Marshall High and other turnaround high schools, in Chicago and nationally, face a thorny dilemma. Higher-performing students are being siphoned off through competition, driving down enrollment and raising tough policy questions about the future of these schools.
Right Now On Notebook
By:
By:
By:
Current Issue
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
By: Alexander Russo / May 06, 2008
As you can see from the letter below, the folks at Catalyst seem like they have all sorts of changes in mind for the near future, based in large part on talking to educators and parents around Chicago.
I've already told them most of my ideas for what they should do (more timely stories, more investigative work, more fun to read, more expense account money for their favorite blogger).
What do you think? What should they do to make their reporting as useful and engaging as you can imagine? Post your ideas here, or send them to the editors at the emails listed below. Or both.
Full letter from Catalyst:
Download the original attachment
Welcome to the new Catalyst Chicago
We at Catalyst have spent much of
the past year exploring ways to serve you and, therefore, our city’s
children better.
Our new vision is an expansive one
that is based on what more than 200 people told us in interviews, focus
groups and surveys:
It takes more than the
professional school improvement community to improve outcomes for children,
so Catalyst will revise its product mix to reach more audiences.
People want to talk about
what is working, what is not working and next steps. Seen as a safe
space for that discussion, Catalyst will promote a diverse, robust
and constructive dialog on improving the educational experiences
of our children.
It takes more than a school
to educate a child, so Catalyst will incorporate into its reporting issues in the larger community that impact children’s learning.
Chicago is not an island,
so Catalyst will establish a greater presence in the suburbs and
the state capital and will work to develop a multi-city network
of urban education news services.
Earlier this month, we took our first
steps towards fulfilling our new vision. We produced an in-depth special report on Chicago’s high school transformation – the
copy you are receiving today is a condensation that ran in Crain’s
Chicago Business. We then followed up with a summit that featured Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan and Washington
Post education columnist Jay Mathews. Soon we will post a report
on that gathering online to continue the conversation.
The special report that formed the
basis for this summit is a prototype of a new product aimed at leaders
in school and community change.
We also broke related high school
news stories online, signaling increased use of this medium of choice
of today’s young adults. In the future, we will use audio, video
and interactive web features to communicate still more effectively
and to share the views and experiences of our various audiences.
As we at Catalyst plunge into a new
future, we ask you to help us out. Please share your ideas and your
reactions to our efforts. We look forward to the feedback.
Best regards
Linda Lenz Veronica Anderson
Publisher Editor in Chief
lenz@catalyst-chicago.org Anderson@catalyst-chicago.org
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
I'd love to see the Catalyst add more bloggers to the mix, perhaps some content from teachers and students. I'd also like to see more coverage of educational technology efforts in urban education. What are urban districts doing to bridge the digital divide? What initiatives are in place to help students become 21st century global citizens? What are other districts doing besides Chicago?
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
Reconstitution was a joke! Reengineering was a joke! Intervention was a joke! You get the picture, CPS wants to fool the public that they are doing something to help the students and punish the bad teachers and bad principals! High School transformation is a ____! Turnaround schools are a ____! Did I miss something? Alexander, but this out on this blog!
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
"...People want to talk about what is working, what is not working and next steps. Seen as a safe space for that discussion, Catalyst will promote a diverse, robust and constructive dialog on improving the educational experiences of our children..." (Catalyst, at the top of this thread).
Probably the most useful thing Catalyst could do is revisit one or two of the major pieces of nonsense from CPS that Catalyst hyped and legitimized over the years. Basically, for more than ten years, Catalyst has been the main periodical acting as cheerleader for corporate "school reform" and the bashing of public education and public school teachers that has gone with those monstrosities both here in Chicago and (since NCLB) across this land of ours.
My own personal suggestion would be a lengthy mea culpa about "High School Intervention" back in 2000. Catalyst was basically a cheerleading squad for the pedagogical and psychometric idiocies of JoAnn Roberts and the "Intervention" team and juked all the data to help along that expensive, demeaning and ridiculous attack on the general high schools.
