All-Boys Charter Sending Whole Class to College

All-boys school succeeding in tough Chicago neighborhood

By Amanda Paulson, The Christian Science Monitor

In Chicago, the graduation rate for African-American boys is about 40 percent, and only about half of all students are accepted to some form of college. The chances of young black men going to college—particularly young men from the poorest neighborhoods—are not good.

But the Urban Prep charter school , located in the city’s tough Englewood neighborhood, has produced a very different statistic. In March, the school, which is made up of young African-American men, announced that all 107 students in its first graduating class have been accepted to four-year colleges. Just 4 percent of those seniors were reading at grade level as freshmen.

It’s a remarkable achievement for any urban high school, but especially one with a population some people are inclined to write off. It has educators examining what aspects of the school are responsible—and...