Classroom Context
Back of the Yards College Preparatory High School is an International Baccalaureate (IB) High School on the southside of Chicago. It is located within the former Chicago Stockyards neighborhood made famous by Upton Sinclair’s exposé, The Jungle. The building is four years old and is the product of strong neighborhood activism combined with the desire of the school district to provide a safe and nurturing school for the students of this community. It has obtained a level 1+ rating by Chicago Public Schools, the highest possible school rating. Demographically, it is comprised of population that is 89.4% Hispanic, 5.7% Asian, 3.2 % Black, 1.5% White, and 0.2% listed as “other”. Other pertinent statistics are that the student body is 96.6% low income, 9.3% speak limited English, 8.6% of the students are diverse learners, and they have a 6.1% transitory or mobility rate.1
Students seeking enrollment must maintain a 24 on both the reading and math portion of the NWEA MAP assessment and maintain a minimum of a 2.5 GPA through their 7th grade year. Students with an IEP or who are ELL must receive a combined 48 on the reading and math portion of the NWEA MAP assessment and also maintain a 2.5 GPA through their 7th grade year.2
All students who have obtained admission are engaged in the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) and work to receive that diploma through grades 9 and 10. After that all students have the opportunity to apply to the Diploma Programme (DP) or the Career Programme (CP) offerings. The school also a variety of Advanced Placement (AP) courses in English, Social Science, Math, Language, and Science.
While the students have the opportunity to engage in a wide variety of IB class offerings, they also have access to art classes that provide them with multiple outlets for artistic expression ranging across pottery, graphic design, the visual arts, drama, and dance.
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