools, Urban Prep has boosted daily attendance rates by 40 percent and appears on track to cut the dropout rate by at least half.

Urban Prep and Sigma Beta are concepts for charter schools — a model where public schools are operated by independent community groups and given the freedom to innovate. No two charter schools are alike. The charter school approach has been wildly successful in Springfield with Ball Charter School, a school that focuses on reading and developing an individual learning plan for each student.

Let’s use the charter approach to open a unique high school in Springfield — one that focuses on taking in the toughest kids to educate and preparing them for success in college and beyond.

Collin Hitt is Director of Education Policy at the Illinois Policy Institute. His e-mail address is collin@illinoispolicy.org. Interviews above were conducted by Institute staff.