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New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students There's a big new study from RAND out about charters in Chicago that includes what is purported to be good news about their benefits.
Charter School Students in Chicago Enjoy Better Graduation, College Entry Rates.
Achievement and Attainment in Chicago Charter Schools.
Reading between the lines of the press release, you get the sense that charters don't look as good on test score measures as they do on graduation and college entry measures, and that charter students are somewhat higher-achieving (and more affluent?) than traditional CPS students. There's also a clear message that first-year charters are rough and that certain kinds of charters (multi-grade high schools) do better than other kinds.
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Wed May 7, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Criteria for Student Admission to Charter Schools?
I teach in an inner-city Los Angeles public high school. A friend will be teaching at an inner-city Los Angeles charter high school. Her school, funded with tens of millions of private dollars, has an open admissions policy--for those candidates who pass the entrance exam. At my school, there is no entrance exam. Students who have failed all most of their classes in middle school (and/or have been failed by the system in not having good teachers) are "promoted" to high school having learned that there are no consequences for not succeeding. Then they get to high school, where all of a sudden things are different; the stakes are higher, the consequences for failing clear. We need to teach our students how to learn and how to act, and we need to start doing it at an earlier age. Sometimes high school is too late for them to develop habits of success.
Wed May 7, 2008 at 12:22 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
RQ, luckily, the current Illinois charter school law prohibits any charter from using previous academic achievement in admissions decisions. Charter school lotteries in Illinois are required to be blind lotteries and are audited every year.
Also, the report states pretty clearly that while some charters are criticized for creaming off the best students (as some here have claimed over the past couple of days), this was NOT the case for Chicago.
Also, the report states pretty clearly that while some charters are criticized for creaming off the best students (as some here have claimed over the past couple of days), this was NOT the case for Chicago.
Wed May 7, 2008 at 12:22 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
Charters enroll half the number of special education students and half the number of limited English proficient students as CPS overall This isn't creaming? Just a coincidence?
It's also interesting that the same types of folks (Arne Duncan, etc.) who are so quick to label regular neighborhood schools as failures now say that there are "other qualities" that should be taken into consideration when looking at charter schools... now that the data is in that their test scores aren't better.
It's also interesting that the same types of folks (Arne Duncan, etc.) who are so quick to label regular neighborhood schools as failures now say that there are "other qualities" that should be taken into consideration when looking at charter schools... now that the data is in that their test scores aren't better.
Wed May 7, 2008 at 2:51 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
I have now had a chance to read through the RAND Corporation report “Achievement and Attainment in Chicago Charter Schools.” For me the report was actually a relief because as some of you know I have been working on a report on Renaissance 2010 and students with disabilities for Access Living for almost a year now. Whenever I see a new study related to CPS choice schools my first concern is will it contradict what the report I am working on appears to be showing. In this case the study does not, the study shows that there is no statistically significant improvement for students with disabilities attending charters as opposed to those attending traditional CPS schools.
Most of the data for students with disabilities is found on pages 31 and 32 of the report. This is data completely consistent with what I have found using primarily ISAT and PSAE data for a group of 37 Renaissance 2010 schools that include charters, contract schools, and turn around schools.
I would also say that I found the CPS press release posted on District 299 to emphasize the positive aspects of the RAND report. I found the statements by CPS Office of New Schools that the RAND report came to “similar conclusions” as the ONS report 2006-2007 charter report to be very questionable. The main conclusion of the ONS report was according to the release “charter elementary school students achieve at higher rates than the district average, and charter high school students are more likely to have higher attendance rates than students attending neighborhood schools.”
The RAND report in chapter 4 on the achievement of charter school students in grades 3-8 as compared to traditional CPS students show no improvement in reading of any statistical significance and limited improvement in math. As far as I could tell from reading the RAND report there was no discussion of high school attendance at all.
I would suggest to all the readers of this blog that they look carefully at the subgroup improvement data which is not in every case consistent with the overall improvement of charter students. Overall charters seem to be improving the chances of some students to graduate, although the impact of that for students with disabilities is not significant. The charters do appear to be increasing the chances of some students to at least enroll in college when compared to traditional CPS high school students. But not for students with disabilities and for Hispanic students (see page 31 of the report).
