The 74 made this video about Juan Salgado, the 2015 MacArthur genius award winner who has launched two charter schools in Chicago through an organization called Instituto Del Progresso Latino. Since 2001, the organization has helped adults in low-income Latino communities develop their skills. In 2010 the organization launched its first charter high school.
As Heather Martino of the 74 explains, that high school, Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy
is unique in that students take twice as many math and science credits as required at traditional public schools, and commit to both an extended school day and summer classes which facilitate a 32-credit curriculum. Behind most of the structure here is a deliberate strategy: Keep the kids off the streets, while actively encouraging them to explore careers in healthcare, “a growing industry where there are a lot of job opportunities,” Salgado says, and “very few Latinos going into those occupations.”
—Education Next
