Urban Prep Academy - a PUBLIC SCHOOL - sends entire senior class to college!

[Ben Lahnger]

I first heard about Urban Prep Academy, a PUBLIC charter school in the suburbs of Chicago, IL by watching the ABC World News broadcast from the evening of Friday, March 12, 2010. On that broadcast, I learned the news crew had selected the staff and first graduating class of seniors at this school as their "Person of the Week." The reasons why became clear when I found out that the entire class of graduating seniors, 107 young men, were all holding letters of acceptance from a four-year college. This would be a remarkable accomplishment for any school, but it stands out because of where this school is and who these young men are.

I found a local news station's report on this graduating class on Youtube. Here's the text info introducing the clip:

Urban Prep Charter School is the country's first all-boys public charter high school. Located in Englewood, Illinois, the school is graduating its first class of seniors. Every one of them has been accepted into a four-year college or university---four years ago, many of them were not reading at grade level. Mayor Daley and other dignitaries joined them Friday to celebrate the milestone

The video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4R-k2VqXcw

Obviously, there is something special going on here. Only 4 percent of this class could read at grade level when the school was founded. The students are from one of the toughest neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago. Only 1 in 40 African-American men graduate from college in the United States. But this school said they believed that all of their young men could do so, and they've proved it.



This is not a school for the gifted. Students are chosen at random, by lottery, from the general populace. This is not the neighborhood where excellence is expected. Poverty, gangs, drugs, crime, low graduation rates, teen pregnancy — you name it, Englewood has it. This is not the place for high expectations. Just ask Tim King, the school's founder and CEO. “There were those who told me that you can’t defy the data,” King said. “Black boys are killed. Black boys drop out of high school. Black boys go to jail. Black boys don’t go to college. Black boys don’t graduate from college."

“They were wrong,” he said.

(quote from this Chicago Tribune article: http://www.urbanprep.org/media/Tribune_Mar2010.pdf)

On Friday, March 5, 2010, the 107 young men in the graduating class of Urban Prep proved just how wrong they were.

Every student at UPA is given a wristwatch when they first are enrolled. That wristwatch represents a commitment from the student to a "no excuses" philosophy at the school. Having a wristwatch means you always know what time it is, so you know when you are supposed to be in school. And this is important for another reason; students at Urban Prep have longer school hours, typically attending classes from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day. This results in each student having 70,000 more minutes in class than students in other schools over the course of 4 years - a tremendous commitment on the part of both students and teachers. "They are in a double period of English each and every day," King said. "Four years of math, four years of science, four years of social studies, three years of foreign languages."

(quote from this ABC News article: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/tim-king-st...ry?id=10088324)

The school is all-male to avoid distractions for the students. They have a strict Creed they follow, a no-excuses compact that says the staff and teachers believe they can go to college and insist the young men believe so too.

(You can read the full details of the Creed at the school's website: http://www.urbanprep.org/about/creed.asp)

The young men at the academy wear suit jackets and ties as signs of respect.

"It distinguishes us. We stand out in the crowd," said student Jerry Hinds. "Freshman year, maybe, people had problems with it at first. But after a while, you see the bigger picture. ... These uniforms show that, oh, he's wearing a tie; oh, he wants to do something with himself." (quoted from that same ABC News article)

The uniform they start off with includes a red tie. But as each student gets his letter of acceptance from college, it gets swapped out for a red and gold striped tie, which they wear with pride. The picture below tells the story:




Congratulations to the 107 men of the 2010 graduating class of Urban Prep Academy, and to the staff and supporters who believed. You have my admiration and respect!

[Entropic]

This reminds me of the KIPP schools I read of in the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I just wish that these types of schools were actual public schools, and not charter schools. Especially when people use the success of public charter schools to argue that all public schools should be abolished in favor of a "free market" system of education.

That being said, my deepest congratulations go out to these guys.

[Ben Lahnger]

Well, this type of public/private partnership charter school is what is required to reform the public schools. Without outside impetus, there is nothing that is going to force public schools to change.

