Chicago to expand rigorous academic program

Public high school students in Chicago will have a much better chance to get into a rigorous college prep program.

At a news conference on Friday at a school on the city’s South Side, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the number of schools with the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme will be nearly doubled.

He says adding 10 programs to the more than a dozen already in place will increase the number of participating students from about 3,500 to as many as 7,000.

The program was created in Europe for children of diplomats. It has been in Chicago since 1997, where 75 percent of participating students are African American or Latino and from low-income neighborhoods. A study found that participation increased the students’ chances of attending a four-year college.