catalyst-chicago.org

Ever since No Child Left Behind became law, a common complaint among elementary school principals is that transfer students drag down test scores, and they’re unfairly held accountable for the performance of children who arrive mid-year.

I heard something like this just two weeks ago from a principal in Humboldt Park, who told me that 15 new students had arrived that week—just days before the ISAT.

Any truth to these gripes? The answer is both yes and no.

A year ago, the district launched a broad new anti-dropout initiative aimed at keeping freshmen on track to graduate. Now CPS is adding more weapons to its arsenal: after-school classes, online learning and timely data reporting to schools.

The initiative launched last February featured Freshman On-Track Labs, which provided each of six schools with two staff members who devise strategies to keep students from failing or being chronically absent. It also created Freshman Connection, a program for every graduating 8th-grader to attend a six-week class before they entered 9th grade. There was also an initiative to support freshmen who are most at-risk for failure and students who were transitioning out of Cook County Juvenile Detention Center back to a regular high school.

Previously missing was an option for 9th graders to immediately make up credits in classes they had failed.

Edward Osby, a welding instructor at Simeon Career Academy, points to the white marker board in his classroom and notes that the math problem on it is not one that should stymie high school students. Yet months into the year, he’s still teaching it.

“Students should know how to convert six-tenths of a yard into inches,” Osby says. Such a proclamation—that students are behind academically—is not unusual in CPS. At almost 85 percent of high schools, the average scores of incoming freshmen are far below national norms.