catalyst-chicago.org

The curriculum at the Love Learning Center, a state-subsidized child care center in Washington Park, is standard preschool fare: learning the alphabet, identifying numbers, building gross motor skills and the like.

Now, though, teachers are paying closer attention to how well youngsters learn those skills and are ready with new activities when they falter.

The biggest difference between high-spending districts and low-spending districts is teachers, mainly what they're paid but also their relative numbers.

That finding in a December 2002 study by the U.S. General Accounting Office is illustrated by a comparison of two elementary school districts in Cook County: north suburban Glencoe District 35, which spends $10,935 per pupil, and south suburban Midlothian District 143, which spends $6,584 per pupil.

The Consortium on Chicago School Research has conducted several studies on various aspects of the Chicago Public Schools program to ensure students are academically ready for the next grade. Here Catalyst Senior Editor Elizabeth Duffrin sorts the findings to answer fundamental questions.

Does retaining kids help?

Generally, no.

Retained 3rd-graders showed the same inadequate progress in reading over two years as similarly low-achieving students who, in previous years, had been promoted to the next grade.