Fear jump-starts school improvementDebra WilliamsLast January, Chief Executive Officer Paul Vallas added 21 schools to the academic remediation list that began under the administration of his predecessor, Argie Johnson.
At the same time, Vallas also removed the principals from several of those schools, adding a new factor to the school improvement equation in Chicago: Fear.
Taking remediation seriously
"Beforehand, they didn't take remediation seriously," Calhoun North Principal Henry Thompson says of his staff. "The attitude was, this too shall pass."
But once principals started losing jobs, staff at... > Read More |
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Jenner shifts extras to after-school hoursDebra WilliamsIn October 1992, Jenner Elementary, which sits among the high-rises of Cabrini-Green, was thrust into the national spotlight when one of its students, 7-year-old Dantrell Davis, was gunned down on his way to school.
"There is always so much going on in this neighborhood," sighs Sandra Satinover, Jenner's principal. "When Dantrell was killed, it was such a bad time for all of us here, especially our students. They see so much. That's why we believe that it is important for every child in this school to find his or her niche and experience some kind of success, so they will want to... > Read More |
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How school remediation, probation workDebra WilliamsSchool remediation and probation were created by the original School Reform Act, with authority to take action vested in the subdistrict superintendents, and subdistrict councils. The May 1995 revisions to the Reform Act erased subdistricts from the law and gave the school system's chief executive officer the power to place schools on remediation or probation. Here's what the law says and how the current school administration has responded.
What are the criteria for putting schools on remediation?
Under the law, schools that have failed to develop or implement a school... > Read More |
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'Scandal' school sees reform ideas copiedMaureen KelleherIt's the end of day three of the new school year at Clemente High School in West Town. Hundreds of smiling, chattering teenagers, all in plain white T-shirts and dark pants or skirts, swarm to the down escalators in their nine-story school. On the first floor, Acting Principal Eduardo Negron and a host of career service staff form a line from the foot of the escalator, out the exit doors and along the sidewalk to Division Streetwaiting to send the advancing throng on its way.
The sidewalk to Division had been a trouble spot, Negron explains. Outsiders used to wait there at the end... > Read More |
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Administration keeps Clemente on a leashMaureen Kelleher, Dan WeissmannClemente High School is one of only three schools on "full financial supervision" and the only one that must have every expenditure approved by its regional office.
A year ago, Chief Executive Officer Paul Vallas created "financial supervision" and took action against Clemente. It was not until January, however, that the School Reform Board ratified the move; it adopted a policy directing the CEO and Department of Internal Audit to set guidelines for putting schools on and taking them off financial supervision and for the process in between. As Catalyst went to press, a copy... > Read More |
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Despite fresh start, a long way to goMaureen KelleherDuring every four-minute passing period at Austin High School, the rousing finale of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" resounds through the hallways. Three minutes and 30 seconds into the period, a stern voice-over warns students that they're about out of time. And when they are indeed out of time, the voice lets everyone know.
Student opinion about the musical motivator runs the gamut—from "irritating" (Marcus Harris-Lofton, 18) to "real cheerful" (Michelle Cadena, 17). But the staff is unanimous. "That did it," says special education teacher Shirley Moses, pointing to an empty hallway... > Read More |
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Fired teachers win their way backMaureen KelleherLast fall, amid confusion in the school and sweeping changes at central office, the then-principal of Austin Community Academy dismissed 17 teachers, sending nine to the exit with a police escort. (See Catalyst, November 1995.)
This fall, five of the 17 returned following a successful challenge to the firings and a settlement between the School Reform Board and the Chicago Teachers Union. Subsequently, one of the five was lured away by another school.
No one seems to know why the Austin teachers had been fired. English teacher Carol Leverentz calls the firings "witch-... > Read More |
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Evening school enrollment boomingMaureen KelleherLast December, Margaret Kirkland enrolled in Austin High's new evening school. She had been kicked out of its day school for fighting and, at the time, was "barely passing" her classes. But in her first quarter of evening school, Kirkland earned three A's and a B; the second quarter, she made straight A's.
"It's different," Kirkland says of the program. "In day school, you could just about do anything. With us [students] knowing this is our last chance, we're going to try and make it right."
Iva Lane, the school's director, expects Kirkland to graduate "soon," perhaps in... > Read More |
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A principal's risk: 'This year, everyone's doing it my way'Dan WeissmannThe new school year has brought sweeping changes at Pablo Casals Elementary School in Humboldt Park. All of them show the influence of the school system's new managers.
All children now wear uniforms, a practice favored by the School Reform Board. The average class size is smaller, the result of a redistribution of federal funds at both the city and school levels. And reading instruction has been overhauled to reflect the board's back-to-basics approach and emphasis on standardized tests.
Boosting scores on reading and writing exams is the No. 1 goal in Casals' school... > Read More |
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Retained students get extra help, 460 get waiversVeronica AndersonAlmost a fourth of the 2,025 8th-graders who failed the exit exam at the end of the summer Bridge Program got waivers that sent them on to high school anyway.
The 460 waivers were requested by principals and approved by regional offices based on students' overall academic performance last school year.
The 1,565 8th-graders who were retained will be retested in January and, if their scores exceed the threshold, will then move on to high school, says Blondean Davis, director of the Office of Schools and Regions.(The exit exam is the reading portion of the Iowa Tests of Basic... > Read More |
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