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Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
Here is how to apply:
>
> AMPS Out of Area Agreement
>
> The purpose of this agreement is to articulate the
> exchange of autonomy for accountability for AMPS out
> of area schools. Signed agreements are required for
> any school opting “out of the area.” Agreements have
> a 3 year term. The school may ask to break the
> agreement and return to the area within the three
> years during the annual AMPS menu selection.
>
> School Name:
> ______________________________________________
>
> CPS and the AMPS team will commit to the following
> for
> AMPS “out of area” schools:
> • Freedom to design or purchase its own staff
> professional development
> • Financial support for professional development via
> AMPS PD grants and menu of professional development
> options
> • Freedom from most meetings (1-2 per year could be
> mandatory)
> • Budget autonomy (e.g. ability to redefine
> positions;
> approve transfers – additional budgetary freedom to
> be
> added over time.)
> • Increased instructional freedoms and input into
> district instructional decisions (e.g. assessment
> pilot)
> • Freedom to apply for a non-standard CPS calendar
> • AMPS staff support on operational, discipline,
> parent complaints, etc.
> • Additional support for data analysis
> • Support for vetting of outside instructional
> support
> vendors
> • Additional autonomies to be added as identified
>
>
> The SCHOOL will commit to the following:
>
> 1. Set three goals mutually agreed upon by the
> school
> and the AMPS office
> 2. Participate in an AMPS network of its choice
> and/or
> work with another school on an AMPS professional
> development grant
> 3. The principal will participate in the AMPS peer
> evaluation process by both serving on at least one
> evaluation team and by being evaluated by his/her
> peers.
> 4. Provide input back to CPS on the
> results/effectiveness of any autonomy granted via
> AMPS
>
>
> Accountability
>
> 1. If a school does not meet the goals set out in
> this
> performance agreement, the school will work with the
> AMPS office to create a remediation plan addressing
> these goals as appropriate.
> 2. Schools continue to be held to the CPS
> Performance
> Policy. If a school falls to the lowest category
> (currently a 3), the AMPS office will work with the
> school on a remediation plan. This could include
> things such as:
> a. Improvement plan for specific areas that need
> attention
> b. Additional peer evaluation
> c. Written notice to Local School Council
> d. In-depth qualitative review at the school such as
> PBI
> e. Additional support outside of AMPS
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Tue May 13, 2008 at 2:06 PM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
I found out that my school was an "AMPS" school during the NCA accreditation audit where the NCA reps asked us about the AMPS experience. This was hidden from us up to that point.
We knew something was up when position numbers magically changed and professional development disappeared. Some departments were gifted with largesses of goodies and others were stuck begging Donors Choice for novels.
Are administrators accountable to let their staffs know this before they begin the school year? Had I known this, I would have found a new place to teach and avoided one of the worst teaching years of my life.
AMPS+Tyrannical bosses=Kids lose
We knew something was up when position numbers magically changed and professional development disappeared. Some departments were gifted with largesses of goodies and others were stuck begging Donors Choice for novels.
Are administrators accountable to let their staffs know this before they begin the school year? Had I known this, I would have found a new place to teach and avoided one of the worst teaching years of my life.
AMPS+Tyrannical bosses=Kids lose
Tue May 13, 2008 at 5:14 PM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
When my best friend worked in Area 19, she told me her AIO thought the principal was "cute". A known womanizer, he charmed her out of her shoes and the faculty into an AMPS school. That way, he got to steal more money even after he'd been reprimanded by the Inspector General. He's been promoted, of course and is an AIO himself. Isn't it grand how things work at CPS???
Tue May 13, 2008 at 5:34 PM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
Our AIO put us on probation at the last minute, so we could not go AMPS. And we had the highest scores of the area.
Tyranical and 'forgot what it was like as a CPS principal' area officers are NOT the answer. We have suffered much. Even the school clerk is discusted.
Tyranical and 'forgot what it was like as a CPS principal' area officers are NOT the answer. We have suffered much. Even the school clerk is discusted.
Tue May 13, 2008 at 7:29 PM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
All 4 Little Village High Schools are trying to escape her majesty the Baronness of PE and Area 25 by becoming AMPS schools. What do these schools really need -- Social Justice needs a principal who understands that social justice is easy to preach when you live in Oak Park but not when you actually live in Little Village and are concerned about safety and where your next meal is coming from. Infinity needs a principal who can keep staff in positions for more than 1 year, particularly her English Department. MAS needs a principal who can stand up to all the gangbangers his school attracts and lets run wild, and World Language needs a principal who knows how to run a discipline policy and an AP who could actually score in the 50th percentile or better on the PSAE
Tue May 13, 2008 at 8:30 PM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
Our principal is still trying to hide the fact we are going into Transformation in two years. Our students will be tested in the coming weeks, but this is to "test the test" according to an internal document.