After finishing a complete debunking of "Intervention" from 1980 (reviewing every lie and teacher bashing trick Catalyst ran as "news" back then) Catalyst can apply the same critical eye to "High School Transformation". That's Catalyst's latest contribution to the same tradition of mindless teacher bashing union-busting nonsense.
Of course, the day that happens hell's glaciers will calve.
But since you asked, start with your own examinations of conscience and some self-criticism.
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
Why not do a survey on due process rights for teachers in Charter schools?
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
Check into the number of due process cases brought by CPS and parents of students with disabilities. Gone up? Gone down? Why? How much money is involved?
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
Profile selective enrollment schools. Is it easier to teach there since you have the "crea of the crop"? Or is it more stressful trying to make sure the "cream" rises ans stays at the top?
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
I would like them to profile AMPS schools. is it really all it's cracked up to be? Should anew prinicpal retain AMPS status that a previous prinicpla earned? Which AMPS schools are losing the status and why?
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
Less speculation/opinion and more facts and journalism.
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
How about how schools differentiate professional development? If teachers are expected to do it for kids, why don't schools do it for their staff?
In other words, what are schools doing to move teachers from being bad to good, from good to great or from great to amazing?
Why all the one size fits all PD?
Where is the PD that hard working staff deserve?
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
Include all disciplines that play a major role in the education of the children of District 299 and the state. A major result of the various law suits and the closing of special service schools in the mainstreaming of medically fragile and special education students into the regular education program. Consequently, there is an increased need in the regular schools for Certified School Nurses, Social Workers, Psychologists, Speech Pathologists, and Occupational/Physical Therapists(aka-clinicians), and Special Education Teachers. Instead of increasing the staffing, school districts and the state are trying to pass off the clinicians responsibilities to the teaching and paraprofessional staff. This takes time away from the role of the teacher, takes time away from the general education student, and is a disservice to the student needing special services. The districts are not maintaining adequate Special Education Staffing.
All that said, Catalyst could open up the world of Specialized Service and Special Education for the general public and the education professional and illustrate the great need and value of these non-teaching rolls.
Remember, If Johnny can’t breathe; Johnny can’t read.
LAS RN
PS. Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 is School Nurse Appreciation Day. You may not see her/him as much as you would like, but let your School Nurse know that you know they are appreciated.
On this day of Appreciation call your House Representative and tell them to VOTE NO TO HB5960. (www.ilga.gov)
"Punished by Rewards"
Present some sound educational research on topics important to the schools. For example, some research offered by Alfie Kohn, author of "Punished by Rewards", and "The Case Against Competition", Why we lose in our race to win. Kohn has also written about the debate on Standardised testing, and the use of Standards. His position is sound, by the way, when he talks about the two aforementioned problems, as well as the use of rewards from early on, as being part of the problem in Education.
But for right now, most of us have simply fallen in line, and / or have been duped, letting the "powers that be" get away with using test scores to sort not only students, but teachers and schools. And even allowing them to use the word "probation" in reference to a school, instead of keeping it in the criminal justice system where it belongs.
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
- accuracy
- reporting the experiences of the families who have children enrolled in CPS and other school systems - be watchdogs for students
- less reporting on programs and policies as "designed," and more reporting on programs and policies as "implemented."
- better reporting on budgets, allocations, etc.
- better reporting on race and class in education
- less unquestioning acceptance of CPS/city propaganda
- deep reporting on the experiences of special populations, such as students with disabilities, students off the college-track, high-achieving students, etc.
As a reader, I would want to believe Catalyst knows (and reports) what is happening in CPS and how it all serves (or fails) to educate Chicago children and youth. At the moment, Catalyst isn't doing that job.
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
blahblah blah
Got Any Ideas For Catalyst?
Get someone to follow technology integration and improvement in CPS. If there are regular articles on the good/bad that CPS is doing in this regard (especially since there is a NCLB mandate for tech integration), they may be more apt to keep up with it.
I'm not speaking of just IMPACT or online gradebooks, etc. I'm speaking of real tech integration. Stories of teachers that understand that they can't overlook this and hope the next teacher handles it. Stories of teachers who make the time to improve their knowledge and really work for the kids. Teachers that see these positive stories may be motivated to become more tech savvy.