My impression is that RAND report presents some positive and some not so positive issues relating to Chicago’s charter schools. Overall it appears based on the report that charters are working for some students and still are leaving some groups behind. I find it unfortunate that CPS must turn a serious report into a PR victory for charter schools, when the report’s findings are highly qualified and reserved. CPS should be attempting to learn from this report not use it as some type of vindication of Ren 2010.
Rod Estvan
Access Living
Most of the data for students with disabilities is found on pages 31 and 32 of the report. This is data completely consistent with what I have found using primarily ISAT and PSAE data for a group of 37 Renaissance 2010 schools that include charters, contract schools, and turn around schools.
I would also say that I found the CPS press release posted on District 299 to emphasize the positive aspects of the RAND report. I found the statements by CPS Office of New Schools that the RAND report came to “similar conclusions” as the ONS report 2006-2007 charter report to be very questionable. The main conclusion of the ONS report was according to the release “charter elementary school students achieve at higher rates than the district average, and charter high school students are more likely to have higher attendance rates than students attending neighborhood schools.”
The RAND report in chapter 4 on the achievement of charter school students in grades 3-8 as compared to traditional CPS students show no improvement in reading of any statistical significance and limited improvement in math. As far as I could tell from reading the RAND report there was no discussion of high school attendance at all.
I would suggest to all the readers of this blog that they look carefully at the subgroup improvement data which is not in every case consistent with the overall improvement of charter students. Overall charters seem to be improving the chances of some students to graduate, although the impact of that for students with disabilities is not significant. The charters do appear to be increasing the chances of some students to at least enroll in college when compared to traditional CPS high school students. But not for students with disabilities and for Hispanic students (see page 31 of the report).
My impression is that RAND report presents some positive and some not so positive issues relating to Chicago’s charter schools. Overall it appears based on the report that charters are working for some students and still are leaving some groups behind. I find it unfortunate that CPS must turn a serious report into a PR victory for charter schools, when the report’s findings are highly qualified and reserved. CPS should be attempting to learn from this report not use it as some type of vindication of Ren 2010.
Rod Estvan
Access Living
Wed May 7, 2008 at 3:52 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
interesting to hear there's a ren10 conference event today -- no publicity about it, though
-- alexander
-- alexander
Wed May 7, 2008 at 4:42 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
Alexander, actually, it was yesterday.
http://www.rsfsymposium.org/
http://www.rsfsymposium.org/
Wed May 7, 2008 at 7:11 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
What's the difference between a possible greater probability of better graduations rates and ACTUAL better graduation rates?
"The team found evidence that Chicago’s charter HSs
may produce positive effects on ACT scores, the probability
of graduating, and the probability of enrolling in college—" (except only for charter high schools that have middle schoolers in it...)
Do double ambiguities equal a clarity? Is that the formula?
They must know the media don't even read the abstract all the way through.
A half point better on the ACT? If the kid
a. chose only the first answer on every other question,
b. closed his eyes and only filled in the circles his pencil landed on or
c. only chose the longest answer to each question
he could probably do a half point better on the ACT.
Who does their stats, the Republican Party?
Oh - yeah, maybe.
Probably.
"The team found evidence that Chicago’s charter HSs
may produce positive effects on ACT scores, the probability
of graduating, and the probability of enrolling in college—" (except only for charter high schools that have middle schoolers in it...)
Do double ambiguities equal a clarity? Is that the formula?
They must know the media don't even read the abstract all the way through.
A half point better on the ACT? If the kid
a. chose only the first answer on every other question,
b. closed his eyes and only filled in the circles his pencil landed on or
c. only chose the longest answer to each question
he could probably do a half point better on the ACT.
Who does their stats, the Republican Party?
Oh - yeah, maybe.
Probably.
Wed May 7, 2008 at 10:38 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
Rod you should go visit Noble Street. They enroll upwards of 20% of kids with IEP's and have tremendous college placment rates. The school is great to see--invigorating!
Thu May 8, 2008 at 5:37 AM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
Alexander,
Your headline suggests a much broader conclusion than the study support. In fact the money quote from the report's conclusions is probably,
"Achievement trajectories suggest that, on average, charter schools' performance in raising student achievement is approximately on par with traditional public schools..."
So, at least for elementary school students, charters make no difference.
Your headline suggests a much broader conclusion than the study support. In fact the money quote from the report's conclusions is probably,
"Achievement trajectories suggest that, on average, charter schools' performance in raising student achievement is approximately on par with traditional public schools..."