[Entropic]

I don't disagree at all.

My main fear is that they'll focus less on the methodology that was used to teach kids, and more on the fact that it was a charter school, when judging the school's success.

[Ben Lahnger]

When they focus on the methodology, they'll find that what worked were practices that are disallowed by government oversight, pointless legal wrangling and regulation, and the constant resistance of teacher's unions. If you can figure out a way to get a public school to adopt UPA's methodology without encountering resistance from those quarters, please do so.

[Entropic]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

When they focus on the methodology, they'll find that what worked were practices that are disallowed by government oversight, pointless legal wrangling and regulation, and the constant resistance of teacher's unions. If you can figure out a way to get a public school to adopt UPA's methodology without encountering resistance from those quarters, please do so.

What practices are disallowed by government oversight?

The main differences that separates UPA and KIPP schools from public schools is the amount of time students spend in class and the accountability that is demanded of them. While I can imagine some resistance by teachers for having to work longer hours, I can't imagine that they're so unilaterally against it, that it can't be implemented.

Your claim about "When they focus on the methodology" is unfounded. Especially when you consider that the principles UPA were founded on, were based on government established schools in Britian, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan. That means that the methodology has worked irregardless of government oversight.

[Ben Lahnger]

Because government oversight means politics and school boards.

That kind of oversight leads to things like the Texas Board of Education approving a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks. They're worried about the content of the text books instead of focusing on the fact that the U.S. Department of Education puts the Texas graduation rate at 71.9 percent — ranking the state 36th nationally. Another estimate, using a formula called the Cumulative Promotion Index, indicates only 64.5 percent graduate in four years. And nobody on the Texas Board of Education is suggesting they are changing the curriculum in response to these statistics.

I can't imagine the intransigent demagogues on the Texas Board of Education approving the curriculum that is being used in UPA now. That's just one example. You can look around the country and see others easily enough.

[Entropic]

While I understand your point, just because one state board of education made a poor decision does not mean all state boards of education will make poor decisions. In fact, if the new education standards are put in to place (link), I am willing to bet that those kind of poor decisions will become less frequent.

However, this is all besides the point: The methodology UPA uses works irregardless of whether it's a public school or a charter school, which is what I've been getting at all along. Having poor boards of education is a statement on the quality of the American political system, not that the methodology wouldn't work in public schools.

[Ben Lahnger]

If that's true, show me one public school that is getting the job done. Show me one public school that puts 100% of it's graduating seniors through to college. Why aren't they adapting this methodology already, since as you stated it's nothing new.

Instead of being afraid people will try to privatize public schools, show me a public school that doesn't need to be fixed or a public school that is willing to make the necessary changes.

[Ben Lahnger]

Oh, and those nationalized standards? Not the first time I've heard that. And I have less faith that it's going to work this time.

[Entropic]

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

If that's true, show me one public school that is getting the job done. Show me one public school that puts 100% of it's graduating seniors through to college. Why aren't they adapting this methodology already, since as you stated it's nothing new.

I can't show you individual school public American schools. However, I can show you public school systems that are getting the job done: Finland[1]. Finnish schools use very similar methods of teaching to UPA and KIPP. New Zealand[2], Australian [3], and South Korean [4] also use very similar methods. I can probably dig up more citations if you'd like, but that'll take more time.

I have no idea why more American schools aren't adopting the methodology. My guess is this: They're working within an outdated education architecture, they don't have enough money, and there isn't enough knowledge about the system spread amoung the school boards and PTAs. Again, this doesn't negate the fact that KIPP/UPA style public schools have worked abroad to high success, and that charter schools aren't the reason why these systems succeed.

Instead of being afraid people will try to privatize public schools, show me a public school that doesn't need to be fixed or a public school that is willing to make the necessary changes.

The reason I'm not showing you public schools that don't need to be fixed, is because they don't exist. Neither do private schools that don't need to be fixed.

