Chicago Public Schools announced that following extensive annual reviews of charter school performance and new school applications, the district will recommend the closure of two poor performing charter schools — Kwame Nkrumah and Urban Prep West — and the denial of all three proposals submitted to the district for new charter schools. Following performance reviews conducted in accordance with the Charter School Quality Policy, CPS is recommending the Board of Education close Urban Prep West and Kwame Nkrumah via charter revocation and non-renewal, respectively.
• Kwame Nkrumah Charter School: CPS is recommending the non-renewal of Kwame Nkrumah, a Level 3 school for the past two years, due to its failure to be removed from the academic warning list, failure to successfully implement a mandatory remediation plan, and financial and operational concerns. Additionally, the district’s site visits suggest that the school lacks the capacity to provide students a high quality education, and higher quality school options exist for students in the community.
• Urban Prep West Charter School: Urban Prep West’s charter is being recommended for revocation due to the school’s failure to meet its contractual condition to successfully implement a remediation plan and improve enough to be removed from the academic warning list. Additionally, CPS has identified financial concerns with the school, and during a recent site visit the school did not demonstrate a capacity to deliver a high quality education to students. The district is recommending the school for revocation because the school has failed to provide students the high quality education they deserve and higher quality school options exist for schools in the community.
If approved by the Board, CPS will work with families of current Urban Prep West and Kwame Nkrumah students to develop transition plans that provides every student with access to a better school option next year. For additional information on all of the proposals submitted to the district through the 2018 New Schools RFP, please visit www.cps.edu/2018rfp.
