The Southland College Preparatory Charter High School (SCPHS; also known as Southland College Prep, Southland College Prep High School, or simply Southland) is a College Preparatory Charter High School in Richton Park, Illinois. The school serves the communities of Richton Park, Country Club Hills, Matteson, Olympia Fields, and Park Forest.
Southland College Preparatory Charter High School was formed in 2010 by Dr. Blondean Y. Davis as an alternative for students of Rich Township High School District 227. Beginning with fewer than 125 students, the school has its origins in O.W. Huth Middle School. By April 2011, the freshman inaugural class had moved into the newly renovated school and district office. Previously a Prudential Insurance calling center, the purchase and renovation of the building totaled more than $10 million.
Southland College Prep competes in Illinois High School Association (IHSA) competitions. The school has a Speech team, which has placed at state finals, and a Dramatic Duet Acting championship in 2013. The speech team also went on to place first at the IHSA state tournament in 2017 and 2018. The Southland band program has amassed four IHSA Division I Superior Performance titles. In 2014, Southland was in the IHSA Individual Boys Bowling Final competition. In 2017, the Speech team won state in Group Interpretation for their performance of the movie Hidden Figures.
Now in its twelfth year, Southland has grown to serve 573 students and has demonstrated remarkable success. Most notably, 100% of the first ten graduating classes were accepted to college. Together the students in the seven graduating classes were offered more than $300 million in merit-based scholarships. Southland students have been accepted to all 50 of the U.S. News & World Report’s Top 50 Colleges, including all eight of the Ivy League institutions.
Dr. Blondean Y. Davis, Illinois Association of School Administrators Superintendent of the Year 2008, is recognized for her vision, leadership, and reform of education. She believes that the future of urban education depends on quality leadership that requires dedication, cooperation, and acceptance of new levels of responsibility by administrators, principals, faculties, parents, students, and community leaders to produce a true learning community.
The former Chief of Schools and Regions of Chicago Public Schools, Dr. Davis joined Matteson School District 162 as Superintendent in 2002. At the time, only 55 percent of the district’s students met or exceeded the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) proficiency goals. With the implementation of a more rigorous curriculum and instructional program, the state exam scores increased by almost 50 percent.
In 2010, at the request of parents and community leaders and in the belief that the area’s students needed a choice and hope for their future, Dr. Davis spearheaded the launch of Southland College Prep Charter High School. The success of the school is demonstrated in the results, notably that 75% of the students at Southland College Prep participate in the arts and 100% of our three graduating classes have been accepted to four-year higher education institutions.
Recent research published in npj Science of Learning found that students aged 14-16 who participated in at least two semester-length arts workshops achieved higher grades in language arts and math, along with overall improvements in GPA. In addition, these students were more likely to engage in cultural activities outside of the classroom, indicating that their arts enrichment extended beyond the classroom.
One of the clubs focused explicitly on the mentoring and development of young black men at Southland College Prep is the Kappa League. Founded in 1969 at Alain LeRoy Locke High School in Los Angeles. The Kappa League was adopted nationally by Kappa Alpha Psi, Fraternity Inc. in 1970 and has grown to be the country’s most prominent mentoring program for male youth. The Kappa League is a program for the educational, occupational, and social guidance of male students in grades 6th-12th. It was designed to help young men in high school grow and develop their leadership talents in every phase of human development.
What students are saying about Southland College Prep:
“Throughout my years attending Southland College Preparatory Charter High School, I’ve advanced in immense self-discovery, identity, and talent that prepares me for real-world and outside experience. Through my rigorous academic, athletic, musical, and artistic preparation, I wholeheartedly believe I chose to attend this high school. With the help of my teachers and peers, I am proud to say that I have never fallen short of any goal I have set for myself. With my school’s boastful %100 college acceptance rate, I am optimistic about my success in any college environment! Southland College Prep has made an excellent combination of academic and artistic success with its many diverse clubs and activities, creating a class of 155 well-rounded seniors ready and willing to work hard to achieve their most significant success.” Senior Class of 2025.
I spoke with Dr. Corey Levy, Principal/Director of Operations, about why Southland College Prep Charter High School is such a successful model.
Southland College Prep has been consistently successful in terms of graduation and college acceptance rates. What, in your opinion, is the secret sauce for success?
