Chicago’s Noble Network of Charter Schools announced this week that more than 2,400 seniors from its charter public high schools are heading to college with nearly half a billion dollars in scholarship offers.
“This is our largest graduating class and our highest total of scholarship offers ever, so the number speaks volumes,” said Constance Jones, CEO of Noble. “I am so very proud of these young adults who are graduating, the successes our teachers and staff have fostered, and the support our entire network has provided while serving our students.”
Noble seniors received more than 14,000 college acceptances and plan to attend 194 colleges nationwide, including the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, big ten universities and historically black colleges and universities.
Ninety nine percent of Noble’s graduates have been accepted to college, thanks in part to an algorithm developed by chief college officer Matt Niksch. The algorithm, commonly referred to as “The College Bot,” analyzes college admissions’ data alongside a student’s individual academic performance to churn out a list of high-performing schools students are likely to be admitted to. The algorithm then ranks each school on graduation rate.
“At Noble we believe that college acceptance is only the first portion of the equation; we invest a great deal of time in matching students to colleges with the intent of creating the best opportunities for college completion,” said Niksch. “Our data-driven counseling prioritizes the schools which are the best for students, plus our software prioritizes schools with higher six-year graduation rates increasing our students’ chances of success.”
Most Noble seniors will enroll in college while others plan to immediately enter the workforce.