So, at least for elementary school students, charters make no difference.
Thu May 8, 2008 at 6:42 AM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
Read it
The same people who told us all the VC will be dead by Christmas 68
Now bring you another wonderfully accurate account. Where oh where
Is Daniel Ellsberg when we need him
The same people who told us all the VC will be dead by Christmas 68
Now bring you another wonderfully accurate account. Where oh where
Is Daniel Ellsberg when we need him
Thu May 8, 2008 at 7:02 AM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
In the RAND report entitled 'CHARTER SCHOOL STUDENTS IN CHICAGO ENJOY BETTER GRADUATION, COLLEGE ENTRY RATES" they write "The study finds evidence that charter high schools MAY produce positive effects on ACT scores, the probability of graduating, and the probability of enrolling in college-but these positive effects are solidly evident ONLY in the charter high schools that also included middle school grades." Here are the ACT scores, graduation rates 2005 and graduates enrolled in college 2005 for Chicago charter high schools: ACE Charter HS, ACT 2007- 15.9, Graduation Rate 2005-N/A, Graduates Enrolled In College 2005-N/A; ACT Charter HS, ACT- 2002-14.3, 2003-14.5, 2004-14.2, 2005-14.8, 2006-15.2, 2007-15.4, G.R. 2005-61%, G.E.I.C. 2005- 38%; Aspira Charter Ramirez, ACT- 2006-16.9, 2007-16.6, G.R. 2005-N/A, G.E.I.C. 2005-N/A; Chgo Intl Charter Longwood, ACT- 2001-14.7, 2002-15.3, 2003-16.5, 2004-16.1, 2005-17.4, 2006-17.1, 2007-17, G.R. 2005-61%, G.E.I.C. 2005-59%; Chgo Intl Charter Northtown, ACT- 2004-18.3, 2005-19.3, 2006-18.9, 2007-19.9, G.R. 2005-N/A, G.E.I.C. 2005-82%; Noble Street Charter, ACT- 2002-18.2, 2003-17.3, 2004-18.2, 2005-18.4, 2006-18.6, 2007-18.6, G.R. 2005-84%, G.E.I.C. 2005-71%; North Lawndale Charter, ACT- 2001-14.8, 2002-15.1, 2003-14.1, 2004-15.7, 2005-15.5, 2006-15.7, 2007-16.8, G.R. 2005-64%, G.E.I.C. 2005-77%; Perspectives Charter, ACT- 2001-15, 2002-16.3, 2003-15.5, 2004-16, 2005-16.7, 2006-16.1, 2007-16.5, G.R. 2005-80%, G.E.I.C. 2005-78%; Young Womens Leadership, ACT- 2003-16.6, 2004-15.6, 2005-15.8, 2006-16.1, 2007-15.9, G.R. 2005-65%, G.E.I.C. 2005-76%; Youth Connections AL, ACT- 2001-14.2, 2002-13.9, 2003-15.1, 2004-15.1, 2005-15.1, 2006-15, 2007-14.7, G.R. 2005-25.4, G.E.I.C. 2005-N/A. ALL OF THIS INFORMATION WAS TAKEN FROM THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS 2007 HIGH SCHOOL SCORECARD! P.S.- Since Renaissance 2010, 100 (150?) New Schools for Chicago has started, for every new charter or contract school that has opened, a general elementary or general high school has been closed! Just go to the CPS website under Board Actions, CEO reports and you will see this!!!
Thu May 8, 2008 at 7:59 AM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
Retired principal, some of those scores that you posted are pretty impressive (Noble and North Lawndale's percentage of graduates enrolled in college seems very impressive) --some scores show definite room for improvement. What about the comparable scores for other high schools? Show us the scores for Collins, Crane, Marshall, Manley, Clemente, Dunbar, etc. By only reporting out on the charters, you are only reporting out on half the story. I think that many of the charters high schools are outperforming the neighborhood high school down the street.
Thu May 8, 2008 at 10:11 AM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
Regarding Nobel Street Charter's percentages of students with disabilities. According to 2007 data CPS reported to the US District Court here are the percentages by campus for Nobel Street:
unit 1930 13.17%
unit 1932 9.09%
unit 1931 7.43%
That does not look like 20% to me? According to the 2007 School Report Card for Nobel Street the charter did not make adequate yearly progress for its students with disabilities. According to the report card only 6.3% of 11th grade students with disabilities were reading at or above state standards. Nobel St does have an outstanding graduation rate for its students with disabilities in 2007 it was 88.9%.