The entire problem lies in this statement: "puts 100% of it's graduating seniors through to college". Charter schools can selectively weed out who graduates so that they have 100%; public schools don't have that luxury. The reason I'm afraid that people will try to privatize public schools, is that they'll ignore how selective charter schools are when they advertise these kind of deceptive rates.

By the way, what exactly am I supposed to use to show you a public school that is willing to make the necessary changes? The national database of willingness to change?

Originally Posted by Ben Lahnger

Oh, and those nationalized standards? Not the first time I've heard that. And I have less faith that it's going to work this time.

Hold on here. As soon as I show you a system where public schools are willing to change, you say you have little faith that they will work. However, your previous criticism was that I needed to show you a public school willing to change.

[Ben Lahnger]

Well, you haven't shown me what I asked for and you reasonably explained why you couldn't. And I accept that point. I'm with you that it's puzzling that such methodology can be implemented in other countries but not here.

The attempt to pass national standards is not the same thing, and I correctly pointed out that it had been talked about before and nothing came of it. That isn't a conflicting point and you know it. And then I stated my doubt that the national standards were going to be implemented this time (also not a conflict) - I believe this will not happen because of the decisively polarized nature of the political landscape in this country at this time. That doesn't have anything to do with any individual school.

I also don't understand your aversion to charter schools. In the US currently 1 in 40 black men goes to college. I don't care how much weeding you do ... for a school in the badass neighborhood of Englewood to put through 107 black men to college, they had to cultvate some weeds. I think your misgivings on that front are ill founded.

[Entropic]

My aversion to charter schools isn't an aversion to charter schools by themselves. The aversion comes from the systematic use of charter schools as an example of why we don't need a public education system. Given the American right's propensity to jump on the free market like a fat kid on truffles, a successful charter school is very bittersweet.

Politicians attribute the success of private schools as the success of the free market. We saw the consequence of this in Chile, which hasn't done well in TIMSS scores (PDF) despite the prominence of charter schools in it's system. Here is a really good article on the subject (excuse the fact that it's from CSM).

Keep in mind that I do congratulate UPA on what they accomplished. The worry is about what this means for the future of the education system. 107 students in college now is not worth the replacement of a good portion of the education system by charter schools.

Even if the national standards don't succeed, they're still an indication of an interest in improving the system. That would seemingly satisfy your requirement of demonstrating a school's (or in this case the entire school system's) willingness to change.

[PortraitOfSanity]

Yea, it's a great case for charter schools, if said charter schools all have almost unlimited funding like UPA had.

[Ben Lahnger]

*sigh* UPA got some additional private funding. It isn't just a matter of money, and I particularly reject the notion that the only thing wrong with public schools is that we're not throwing enough money at them. Entropic was careful not to make that claim for good reason. There are some private schools producing good results on less money than some public schools.

The status quo in American public schools isn't going to cut it. I don't see the nationwide standards discussion as a serious attempt to make real, necessary change to the public schools, it's just a political move that makes it look like people want to do something but nothing will come of it. I say that wishing that it would pass in a form that will be accepted by all 50 states and still have some teeth in it, but I just think the current political climate makes that unlikely. I don't have an answer, but I know that the number of big, nationwide government programs that are efficient and effective can be counted on one hand.

I like what UPA accomplished, I like what other private and public charter schools have done. I think that model can be replicated over and over again. It doesn't have to be restrictive or exclusive, and it doesn't have to be prohibitively expensive. If people can reform the public schools to perform in this way (and I'm not asking for 100% to college, let's just get a higher percentage to graduate from high school with 12th grade skills, please) I'd be happy.

I'm just skeptical that an infrastructure that gets it's funding from the government and is an entrenched bureaucracy can undergo that kind of transformation.

[PortraitOfSanity]

Well, you're pretty delusional if you think spending money makes no difference. UPA spent around 15,000 per year per student. Public schools in that neighborhood spend about 1/3 of that. "Throwing money at the problem" is not the be all, end all solution, I agree. But comparing those numbers, puts things in perspective, if nothing else. You cannot use UPA's success as a universal solution.