In a city where only six of every 100 public high school freshmen will receive a bachelor’s degree by the age of 25, James Troupis, founding principal of Chicago’s two year-old Gary Comer College Prep high school has set a lofty goal. He wants 100% of his South Side students accepted into college, and graduating four years later. The biggest challenge has been convincing parents that he means what he says. “We weren’t making false promises about behavior, safety or academics,” says Troupis. “A lot of people come into communities and don’t keep their word.” To honor his “get to college” promise, Troupis focuses on recruiting top teaching talent to Comer. He’s accepted only 7% of applicants for teaching positions, and he’s managed to retain every member of his staff. Troupis meets with and observes teachers daily, and demands at least a four-year commitment in order to see each freshmen class through to college. He also holds himself to the same standards for excellence and accountability that he asks of others. When the doors of Comer open at 6:30 a.m., Troupis is there every morning to greet each student and staff member.
The 300 freshman and sophomores are 97% African-American and are in single-gender advisory groups that they meet with daily. Advisors check in on academic and social progress and serve as the primary family contact throughout each student’s four-year experience. Students at Comer also have a longer school day, complete community service hours, and take annual physical fitness tests. The academic results have been impressive. Students who entered the school two years ago with a third-grade reading level and a fifth-grade math ability are already academically outscoring juniors and seniors from other area high schools on the ACT. Parents have bought into the rigor, as well– only three parents were absent from the last grading period’s report-card conference meetings.
Troupis didn’t always see himself as a teacher. He majored in film at Northwestern, and entertained visions of a career in Hollywood. But while at school, he met a Teach For America recruiter, and soon found himself in a New Orleans classroom of fifth graders. In this 8th Ward school he began to form the teaching philosophy that would guide his career: investing heavily in parents and community members, enforcing high academic and behavior expectations, and working tireless hours.
After his New Orleans years, and two more as a Teach For America administrator in Los Angeles, Troupis joined Chicago’s Noble Street Network of charter high schools. There, he says, he encountered what most high schools in low-income areas lack–exceptional teaching. Troupis shares the Noble philosophy that setting high expectations and working to provide a world-class education will lead to positive multi-generational change for students’ families and the community as a whole.
For all the successes of Gary Comer College Prep, Troupis refuses to get caught up in the public school vs. charter school debate. “At the end of the day it’s not about policy, this is about kids,” he says. “If we make decisions to get kids into college, that’s all I care about. There are so many schools not preparing kids for college in this city. We don’t need to be another one of them.”