Very few if any of the Nobel St. graduates with disabilities would likely be going on to a four year college or attaining an junior college degree based on the testing data. As you can see things are very different for students with disabilties than they are for their non-disabled peers attending Nobel St. By the way things are also very different for students with disabilities than they are for their non-disabled peers attending what the RAND report called traditional high schools.
The RAND findings that charters did academically no better for students with disabilities than traditional public schools applies to Nobel Street, as does the finding that students with disabilities are no more likely to go to college than those in traditional public schools. The higher graduation rate for students with disabilities at Nobel St. is also consistent with the findings in the RAND report.
By the way I would be happy to visit Nobel Street Charter, I have visited the University of Chicago Charter and found many positive things at the elementary school. Specifically at Nobel Street I would like to see: 1. the school's remedial reading recovery program for students with disabilties and understand why it appears not to be working, 2. how the school's discipline code is applied to students with IEPs and get a better understanding of the merit and demerit system for minor infractions which at least one parent of a child with a disability attending the charter found to be a problem, and 3. how inclusive services are practiced at the school by observing a language arts class and a social studies class that has these services. I would be willing to sign a confidenitality agreement to protect the identities of all students with disabilities that I observed. If the poster if a staff member at Nobel Street and wants to set up such a visit I can be contacted at Access Living Restvan@accessliving.org.
Rod Estvan
Access Living
unit 1930 13.17%
unit 1932 9.09%
unit 1931 7.43%
That does not look like 20% to me? According to the 2007 School Report Card for Nobel Street the charter did not make adequate yearly progress for its students with disabilities. According to the report card only 6.3% of 11th grade students with disabilities were reading at or above state standards. Nobel St does have an outstanding graduation rate for its students with disabilities in 2007 it was 88.9%.
Very few if any of the Nobel St. graduates with disabilities would likely be going on to a four year college or attaining an junior college degree based on the testing data. As you can see things are very different for students with disabilties than they are for their non-disabled peers attending Nobel St. By the way things are also very different for students with disabilities than they are for their non-disabled peers attending what the RAND report called traditional high schools.
The RAND findings that charters did academically no better for students with disabilities than traditional public schools applies to Nobel Street, as does the finding that students with disabilities are no more likely to go to college than those in traditional public schools. The higher graduation rate for students with disabilities at Nobel St. is also consistent with the findings in the RAND report.
By the way I would be happy to visit Nobel Street Charter, I have visited the University of Chicago Charter and found many positive things at the elementary school. Specifically at Nobel Street I would like to see: 1. the school's remedial reading recovery program for students with disabilties and understand why it appears not to be working, 2. how the school's discipline code is applied to students with IEPs and get a better understanding of the merit and demerit system for minor infractions which at least one parent of a child with a disability attending the charter found to be a problem, and 3. how inclusive services are practiced at the school by observing a language arts class and a social studies class that has these services. I would be willing to sign a confidenitality agreement to protect the identities of all students with disabilities that I observed. If the poster if a staff member at Nobel Street and wants to set up such a visit I can be contacted at Access Living Restvan@accessliving.org.
Rod Estvan
Access Living
Thu May 8, 2008 at 7:43 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
When a charter high school is called a "college prep" school, but fewer than 50% of its students actually attend college, the school is a failure. Just because a school down the street is a bigger failure, that does not alter the fact the so-called college prep school is failing to accomplish its mission-- preparing students for college. Stop making excuses. Stop lowering your standards.
Thu May 8, 2008 at 10:14 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
Mac, please; there is only a possibility that they may probably be failing to accomplish their mission.
Myself, I think their mission is to do to public schools what the contractors have done in Iraq.
Get that banner ready.
Myself, I think their mission is to do to public schools what the contractors have done in Iraq.
Get that banner ready.
Thu May 8, 2008 at 10:22 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
Attention invigorated charter fanatics -
They opened the 10 PM news on NBC with story on 2 students who raped a third student at Chicago International Charter School, Basil Campus.
Press Release from school was something to the effect that all the parties involved are school aged and they are 'handling it'....
Bracing. Like a slap in the face.
