Urban Prep, also known as "Hogwarts in the Hood," is a charter school located in inner-city Chicago. According to its website, the similarities between Hogwarts and Urban Prep include school houses. Whereas the wizarding school has four houses--Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin--Urban Prep has six "Prides" that compete against each other for academic, athletic, and extracurricular points.

"We've been incredibly successful," the founder and president of Urban Prep, Tim King, tells me. "All our students are African-American, about 85% are low income and 100% of our classes have gone on to college."

In 2010 and 2011, 100% of students who graduated from Urban Prep were accepted to college.

"It's extraordinary when you think about it because the number of African-Americans who go on to college in our country, the numbers are really low."

Another cliche is that the only way out for some kids is to become a rapper or a sports star.

Mr King says he wants to create role models who are engineers and scientists. Even getting a college degree makes a big difference.

"Education is key. It can become trite when you hear it, but it is really true," he says.

Link -via BBC