Why would a principal hide so much from his/her staff?
Why would a principal hide so much from his/her staff?
Wed May 14, 2008 at 1:17 AM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
"Our principal is still trying to hide the fact we are going into Transformation in two years. Our students will be tested in the coming weeks, but this is to "test the test" according to an internal document. Why would a principal hide so much from his/her staff?..." (by "Former Area 19, last night).
High School Transformation?
AAMPS?
Casting couch AIOs and other goofinesses? This is so '80s -- and so contemporary. Plus ca change... and all that?
High School Transformation = Corporate and university corruption and patronage with an overdose of Catalyst and corporate propaganda -- along with a few easily debunkable "studies" -- thrown in. Business as usual in Chicago in this 13th year of the Daley Miracle.
This is the latest widespread iteration of the "external partner" nonsense that accompanied Probation for general high schools and cost CPS millions for some of the most corrupt liars and cheats in Chicago (from parochial school principals to private school frauds). The worst thing about Transformation is that, like all the other Procrustian Beds out there, it's reserved for the poorest children and the hardest working teachers at Chicago's most dangerous schools -- and it's going to be served up by another round of those sociopathic dead affect sermonettes by Arne Duncan and Barbara Eason Watkins or the next generation of Stepford CEOs.
I'm always willing to have fun with the details, and this summer we're going to add the video versions. But more people have to go on the record (in more ways than one) before I get really enthusiastic about telling the story from You Tube to print. Stay in touch as these hypocrisies unfold and we can talk about how far out of the closet people are finally willing to walk.
High School Transformation?
AAMPS?
Casting couch AIOs and other goofinesses? This is so '80s -- and so contemporary. Plus ca change... and all that?
High School Transformation = Corporate and university corruption and patronage with an overdose of Catalyst and corporate propaganda -- along with a few easily debunkable "studies" -- thrown in. Business as usual in Chicago in this 13th year of the Daley Miracle.
This is the latest widespread iteration of the "external partner" nonsense that accompanied Probation for general high schools and cost CPS millions for some of the most corrupt liars and cheats in Chicago (from parochial school principals to private school frauds). The worst thing about Transformation is that, like all the other Procrustian Beds out there, it's reserved for the poorest children and the hardest working teachers at Chicago's most dangerous schools -- and it's going to be served up by another round of those sociopathic dead affect sermonettes by Arne Duncan and Barbara Eason Watkins or the next generation of Stepford CEOs.
I'm always willing to have fun with the details, and this summer we're going to add the video versions. But more people have to go on the record (in more ways than one) before I get really enthusiastic about telling the story from You Tube to print. Stay in touch as these hypocrisies unfold and we can talk about how far out of the closet people are finally willing to walk.
Wed May 14, 2008 at 1:21 AM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
"...MAS needs a principal who can stand up to all the gangbangers his school attracts and lets run wild, and World Language needs a principal who knows how to run a discipline policy and an AP who could actually score in the 50th percentile or better on the PSAE..." (Don Justice, last night).
I'd love to do the stories but can't as long as you're being cute. Get in touch. Patience. What did you expect when hype and an overdose of political correctness trumped reason and reality? Not to put too fine a point on it, but didn't you volunteer for the job? We're interested in doing something, and five years is a long sentence to be facing Arneland and Marilyn Mumblings...
But you got to do more than blognonymously. Maybe you should stop by Casa Aztlan Friday around 5:00 p.m. You'll be among friends.
I'd love to do the stories but can't as long as you're being cute. Get in touch. Patience. What did you expect when hype and an overdose of political correctness trumped reason and reality? Not to put too fine a point on it, but didn't you volunteer for the job? We're interested in doing something, and five years is a long sentence to be facing Arneland and Marilyn Mumblings...
But you got to do more than blognonymously. Maybe you should stop by Casa Aztlan Friday around 5:00 p.m. You'll be among friends.
Wed May 14, 2008 at 8:52 AM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
What do AIO and AMP stand for, pray tell?
Wed May 14, 2008 at 9:31 AM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
I had the unfortunate experience of having to speak to Barbara Easton Watkins. She was unprofessional,condascending, and very bitter. I can see why the Principals under her are so pompous.
Wed May 14, 2008 at 6:36 PM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
Is Curie High School still a AMPS school, since it has been over a year on "Corrective Action".