They opened the 10 PM news on NBC with story on 2 students who raped a third student at Chicago International Charter School, Basil Campus.
Press Release from school was something to the effect that all the parties involved are school aged and they are 'handling it'....
Bracing. Like a slap in the face.
Thu May 8, 2008 at 10:29 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
I am afraid that we could face situation that IEP's are amended on the base of the administrative expectation not because of needs of students.
The direct services in separate classroom would be non-existent
and students with more severe problems would be sent to the remaining public schools with the rate of special needs students more than 25%(expected average in the City-14%)
Chris R
State Certified Director of Special Education
The direct services in separate classroom would be non-existent
and students with more severe problems would be sent to the remaining public schools with the rate of special needs students more than 25%(expected average in the City-14%)
Chris R
State Certified Director of Special Education
Thu May 8, 2008 at 11:46 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
How could this have happened...
http://www.nbc5.com/news/16207896/detail.html?dl=headlineclick
http://www.nbc5.com/news/16207896/detail.html?dl=headlineclick
Fri May 9, 2008 at 1:03 AM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
First, let's begin by having some feelings for the victim, and asking why CPS doesn't have any rules that charters are supposed to follow when there is a report of a rape.
These official statements from Beth Purvis sound like a cover up. The first thing should have been: "This is a terrible tragedy for one of the children we serve. We have made sure the police report has been filed and we have suspended those involved..."
And let's hear what Arne has to say about deregulation, privatization, and all this niftycool innovation on this one. One of the worst things about the charters is this open market in workers leads to some scrimping, not only in certified teachers, but all the way across the staffing board. When you outsource stuff to the lowest bidders, you usually get what you pay for.
One of the bigger cases of school ___ (I'm deleting the word because the Catalyst censors will block this post if I write it) I dealt with came more than 20 years ago. That child victim should have been helped last Friday, not a week later! And the perps (er., excuse me, alleged perps) should have been at 1100 S. Hamilton by last Friday night. What the heck is going on there?
CPS wound up settling, for more than half million dollars, with the victim on the eve of civil damages trial. Like this one, CPS spent some time trying to cover up before the story came out. Then they spent a couple of years of lawyers stalling in the damages case. It was very nasty, the way they handled it all.
But in a case like this, no matter how many cover ups there are at the criminal level, there is still a civil case. So I'm wondering whether Arne gets named as a defendant for allowing deregulation to run wild, or we're just going to spend a couple of million dollars on lawyers and stalling for the next couple of years because of these fantasies about "choice" and all that Hyde Park nonsense about the marketization of everything being the solution to all problems...
I had a run in with CICS "security" up at the Immaculate Heart of Mary "campus" last Fall (er., CICS "Irving"). Great bunch of guys. Obviously the top of the line in professional services.
Let's see whether the CPS Inspector General, CPS security and safety, or someone from "New and Charter Schools" will check out on security and discipline at all those "independent contractors" CPS has holding charters.
No oversight.
Privatization.
Open season now that the weather's hot.
CICS is getting itself a kind of record for these types of criminals, don't you think.
Six years ago they were sending the principal of "Belden Campus" to Washington, D.C. to talk about the greatness of the marketplace and CICS. Then Josef Nurek got caught with an underage boyfriend and some links to an international child photography ring. He's been in federal custody for more than three years, now having been found guilty, and none of the narratives on charters (except mine) ever discuss the guy.
Now this.
As many of us have noted since this whole deregulation frenzy began a decade ago -- and then took off at warp speed under Arne Duncan -- there have always been reasons for all of those nasty "bureaucratic" procedures we follow in the professions, whether teaching or law enforcement. And this is an example of what happens when you don't.
First Nurek.
Now the elementary school criminals (can't use the word for their crime or the blockers will be here)...
I can't wait to see how this lines up in Springfield when they send their Power Point fanatics down to explain their position on charter expansion in Chicago.
Do you think the Sun-Times will amend that stupid editorial about more charters are just what Chicago needs? This is the tip of the charter discipline and security iceberg, just as Nurek was another one. There's only so long a cover up like this can go on, even in this town.
And let's take a look at CPS charter security while we're at it.
How about for starters someone finding out whether Danny Solis's family members are handling security for all the charters in Chicago or just on high profile group of them. After that, who's vetting the "security" and other staff for the rest of the charter holders?
