UrbanPromise

UrbanPromise Academy

UrbanPromise Academy is a private, Christian high school that fulfills the needs of students who have not met their academic potential in traditional school settings and often enter two to three grade levels below national standards.

Founded in 1997, the Academy offers Camden youth a unique schooling opportunity with a low teacher to student ratio, a family-style learning environment, an emphasis on community service, and experiential and expeditionary learning. UrbanPromise Academy currently boasts a 100% graduation rate sees 90% of graduates enter college. Extracurricular opportunities include the school’s Elite Cycling Team, UrbanTrekkers, Urban BoatWorks, and Students In Action (SIA).
 

Despite living in a city where nearly 50% of high school students drop out, 100% of UrbanPromise Academy seniors graduate each year.

Low teacher-to-student ratios are key to Academy students' success. Research demonstrates that among students with a low probability of attending college, small class sizes increase college attendance by more than 5 percentage points.

Experiential and expeditionary learning supplement classroom material at UrbanPromise Academy. Around 25% of student learning occurs outside the classroom.

Learning in Community

Though only 16 years old, Faith is already attending a weekly college-level, lecture-style class. But she isn’t enrolled in a college or university just yet. Her lecture—entitled Learning Community—is part of UrbanPromise Academy’s innovative approach to secondary education and college preparation.

Each week, teachers, faculty, and guest speakers lead a 90-minute lecture during which Faith and her classmates are expected to take notes, ask and answer questions, and participate in small group projects. Students also lead lectures and presentations related to Learning Community material in front of the entire student body.

Increased confidence, improved oral presentation skills, and the ability to collaborate and work in teams are just a few examples of how students have developed and matured through Learning Community.

For Faith, these skills were of utmost importance last year when the sophomore represented her school in a National Moot Court competition in Washington, DC. Such an accomplishment was undoubtedly a direct result of the forward-thinking, student-focused education provided by UrbanPromise Academy.

From Our Blog...

IN THE NEWS: Students build a plane and maybe a flight path

By Kevin Riordan, Philadelphia Inquirer 

"Those are the wing skins," Ira Weissman says, pointing to a short, sleek stack of pearly aluminum panels. "I brought them over here this morning in my Prius."

We're in the basement at Camden's Urban Promise Academy, where Weissman and...

IN THE NEWS: Medford bike ride gets city kids in touch with nature

By Andy McNeil, Courier Post
Sunday, May 5, 2013

MEDFORD — The first 10 miles of the eighth annual Pedal for Promise bike ride held Saturday in Burlington County was a struggle for Camden teen Faith Kroma.

“My breathing was really heavy, my bike seat was too low and my knees started hurting,” the...

IN THE NEWS: Clearview, Camden students work to clean up park that contains graves of Civil War veterans


Senior Alexandra Gonzalez, from The Urban Promise Academy in Camden, uses a toothbrush to clear dirt away from letters on a gravestone at Johnson Cemetery Park in Camden, Friday, April 26, 2013. With her is freshman Brandon Benitez. The Urban Promise Academy in partnership with Clearview and Voorhees High Schools clean up Johnson Cemetery Park in Camden, Friday,...