Thu May 15, 2008 at 11:17 PM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
8:52 AM To answer your question, AIO stands for Area Instructional Officer (which is equivalent to a Deputy Superintendent in a suburban district). AMPS stands for Autonomous Management Performance Schools, which is awarded to schools that consistently perform well on test scores, building cleanliness, fiscal management, etc. I apologize for the acronymites...we often do that in CPS (Chicago Public Schools)!
Wed May 21, 2008 at 8:44 PM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
They are not deputy superintendents! If aios were anywhere else in Il , any little district or large, they would NOT be able to be be supers, only Chicago allows this with the Il school code.
In Il to have this job, you MUST have a superintendancy certification-course work and EdD. In Chicago, these are former principals that worked in easy schools who have friends somewhere. Some are good and earned it, too many others have not. I am citywide and at one school the teachers dislike the aio for how she treats them and how poorly she treats the principal. Even the clerk muttered after the aio left--who does she think she is/ She is never here and doesn't know our school--doesn't even ask and then she tells us what to do.
At another school, the principal is looking just to get away from the aio and he is a real good principal--scores up, students working. Now that teachers have heard he is leaving, they are looking too! aios can devistate a school and they are supposed to differentiate from school to school--another one all she does is talk about what it was like when she was a principal and how she did things where she was at. It is May already and she still is talking about it--then she complains about having too many schools to look after. Go back to being a principal if it was so great. Another I have met was so desperate to get out of her school--problem students, problem parents, long hours--how does someone like this help a school WITH problem students and parents? ! Some aios should be made to go back from whence they came. or put them in one of their schools and get it to improve with someone breathng over you every day. . I also serve an amps school--all are very content there.
In Il to have this job, you MUST have a superintendancy certification-course work and EdD. In Chicago, these are former principals that worked in easy schools who have friends somewhere. Some are good and earned it, too many others have not. I am citywide and at one school the teachers dislike the aio for how she treats them and how poorly she treats the principal. Even the clerk muttered after the aio left--who does she think she is/ She is never here and doesn't know our school--doesn't even ask and then she tells us what to do.
At another school, the principal is looking just to get away from the aio and he is a real good principal--scores up, students working. Now that teachers have heard he is leaving, they are looking too! aios can devistate a school and they are supposed to differentiate from school to school--another one all she does is talk about what it was like when she was a principal and how she did things where she was at. It is May already and she still is talking about it--then she complains about having too many schools to look after. Go back to being a principal if it was so great. Another I have met was so desperate to get out of her school--problem students, problem parents, long hours--how does someone like this help a school WITH problem students and parents? ! Some aios should be made to go back from whence they came. or put them in one of their schools and get it to improve with someone breathng over you every day. . I also serve an amps school--all are very content there.
Thu May 22, 2008 at 1:50 PM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
"Our principal is still trying to hide the fact we are going into Transformation in two years. Our students will be tested in the coming weeks, but this is to "test the test" according to an internal document.
Why would a principal hide so much from his/her staff?"
Um....probably because the "fact" that you're "going into Transformation in two years" is not a fact but an ill-informed rumor.
This rumor that these tests are being used by Transformation folks to "spy" on non-Transformation schools in order to ascertain data about student performance is about the dumbest rumor I've heard so far about Transformation. After all, there's plenty of other test data out there that those folks could use to decide what schools will become Transformation schools next.
It may come as a shock, but the tests you're referring to ARE being used to test the validity of the items, and someone downtown really does care about making sure that tests are valid. Not all district office people are the insensitive, short-sighted idiots some of you make them out to be.
Why would a principal hide so much from his/her staff?"
Um....probably because the "fact" that you're "going into Transformation in two years" is not a fact but an ill-informed rumor.
This rumor that these tests are being used by Transformation folks to "spy" on non-Transformation schools in order to ascertain data about student performance is about the dumbest rumor I've heard so far about Transformation. After all, there's plenty of other test data out there that those folks could use to decide what schools will become Transformation schools next.
It may come as a shock, but the tests you're referring to ARE being used to test the validity of the items, and someone downtown really does care about making sure that tests are valid. Not all district office people are the insensitive, short-sighted idiots some of you make them out to be.
Thu May 22, 2008 at 4:29 PM
Escape The AIO -- Why Not More?
That posting about the principal at Infinity keeping teachers is outdated...there are a few more jumping ship..
And none of the 4 principals at LVLHS knows what it is to work a full week or agree on anything...
And none of the 4 principals at LVLHS knows what it is to work a full week or agree on anything...