Fat chance anyone's going to dig through that pile of paper, even if anyone could get it. This whole "deregulation" thing about the Chicago charters means that CPS stonewalls every request for information about the charters (after, all, each is a separate school system) when FOIA is invoked.
Next month, anyone looking for the charter schools in the CPS "budget" (another joke; unless you have one of the most powerful computers, you can't "read' it before the hearings anyway) will still find that they are all buried under "contractual and other services".
Now about those charter security and discipline people.
And the fact that apparently nobody thinks it's appropriate to file a police report for this horror at CICS Basil. Last irony: That's the old St. Basil's. Like all the other CICS "campuses", it still has all those remnants of its days as a Catholic school around, with nobody talking about whether there is a separation of Church and State issue with all this charter nonsense, either.
These official statements from Beth Purvis sound like a cover up. The first thing should have been: "This is a terrible tragedy for one of the children we serve. We have made sure the police report has been filed and we have suspended those involved..."
And let's hear what Arne has to say about deregulation, privatization, and all this niftycool innovation on this one. One of the worst things about the charters is this open market in workers leads to some scrimping, not only in certified teachers, but all the way across the staffing board. When you outsource stuff to the lowest bidders, you usually get what you pay for.
One of the bigger cases of school ___ (I'm deleting the word because the Catalyst censors will block this post if I write it) I dealt with came more than 20 years ago. That child victim should have been helped last Friday, not a week later! And the perps (er., excuse me, alleged perps) should have been at 1100 S. Hamilton by last Friday night. What the heck is going on there?
CPS wound up settling, for more than half million dollars, with the victim on the eve of civil damages trial. Like this one, CPS spent some time trying to cover up before the story came out. Then they spent a couple of years of lawyers stalling in the damages case. It was very nasty, the way they handled it all.
But in a case like this, no matter how many cover ups there are at the criminal level, there is still a civil case. So I'm wondering whether Arne gets named as a defendant for allowing deregulation to run wild, or we're just going to spend a couple of million dollars on lawyers and stalling for the next couple of years because of these fantasies about "choice" and all that Hyde Park nonsense about the marketization of everything being the solution to all problems...
I had a run in with CICS "security" up at the Immaculate Heart of Mary "campus" last Fall (er., CICS "Irving"). Great bunch of guys. Obviously the top of the line in professional services.
Let's see whether the CPS Inspector General, CPS security and safety, or someone from "New and Charter Schools" will check out on security and discipline at all those "independent contractors" CPS has holding charters.
No oversight.
Privatization.
Open season now that the weather's hot.
CICS is getting itself a kind of record for these types of criminals, don't you think.
Six years ago they were sending the principal of "Belden Campus" to Washington, D.C. to talk about the greatness of the marketplace and CICS. Then Josef Nurek got caught with an underage boyfriend and some links to an international child photography ring. He's been in federal custody for more than three years, now having been found guilty, and none of the narratives on charters (except mine) ever discuss the guy.
Now this.
As many of us have noted since this whole deregulation frenzy began a decade ago -- and then took off at warp speed under Arne Duncan -- there have always been reasons for all of those nasty "bureaucratic" procedures we follow in the professions, whether teaching or law enforcement. And this is an example of what happens when you don't.
First Nurek.
Now the elementary school criminals (can't use the word for their crime or the blockers will be here)...
I can't wait to see how this lines up in Springfield when they send their Power Point fanatics down to explain their position on charter expansion in Chicago.
Do you think the Sun-Times will amend that stupid editorial about more charters are just what Chicago needs? This is the tip of the charter discipline and security iceberg, just as Nurek was another one. There's only so long a cover up like this can go on, even in this town.
And let's take a look at CPS charter security while we're at it.
How about for starters someone finding out whether Danny Solis's family members are handling security for all the charters in Chicago or just on high profile group of them. After that, who's vetting the "security" and other staff for the rest of the charter holders?
Fat chance anyone's going to dig through that pile of paper, even if anyone could get it. This whole "deregulation" thing about the Chicago charters means that CPS stonewalls every request for information about the charters (after, all, each is a separate school system) when FOIA is invoked.
Next month, anyone looking for the charter schools in the CPS "budget" (another joke; unless you have one of the most powerful computers, you can't "read' it before the hearings anyway) will still find that they are all buried under "contractual and other services".
Now about those charter security and discipline people.