Having a community committed to our mission and believing that the mission can be accomplished. Everything begins with BELIEF. Our teachers believe in the students, our parents believe in the students, the students believe in each other, and the students believe in themselves. Once belief turns into reality then winning becomes the norm, a community does not expect anything less. There was a time when people questioned if every student could make it to college. There was a time when people questioned if Southland students could be accepted to Stanford and Harvard. Now, Southland EXPECTS it. Finally, that belief is backed up with HARD WORK. Reality = Dream + Execution. That is our motto at Southland.
Through the Kappa League, you provide young black men with a year-long experiential learning opportunity. How have you seen the program make a difference in the lives of these young men?
Kappa League helps forge bonds between young African American boys, something that historically has been difficult to cultivate in our destabilized communities, primarily through the historical trajectory that has problematized the agency of bringing black men together in the name of empowerment. Traditionally, young men have had to wait until college to develop lifelong bonds with men outside of athletics through service organizations, but Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, and other black fraternal organizations have established junior organizations to simulate and expose the youth to the wonderful world of brotherhood and service to the greater good. Best of all, Kappa League pairs young men with older men, providing the revolutionary mentorship which is the key to community empowerment and revitalization. Kappa League members support each other, hold each other up, and cheer each other on in ways that are difficult to find anywhere else. The Kappa League has helped students without friends find brothers, students without good habits develop stronger ones, and students with poor grades discover improved grades thanks to renewed self-confidence and heightened self-pride.
What can other charter high schools learn from what you do at Southland College Prep?
As much as we know Southland is a special place, there is nothing happening in Southland that cannot happen anywhere else. We encourage people to come to observe and replicate our practices. But it is more than the programs and the innovation. It is all fueled by belief and hard work. Do not begin until people surround you ready to believe. Then, achieve small, early successes–celebrate them and build on them. That is the Southland way.
What does school culture look like, that is this rooted in the arts?
There are many models. At Southland, all students must join an arts track (art, chorus, band, Forensics/Debate, dance, strings, mock trial). This provides an opportunity for them, no matter what their skill levels, to nurture an interest. At Southland, students meet daily for their Fine Arts course, which is no different than their math course. This provides the minutes. After-school programs are strongly recommended but not required. At Southland, the percentage of afterschool involvement is extremely high, a direct byproduct of this model. This keeps our children safe, engaged, and developing executive function. Together, this model develops a passion for fine arts, unlocks their talents, teaches them time management, and forges the bond between students in the same pathway.
Are there richer advisory systems?
The Advisory-based model is a great approach to developing a support system for students, involving teachers in that process. Southland is unable to have a dedicated advisory model due to schedule restrictions, but our counselors develop advisory models for students by providing mentoring systems for students with peer mentoring and staff mentoring.
Can you talk a little more about culturally responsive teaching?
Culturally responsive teaching is a process that requires self-reflection and a commitment to valuing and incorporating the diverse cultural backgrounds of all students. In Southland, we adapt knowledge about student cultural background through the curriculum. In English and history courses, readings not only focus on African American content but also evaluate scholarship through an African American lens of experience. The state-winning and nationally competing speech and forensics teams have won state championships focusing on culturally rich topics, including performances like Sarafina, original scripts about the Birmingham Church Bomb and other culture-reach works and topics. The counseling team founded Girl Power, a girls empowerment group that allows students to have peer-driven space and discuss issues impacting girls and can engage each other through their cultural lens. Collectively, this creates an environment that seems responsive to students’ unique cultural backgrounds, and they feel valued and empowered to succeed.
How is art interdisciplinary?
While Southland has not done a great deal in this area, integrating art with history, language arts, science, and mathematics has rich possibilities. Students can combine creative writing with visual art (graphic narratives, digital media, animated/illustrated short stories). Students could investigate the science of color and light in science classes to understand optics and the laws of physics. Critical commentary on history through a visual lens is a dynamic measure of a student’s grasp of historical moments and societal issues.
In my book, The Booker T. Blueprint: Experiential Learning in the Jim Crow South, I provide more information about the Rosenwald Schools which started the Charter School movement for the black community. Southland College Prep is an example of a school that has total community buy in and engagement. Southland College Prep is making Black History!
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Southland College Prep excels in arts, academics, and mentorship, fostering a 100% college acceptance rate and nurturing community belief.
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