CHA's commuter kidsDan Weissmann and Brian J. Rogal Four years ago, demolition crews began moving into Cabrini-Green, forcing Twanna Johnson and her four children to move out.
She planned to return to the "new," mixed-income Cabrini, so she kept her children enrolled in two Cabrini-area schools. As it turned out, that decision spared them more educational trauma than she had imagined.
The Johnsons have been forced to move two more times since leaving Cabrini—first to escape gangbangers and then when their apartment building changed ownership. That's common among the thousands of families who have been displaced by Chicago... > Read More |
|
Beethoven a magnet for commuter studentsDan WeissmannJoseph Barber had put Bush on the spot, asking who the candidate would appoint to the Supreme Court. Bush answered only that he would look for "strict constructionists," a dodge that Joseph noted later when talking to reporters. "I was looking for a name," he said.
The encounter produced a flattering photo: Bush smiling warmly at Joseph. Unbeknownst to the future President, he had made the young teenager a poster child for the commuter kids of the CHA.
Sixteen months before Bush's visit, Joseph and his family had moved out of Robert Taylor. He and his two sisters take two... > Read More |
|
Windows on Cabrini-GreenDan WeissmannA panel holding 35 shadowboxes leans against the eastern wall of art teacher Matt Scheregan's classroom at Jenner Fine Arts Academy in Cabrini-Green. Students, parents, and Scheregan himself created the shadowboxes in 1998 to document Cabrini's transformation. Scheregan, a student favorite, created an alter ego, "Mr. Spider," as a way to connect with his elementary school students.
When the shadowboxes were created, "the buildings were just coming down," Scheregan says."Whole families were coming by to say, 'Goodbye Mr. Spider, we're leaving.'"
Altogether, 125 Jenner... > Read More |
|
Displaced students no better, worse offDan WeissmannKids forced out of CHA high-rises by demolition are no better or worse off academically than their peers who have stayed behind, according to a new study.
University of Chicago researcher Brian Jacob looked at school records for 18,369 Chicago Public Schools students who lived in CHA high-rises during the 1990s, comparing those whose buildings were demolished to those whose buildings remained.
"I found that there was no significant difference" in test scores and dropout rates between the two groups, says Jacob.
On average, people displaced by demolition did not move to... > Read More |
|
7 teachers unsatisfactory; 25 vacancies remainMario G. OrtizWhen the Board of Education announced in July that five high schools would undergo intervention, one date became fixed in teachers' minds: April 13. By that date, principals are to have completed five mandatory evaluations of each tenured teacher in the intervention schools and decided who stays and who goes.
By early March, only seven tenured teachers—out of some 180 at the five schools—had received unsatisfactory evaluations and were subject to dismissal, according to Sandra Givens, director of teacher accountability.
For the intervention teams at the schools, recruiting... > Read More |
|
Scores up but schools no betterLynn Schnaiberg A three-year study commissioned by the Chicago public schools to examine progress under a 1997 high school restructuring plan has found that while high schoolers have posted significant gains on standardized tests of reading and math, "little significant change" has taken place in the city's most troubled high schools.
The changes made to date are a far cry from the "fundamental restructuring" the district envisioned in its 1997 plan, according to the $1.8 million study conducted by Northwestern University's Center for Urban School Policy. And while test scores have jumped since... > Read More |
|
Video games show the wayElizabeth DuffrinWhether it's blasting space aliens or maneuvering a race car, the first few levels of a video game are simple enough to give any player a sense of mastery, explains Jason Della Rocca of the International Game Developers Association.
See Side bar "Chart: Video games show the way" for more information
> Read More |
|