And the fact that apparently nobody thinks it's appropriate to file a police report for this horror at CICS Basil. Last irony: That's the old St. Basil's. Like all the other CICS "campuses", it still has all those remnants of its days as a Catholic school around, with nobody talking about whether there is a separation of Church and State issue with all this charter nonsense, either.
Mon May 12, 2008 at 6:36 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
because my neighborhood elementary school is out performing all of the charters. There are several neighborhood school out performing charters. Why don't we just use the charter school money to help the neighborhood school performs. It is not fair to compare charter schools to neighborhood schools that are not performing because many charters don't reenroll all students and have an easier time getting rid of low performers. Also, I think they have smaller class sizes because they can cap enrollment, which neighborhood schools are not allowed to do. Under NCLB neighborhood schools that perform well must take in failing students without their SES tutors. It is crazy to compare them to neighborhood schools so lets make all neighborhood schools great and stop diverting funds to charter schools.
Tue May 13, 2008 at 1:40 PM
New Study Claims Positive Benefits To Charter Students
According to the "ILLINOIS CHARTER SCHOOL ANNUAL REPORT-JANUARY 2008" located on the ILLINOIS BOARD OF EDUCATION WEBSITE, four out of nine CPS charter high schools with at least an eleventh grade in the 2006-2007 school year had a higher drop out rate than the CPS District rate of 8.3%: Youth Connections-46.5%, Aspira-9.4%, Young Women's-9.4%, ACE Tech-9.3%, Chicago International-6.3%, The Academy-4.2%, Perspectives-3.6%, North Lawndale-3.2% and Noble Street-0.7%. The percentage of students leaving or not returning for these schools are as follows: The Academy-17%, ACE Tech-12%, Aspira-6%, Chicago International-7%, Noble Street-13%, North Lawndale-12%, Perspectives-15%, Young Women's-16% and Youth Connections-13%. The students with disabilites rates for these schools are as follows: The Academy-14%, ACE Tech-19%, Aspira-11%, Chicago International-12%, Noble Street-12%, North Lawndale-155, Perspectives-14%, Young Women's-14% and Youth Connections-10%. According to the Charter Schools Law in effect for 2006-2007, beginning with the 2006-2007 school year, at least 50% of the instructional staff in Chicago charter schools established after July 2003 shall hold teaching certificates. In the 2006-2007 school year, the minimum number of certified instructional staff increases to 75%. Here are the instructional staff certification rates for these schools: THE ACADEMY-71%, ACE Tech-100%, Aspira-85%, Chicago International-86%, Noble Street-87%, NORTH LAWNDALE-65%, PERSPECTIVES-49%, Young Women's-91% and Youth Connections-80%. ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL ARE NOT REQUIRED TO HAVE CERTIFICATION OR PARTICULAR QUALIFICATIONS!!!!!!!!!! Here are the administrative staff certication rates for these charter schools: The Academy-50%, ACE Tech-.09%, Aspira-80%, Chicago International-78%, Noble Street-10%, North Lawndale-33%, Perspectives-65%, Young Women's-0% and Youth connections-13%!!!!!!!!!! Here are the Chicago charter high schools not making AYP: The Academy, ACE Tech, Aspira, Chicago International, Noble street, North Lawndale, Young Women's and Youth Connections. Here are the Chicago charter high schools that have been identified for school improvement: The Academy, Aspira, Chicago International, North Lawndale, Perspectives, Young Women's and Youth Connections. Here are the Federal Improvement Status for these high schools: The Academy-Restructuring, Aspira-Choice, Chicago International-Restructuring Implementation, North Lawndale-Restructuring Implementation, Young Women's-Choice and Youth Connections-Restructuring Implementation. Here are the State improvement status for these high schools: The Academy-Academic Watch, Aspira-Academic Early Warning, Chicago International-Academic Watch, North Lawndale-Academic Watch, Young Women's-Academic Watch and Youth Connections- Academic Watch. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BELIEVE ME! YOU CAN LOOK IT UP YOURSELF! GO TO THE ILLINOIS STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION WEBSITE AND YOU WILL FIND IT IN THE "ILLINOIS CHARTER SCHOOL ANNUAL REPORT-JANUARY 2008"!!!!!!!!!! P.S.- I see why CPS had the RAND Report released on May 7, 2008!!!!!!!!!!
