| Northside College Preparatory High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| 5501 N. Kedzie Avenue Chicago, Illinois, USA |
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| Information | |
| Type | Public (Selective Enrollment) Secondary |
| Established | 1999 |
| Oversight | Chicago Public Schools |
| Principal | Mr. Barry Rodgers |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Number of students | 1,100 (2010) |
| Color(s) | Maroon And Silver |
| Mascot | Mustang |
| Newspaper | 'The Hoof Beat' |
| Website | Northside College |
Northside College Preparatory High School (commonly referred to as Northside College Prep, Northside Prep, or simply Northside) is a Chicago Public-Selective Enrollment School. Founded in 1999, it was the first new Chicago Public High School to be built in 20 years. It is a selective enrollment school, teaching at the Honors and AP levels only (excluding the P.E. department). Northside quickly earned a reputation for academic excellence, and has been consistently ranked as the #1 public high school in Illinois by US News and many other publications.[1],[2] Since its inception, it has scored very high in the state on the Prairie State Achievement Exam scores, administered to juniors. In 2003, the school's Academic Decathlon ("acadec") team defeated Chicago's Whitney Young High School to take first place in the state; it was the first time in 18 years Whitney Young had not gone home with this title. It went on to win the United States Academic Decathlon (USAD) Division III National Championship.
The school's establishment, part of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's ongoing plan to reinvent the city's public school system, generated controversy in the city and in the education community. The facilities were built with a $52.5 million budget that critics said could have better served other schools in the city.
The student body comprises approximately 1,100 students. Given its extremely competitive academic environment, Northside successfully lobbied the Chicago Board of Education to eliminate class rankings. This effort was led by Dr. James Lalley.
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Northside College Prep is well known for the success of its students in the college admissions process, with over a quarter of the senior class gaining admission to the nation's top universities. Over 99% of the graduating senior class matriculate to college.
With the exception of physical education classes, all courses in Northside are either Honors or (AP) (Advanced Placement). Northside has 24 advanced placement classes.
Northside offers 6 foreign languages (Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Latin, and Spanish), more than any other Chicago Public School except Whitney Young Magnet High School and Lane Technical College Prep High School, which also have six languages to offer (most, if not all, languages offer levels I-IV and an AP class). All languages (except Latin) offer overseas Study Abroad and Exchange experiences; the Latin program is renowned for its success at national and state competitions, having won the past eight Illinois Junior Classical League conventions and numerous Illinois Certamen League championships.
Northside's math program is unique from most other high schools in that it uses the Interactive Mathematics Program, also known as IMP, instead of a traditional math track. IMP is very writing based, with students writing portfolios and projects instead of simply solving mathematical equations. IMP is extremely different from a regular mathematics program, and like everything, it has its advantages and disadvantages. Aside from four IMP courses, Northside also offers AP Statistics, AP Calculus BC, AP Calculus AB, and Multivariable Calculus.
Northside has college-like Block Scheduling: classes are 100 min. per block, 50 per half block (most students get half block of lunch, and half block of another class) but meet twice a week: Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Fridays; classes start at 7:55am, end at 3:14pm; in between each period, there is an 8 minute passing period, during which music (upon request) is (normally) played.
Wednesdays are reserved for a three-hour non-credit class on five-day weeks (except Consumer-Ed, in which credit given) called Colloquium. Dozens of colloquia are offered, with a wide range of interest such as motorcycle repair, computers, robotics, consumer-education, sewing, quilting, art, photography, paper craft, and Asian calligraphy, and each relates to one specific theme that changes every year. Classes are chosen by students twice a year (every semester, or otherwise it is year-long); availability is dependent on popularity and student's year ranking: seniors get first pick, then juniors, sophomores, and lastly freshmen; all of this is done online, through Sound programming, with student portals opening at 7 am for students to start registering; different dates for different year students. These are the only classes in which students either pass or fail. Colloquium clubs vary from year to year.
Northside recently implemented and utilizes online student programming, in which students access and select their schedules through internet programming for both classes and colloquium. Courses for the upcoming school year are programmed at the end of the first semester of the current school year.
Northside offers a wide variety of extracurricular clubs, including:
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