Edumacation Archive

I’ve made a resolution to do a better job keeping this blog updated this year.  The assault on education in this country and in my own city of Chicago is too pressing not to be vocal about what’s going on.  I’ve mentioned before that I am a member of CORE (The Caucus of Rank and File Educators), a group that has been trying to stop the privatization efforts in the Chicago Public Schools.   I’ve only been a member for a few months, but last year the organization and several community activist groups staged a big summit to protest school closings at Malcolm X College.   We’re having another summit this Saturday January 9th to continue the fight.   Last January, 500 people came out in a blizzard.  This year, I’m hoping we can draw 1,000 committed activists.  I have a lot of problems with Chicago’s program of turnaround schools.   Studies have shown that they do nothing positive for the students in the school that is closed and instead increase dropouts, overcrowding, and student violence.   I took the liberty of reposting here, an article I wrote on the criteria Chicago is using to determine which schools stay and which ones go.

For the third time in three years Chicago has changed the criteria by which schools are eligible for closing.   The ever changing criteria are supposed to help the schools separate which schools are “failing”.  However, despite closing over 70 schools, the administration continues to show a lack of faith in their own ability to come up with fair criteria while their lack of consistency has schools scrambling to find out if they’re on the chopping block.

There are so many problems with judging schools based almost entirely on attendance and the ISAT test.   One culturally biased multiple choice test administered by a politically connected company that was awarded the contract under shady circumstances by the Blagojevich administration is hardly a scientific way to evaluate schools.   Major trends like neighborhood demographics and student mobility can play havoc with test scores, but so can small things like who had a good night’s sleep or ate a breakfast before taking the test.

Elementary schools are judged based on ISAT reading, math, and science scores meeting and exceeding standards; attendance; and value-added scores and composite scores in both reading in math.   Charts have been created for all schools that make it appear very scientific as schools are rated in 8 different categories.   However, three of those categories are determined from the same math test and another three are determined by the same reading test.   Schools which fail to gain 1/3 of the achievable points are then eligible to be closed.

The constantly changing target makes it difficult for schools to succeed.   McKay Elementary School on the South West Side is on the bubble having earned 14 of 42 points.   Like all schools potentially facing the chopping block, they are in a working class neighborhood and service a minority population.  In 2007 38% of their students met or exceeded standards in math, but in 2008 they improved that number to 46%^ of their students, and last year they were up to 54%.   They showed similar gains in reading and science.   Under the 2007 and 2008 scoring systems, McKay would have been safe.   With the new system, they are not.

High Schools use a more complex system that evaluates schools based on average ACT, one year drop out rate, attendance, freshman on track, AP enrollment, AP success,  and PSAE scores.   Again, there are liars and then there are statistics.   At a time when the College Board is pointing out massive flaws in the entire AP program, CPS continues to push it.  The Prarie State Exams have led to a four year program in many suburbs where students are never given junior status so that they never take the examination.   These are the two main criteria Chicago uses to judge high school quality.

Schools can also be closed if a school’s enrollment is less than 250 and it is using less than 40% of available space or if in the opinion of the board, the infrastructure of the building is unsound.   These rules are applied unevenly.   De la Cruz middle school’s unsafe building was rented to UNO for $1 this year.   Carver Military Academy’s “need” for a small program in their large school has prevented Fenger parents from having a safe place to send their kids.   Of course, the test score data is also not rated equally or several of the city’s charter schools would find themselves facing the axe.

When decided something as important as the future of the children in this city, we owe it to them to find an effective way to measure the quality of schools and a fair and open process for deciding which schools are not making the grade.  These criteria are neither fair nor open.  There have been no positive gains demonstrated by Chicago’s program of closing schools, but we have seen the danger it brings for students forced to travel to other neighborhoods for their education.   Our students deserve better.

This entry was posted on January 4, 2010 at 3:55 am and is filed under Charter Schools, Education, education reform, School Privatization. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Charter Schools, CORE, Criteria for closing Chicago Schools, Education Privatization, education reform