An Overview of Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy Academic Center

Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy (also known as Brooks or Brooks AC) Academic Center is one of seven Academic Centers in Chicago. Located in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood, Brooks Academic Center resides in the city’s south side. Brooks seeks out high performing middle school students who are ready to take on a more intensive curriculum in preparation for high school. These students typically begin at Brooks as 7th graders and finish the AC program at the end of their 8th grade year.

Brooks AC takes a more personalized approach to their students learning; students are encouraged to utilize Brooks’ extensive academic resources in order to provide more than just an intensive Academic Center experience. By incorporating these resources into the students’ every day curriculum, students get a chance to learn at their own pace by receiving varying support and coaching dependent on the students’ learning abilities and needs. This goes beyond the conventional confines of a classroom by teaching the students to master content instead of focusing on completion and traditional participation. This reinforces the rigorous curriculum that Brooks is most well known for, but also allows for the students’ learning to be the first priority at Brooks AC.

Students are also invited to participate in select extracurriculars at Brooks Academic Center. These can range from selected sports, Math Team, ComEd STEM Club, and more. Students are also offered a variety of tutoring and support services to ensure that their transition into high school curriculum is as smooth as possible. These include resources such as an After School and Lunchtime Tutoring program, a mentoring program, and an in-class Learning Assistant program. These programs and more are all to ensure the academic success of all the students in the AC program. 

To find more information about Gwendolyn Brooks Preparatory Academy Academic Center, visit Brooks’s website: http://brookscollegeprep.org/academic-center.

Written by former Tutoring Coordinator, Ramisha Ejaz

For more information about Test Prep Chicago contact:

Lauren Lynch, Tutoring Coordinator

lauren@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266

An Overview of Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy

A selective enrollment high school located in Chicago’s far south side community of Roseland, Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy (also known as Brooks) first opened in 1998. It is named in honor of the famous African American poet, former U.S. Poet Laureate, and former resident of Chicago’s south side, Gwendolyn Brooks. Brooks is ranked as the 8th best public school in the state of Illinois and 186th in the nation. Their total enrollment is 859 with a student to teacher ratio of 22:1. Of their total enrollment, 99% of students are people of color and 74% of students receive free or reduced-price lunch. Brooks’s graduation rate is 99%.

Classes offered at Brooks include a wide range of standard and specialized classes in all subjects. In math, science, and technology students can take more specialized classes such as IT, AB or BC calculus, engineering design, inquiry science, and robotics. In English and social studies students can choose to take African American literature, film study, microeconomics, psychology, modern world, entrepreneurship, and law. Languages offered include French, Spanish, and American Sign Language. Fine arts offered encompass visual art (sculpture, graphic design, and photography) and performing arts (choir, band, and orchestra). For health and PE, students can take sports-based classes as well as aquatics, or a more standard style of PE.  Most uniquely, Brooks has seminar courses for “adulting,” gardening, poetry, food and culture, and more.

If a student is interested in athletics, they can choose from a wide range including but not limited to football, cheerleading, baseball, bowling, soccer, swimming, water polo, volleyball, and track and field. Outside of the school itself, Brooks also provides students who are interested with “enrichment opportunities.” These are “life-changing, career-inspiring opportunities” that take place during the summer or after school. Fields incorporated in the program are agriculture and urban gardening, computer science, entrepreneurship, law and law enforcement, leadership, media arts, medicine and medical sciences, STEM, and volunteerism.

For more information about Brooks’s courses, athletics, or enrichment opportunities, visit their website at http://www.brookscollegeprep.org/.

Lauren Lynch, Tutoring Coordinator
lauren@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266