Article sold Manley short Readers Before reviewing your recent coverage of Manley's ongoing professional development efforts (June, 2002), we'd like to emphasize the following facts, most of which did not appear in your article: As compared with four years ago when this project began,
nearly three times as many Manley students are reading at or above national norms (up from 7.5 to 20.8%);
nearly 20% fewer students are performing in the bottom quartile in Reading;
four times as many Manley graduates are going on to college;
over two-thirds of Manley's core content area teachers have been...
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Web Extra: State's answers to Frequently Asked Questions Catalyst The Illinois State Board of Education provided the following list of answers to frequently asked questions about public-school choice under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Eligibility of Schools and Students
Which schools are required to offer school choice?
How can single-school districts offer choice?
If the lowest performing students can leave a school in school improvement status, is it possible that all students have the right to leave that school?
How many Illinois schools will be required to offer choice in the 2002-03 school year...
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Would you transfer your child? Catalyst Yes
Betty Henderson,
grandmother of 13 Mason students.
"Before he [a grandson in special education] came to Mason, he was doing fine. I have seen so many other schools that would be more appropriate."
No
Robert Ladd,
father of Isaac (below)
and two others at Medill.
"I wouldn't move them because the location is perfect here at Medill. Plus, they're learning there. Sometimes if you move a child it affects their ability to learn."
Yes
Tiney McKnight,
mother of 2nd-grader at Dumas Elementary.
"I want her...
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Tougher measures to gauge school progress Alexander Russo Using unfamiliar measures of school success, No Child Left Behind is upending state and local school accountability programs across the country. This summer's announcement that 179 Chicago schools landed on the first rung of the federal sanction ladder is just a beginning of the local drama and, likely, the confusion.
The overall goal set by the new law is to have all students proficient in reading and math by the end of the 2013-2014 school year. Schools are expected to make "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) toward that goal each year. AYP goals will be set not only for the school...
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Board to call shots on new federal money Alexander Russo Chicago's public schools are getting a 27 percent increase in federal Title I funds this year, school officials say, but schools will not see an increase in their discretionary money. Instead, the School Board has decided how to use the extra money on schools' behalf.
Even in the view of one of the city's staunchest decentralization advocates, that's OK.
"I don't think that's inappropriate," says Donald Moore, executive director of the research and advocacy group Designs for Change. "Here are some of the schools that have had a chance over the years and haven't improved...
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Slow starts, false starts abound across country Alexander Russo Chicago and Illinois aren't the only places trying to minimize the impact of No Child Left Behind during the first year of implementation. Here is a glimpse at what's happening in other cities and states, according to recent newspaper reports.
BALTIMORE
Only 200 get to go. Only 11 elementary and middle schools met the School Board's criteria for receiving schools. The criteria included distance limits, a minimum achievement level and excess capacity that, contrary to federal directives, took class size into consideration. Baltimore has 83 failing schools enrolling 30...
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New law gives boost to community schools Catrin Einhorn A little-known aspect of the new federal education law is breathing life and extra money into community programs that pick up where schools leave off.
No Child Left Behind earmarks $1 billion for the national program called 21st Century Community Learning Centers, an effort to expand after-school academic programs.
About $325 million of that amount will go directly to states to be distributed to school districts. Illinois is slated to receive an additional $12.5 million this year, and may get more in the future. This year, Chicago Public Schools anticipates $6.2 million in...
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Web Extras: State's school-choice overview Catalyst The Illinois State Board of Education published the following overview of how choice programs work under the No Child Left Behind law. ISBE has also published answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
Overview of Public School Choice for Illinois Schools
NCLB Provides Public School Choice Option for Students in Low-Performing Schools
Giving students in certain low-performing schools the opportunity to attend a higher-performing public school in the same district is one of the major components of the new federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB).
The...
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Where it came from and where it's going Alexander Russo Betty Henderson is not happy about how her local school, Mason Elementary in North Lawndale, has been treating one of her grandsons.
"I have a very poor impression of the school," she says, singling out the special education classroom where the boy, a 3rd-grader, has been placed. "Before he came to Mason, he was doing fine." Fed up, Henderson, who has 13 grandchildren at Mason, would like to move her grandson to another school with a better special education program. "I have seen so many other schools that would be more appropriate," she says.
Federal lawmakers had people...
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Number of schools with choice dwindles Alexander Russo As the state and city school boards prepared for the first year of school choice under No Child Left Behind, the number of schools designated for this option took a nose dive. Here are the totals and what they describe.
390
MARCH: The number of Chicago elementary schools where fewer than 50 percent of students met standards on the 2001 ISATs.
262
JUNE: The number of schools that had not met their progress goals on the 2000 and 2001 ISATs.
179
MID-JULY: The number of schools from the June list that did not meet their progress...
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School choice under 'No Child' Catalyst "I honestly believe that the best way to fix these schools is to fix these schools."
Arne Duncan, CEO,
Chicago Public Schools
The law
No Child Left Behind is the name of sweeping federal legislation aimed at bringing all students to proficiency in reading and math by the 2013-2014 school year.
It requires schools to make adequate yearly progress toward that goal. Average test scores must improve not only for the student bodies as a whole, but also for individual subgroups that include major ethnic groups, low-income students, students with...
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