How two new freshmen fared first semesterDebra WilliamsThe adults who study and work in high schools generally agree that freshmen face a difficult transition from the small world of elementary school.
To get the students' view, Catalyst Associate Editor Debra Williams periodically tagged along with two students who made that transition this year, Crystal Daniels from Fermi Elementary School to Hyde Park Academy and Karlton Adams from McCosh Elementary School to Dunbar Vocational.
Both elementary schools are part of the Starting on the Right Foot, a cooperative program with Hyde Park High School that aims to prepare upper... > Read More |
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Separate buildings, cluster courses, military drills, block schedulingVeronica AndersonLincoln Park High
Freshmen take over a former elementary school.
As students trudge up the walkway to Lincoln Park High School, freshmen bypass the behemoth columns of the school's massive main building for a more humble structure and entrance across the path. The smaller, two-story school, which once housed elementary students and a district office, is now the academic home to more than 400 freshmen who enrolled in September.
The move to isolate new 9th-graders—from both upperclassmen and last year's freshmen who were not promoted—is the latest effort at... > Read More |
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Six elementary schools add freshman classLisa LewisLast spring, for the first time, five Chicago elementary and middle schools gave their 8th-graders a critical choice: They could move on to area high schools or stay put for their freshman year.
At Chavez and Seward schools, both in New City, and Douglass Middle School in Austin, about 50 percent decided to stay. At Lozano School in West Town and Hope School in Englewood, 35 percent stayed. Meanwhile, Hancock School in Ashburn, which had no 8th grade last year, recruited students to add a 9th grade.
The graduating 8th-graders had a variety of reasons for not moving on.... > Read More |
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High school office shaken up againVeronica AndersonIn mid-January, the office that deals with high school restructuring itself was restructured for the second time since it was created a year ago.
No longer a free-standing unit, high school restructuring now is a responsibility of the Office of Accountability. Powhatan Collins retains the title of high school reorganization director but reports to Chief Accountability Officer Pat Harvey. And Beverly LaCoste, who was named director of high school restructuring last summer, has been transferred to the Office of School Leadership Development. She now handles professional training... > Read More |
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High schools told: get goin' on freshmenVeronica AndersonNotice to incoming freshmen: High school may be hazardous to your academic health.
That, in essence, is the message of an ongoing study of the transition from 8th grade to 9th grade in the Chicago public schools.
Freshman failures
In a review of student transcripts from 1992, researchers found that 50 percent of all freshmen failed at least one first-semester course—primarily English, math, science or social studies, the core academic regimen students must master for success in school. Worse yet, only 29 percent of these freshmen broke free of failure the... > Read More |
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