Making College Enrollment a Reality for CICS Students

My name is Natalie Neris and I am the Chief of Academic Accountability at Chicago International Charter School, and a former Chicago Public School teacher. At CICS, college enrollment is our top priority, and I am proud to work with our team on making sure that students have what they need to move on to college.

According to a recent study by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, charter school graduates were 20 percent likelier to enroll in college than their district peers. At CICS, we work to provide college preparatory education through innovation and choice. As of September 2015, 95 percent of CICS graduates were accepted to college. We attribute this to the personalized approach to college enrollment taken at CICS, one where everyone – teachers, staff, parents, and students – have a unique role to play.

Like many of the students I work with at CICS, I was born into a family of teenage parents living in Chicago. My parents worked hard, and expected that the educational institutions in our city would provide their children with the opportunities they deserved. Unfortunately, they were consistently let down by public schools in our community.

I bring this perspective to work with me every day at CICS – and I’m proud to play a part in offering better public school options to families that need them. The bar is set high for our students, and there is a constant reminder that they can achieve their dreams no matter where they come from.

Written by Natalie Neris