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Middle Class

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November 1, 1997

Middle Class

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Bridging the class chasm in South Loop

Dan Weissmann

Ten years ago, low-income and middle-income families were dug in for a long tug-of-war over a new school in the South Loop, an industrial wasteland that was being converted into upscale housing. Parents from a nearby public housing project eventually prevailed, winning seats for their children in South Loop School. The middle-class families angrily walked away.

Since then, hundreds of millions of dollars in city subsidies have poured into the neighborhood, and Chicago's mayor has become its most famous resident. Now, his school board, high-profile developers and an independent...

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The Iversons went north to Wilmette

Dan Weissmann

"If we were gonna uproot everything for a high school, we thought we would look for one of the best," says Barbara Iverson, a Chicagoan her entire adult life until her first child neared 8th grade.

To get one of the best—New Trier Township High School—the Iverson family (Barbara, husband Norman, daughter Liz and son Herb) moved from a house on the Far Northwest Side of Chicago into what she calls "the smallest house in Wilmette." It's not much smaller than the old one, but it's not an improvement, either, she says.

"It's lived up to our expectations," Barbara says of New...

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McGee family went south to Park Forest

Mary McNulty

This summer, Fahima and Jerry McGee and their five children left Chicago for a new house in far south suburban Park Forest. After seven years in the city, they are happy to be out of it and its school system.

"The kids had no social life," says Fahima McGee. "They could not ride their bikes or go to the candy store. I think that my children lost part of their childhood in Chicago."

Through a series of unhappy circumstances, the family moved from Joliet to Chicago in the early 1990s. For a while, Fahima had to support herself and her children alone. In 1991, she sent the...

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Can middle-class kids be lured back?

Dan Weissmann

Real estate brokers can be a tough crowd. Cynthia Draper-Hill, a former officer of the Chicago Realtors Association, says she's seen them walk out on after-dinner speakers. In droves.

But most of them stayed, riveted, to hear Paul Vallas, chief executive officer of Chicago's public schools, give the keynote address at the realty group's annual dinner in late September. Draper-Hill was not surprised. "Schools are definitely important to selling real estate in the City of Chicago," she explains. "People are looking at the prices of houses and thinking, 'If I didn't have to pay for...

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Magnet school policy: Who would benefit?

Dan Weissmann

In early October, Chief Executive Officer Paul Vallas unveiled a proposed new attendance policy for magnet schools that he had been talking about for more than a year. When it finally appeared in print, it touched off a citywide debate that quickly got personal.

In a letter to parents dated Oct. 10, which all schools were asked to send home with children, Vallas contends the proposal's critics "apparently ... do not want neighborhood children attending school with their children. ... They prefer to maintain a policy of exclusion so that certain schools are isolated from their...

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Lincoln Park High a model for Vallas

Dan Weissmann

When Paul Vallas talks about creating top-flight academic programs at struggling neighborhood schools, he cites Lincoln Park High School, with its flourishing International Baccalaureate (IB) and "double honors" programs.

"Think of it," he says, "13 Lincoln Parks, all across the city."

However, it took a lot more than IB and honors programs to turn a bottom-of-the barrel school named Waller into the respectable Lincoln Park High. Riding a wave of gentrification, a determined school administrator rallied community and central-office support to overhaul the entire school and...

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Bridging the class chasm in South Loop

Dan Weissmann

Ten years ago, low-income and middle-income families were dug in for a long tug-of-war over a new school in the South Loop, an industrial wasteland that was being converted into upscale housing. Parents from a nearby public housing project eventually prevailed, winning seats for their children in South Loop School. The middle-class families angrily walked away.

Since then, hundreds of millions of dollars in city subsidies have poured into the neighborhood, and Chicago's mayor has become its most famous resident. Now, his school board, high-profile developers and an independent...

> Read More

17,000 students bailed out in 1995-96

Dan Weissmann, Lisa Lewis

Between September 1995 and September 1996, 17,000 students left the Chicago public schools for non-public or suburban schools, according to a Catalystanalysis of School Board data.

Students bailed out at every grade level, but 8th grade topped the list, with about 2,700 students leaving for public suburban or non-public schools. Kindergarten was next with 1,600 students. Other grades averaged about 1,200.

While the leavers are more middle class than is total CPS enrollment, most are low income. While they are a much whiter than is total CPS enrollment, most are...

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What Matters Most

Special reports on the essentials of elementary school improvement

By: Linda Lenz

With this special report, Catalyst: Voices of Chicago School Reform begins an eight-part series examining What Matters Most in Chicago's ongoing struggle to create schools that meet the needs of our children. After more than seven years of chronicling school reform's twists and turns in the nation's third largest school system, we decided it was time to focus on its essential elements.

With this special report, Catalyst: Voices of Chicago School Reform begins an eight-part series examining What Matters Most in Chicago's ongoing struggle to create schools that meet the needs...
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What Matters Most

Punching up reform

By: Linda Lenz

NOVEMBER 1997--It was 10 years ago this month that then-U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett proclaimed Chicago's schools "the worst in the nation."

NOVEMBER 1997--It was 10 years ago this month that then-U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett proclaimed Chicago's schools "the worst in the nation." According to the numbers, Bennett was...
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What Matters Most

Three faces of reform

By: Elizabeth Duffrin

At the outset of school reform, Earhart Elementary School was an above-average school for Chicago; 33 percent of its students scored at or above national norms in reading, compared with 24 percent citywide. Today, the small Southeast Side school is outstanding, with 75 percent of its students hitting that mark. While Earhart soared, Beethoven Elementary School, a garden-ringed oasis among the Robert Taylor Homes, managed to climb out the basement. In 1990, only 5 percent of its youngsters scored at or above national norms in reading.

At the outset of school reform, Earhart Elementary School was an above-average school for Chicago; 33 percent of its students scored at or above national norms in reading, compared with 24 percent...
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What Matters Most

Five other cities

By: Lisa Lewis

Every major school district in the country is engaged in some sort of school reform. Efforts range from primarily pedagogical to primarily political.

Below are sketches of five districts. We included New York and Los Angeles because they come closest to Chicago in size. We selected the others by asking five well-informed observers to name districts with the most promising efforts. Memphis came out on top; finalists Boston and Charlotte-Mecklenburg were selected for geographic diversity.

Every major school district in the country is engaged in some sort of school reform. Efforts range from primarily pedagogical to primarily political. Below are sketches of five districts. We...
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Letters From Readers

Capital spending article 'misleading, factually inaccurate'

By: Catalyst

We are writing in response to the misleading and factually inaccurate article regarding the Board of Education's Capital Program published in the June 1997 issue of CATALYST. Initially, we decided to disregard the piece, but a couple of people have cited it, and now we feel compelled to set the record straight.

We are writing in response to the misleading and factually inaccurate article regarding the Board of Education's Capital Program published in the June 1997 issue of CATALYST. Initially, we decided to...
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