Harlan Community Academy

Welcome to Harlan Community Academy High School.

Harlan Community Academy, celebrating its 50th year Anniversary, is a learning community that embraces the vision to Educate, Empower and Encourages (E3) all students to reach their full potential. Our teachers work diligently to address the varied learning styles and academic levels of the unique student population, by differentiating instruction, through Bloom’s Taxonomy, cooperative learning, and the 21 compatible brain strategies. Many stakeholders, including the faculty and staff, 6th Ward Alderman, Alderman Lyles, Harlan’s Alumni Association, local school council, and community partners work to encourage and challenge our students to be the best that they can be.

Harlan has many challenging and innovative programs that prepare our students for their post-secondary careers. AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), SLC (Smaller Learning Communities), JROTC, Business Professionals of America, NASA, Mikva Challenge, Debate Team, Drama, etc., are many of the programs offered at Harlan to provide an array of experiences for our students. 100% of the seniors in the AVID program graduate and continue to college or universities. And, our JROTC program has sent two students, within the last two years, to West Point Academy, on full scholarships. Our students are also exposed to many competitive athletic teams, which includes Lacrosse, to help build character through teamwork and competition. Harlan is the first predominantly African American high school in Illinois to have a Lacrosse team.

Harlan is one of a few schools to incorporate an Academic Center for gifted 7th and 8th graders. The students in this program have produced standardized test scores that meet and exceed the national norms in Reading and Math. Some of these students continue on at Harlan and continue to excel through AP and the College Bridge programs.