As CPS prepares to close a record number of schools, the fate of students and communities is in question.
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Equity still a question mark with selective schools
The use of a single application would definitely streamline the application process--for central office application processors and not necessarily families. There is supposed to be “transparency,” but there are just too many question marks.
By: Zarinah Ali / April 27, 2012
My name is Zarinah Ali and I’m writing to bring to light an ongoing issue of equity within CPS regarding admission to the district’s top selective schools. The courts threw out a 30-year-old desegregation decree which used race as a factor for maintaining racial balance in the schools. The public schools vowed to maintain balance along economic lines in place of the old decree.
The problem is this: Somewhere in the process of maintaining “balance” and instituting the “Census Tract/Tier System” based on neighborhood economics, higher-achieving, lower-income minorities like my daughter are being shortchanged.
We are not a family of means, but instead live in affordable housing. We are, however, a family who values academics and a family in which all three minority children are excellent standardized test-takers. Our oldest has been on the honor roll for eight years. For this, we have been shown the door by CPS’ new policies and the Office of Access and Enrollment.
We applied only to the top four selective enrollment schools--Northside, Payton, Young, and Jones--because the academic and social climate in these schools is more in line with what my daughter’s needs are. We chose not to apply to other selective enrollment, magnet and charter high schools for a number of reasons. Some schools have a plethora of social issues we would rather avoid. Other schools have lower test scores, or embellished standardized test rankings. In addition, most of the other schools are not in a reasonable travel distance from our home.
Because we live in a higher-income census tract, my daughter would have had to score a perfect 900 to even be considered at Whitney Young, Walter Payton or Northside Prep. She scored an 857, so her only option was to apply for principal discretion--and be rejected again.
Our neighborhood high school is Wells. There have been issues with violence, gangs, drugs and academics at the school, well before we were even aware of its existence. My belief is that schools should be safe and conducive to learning. I don’t want to do a disservice to my daughter by putting her life and/or safety at-risk in an underperforming school. She is a fan of musician Yann Tiersen, classical piano and literature, and is an Asian culture enthusiast. She’s also a bit immature for 13. Wells High School would literally eat her alive!
I think the use of a single application would definitely streamline the application process--for central office application processors and not necessarily families. For instance, will a second or third choice rank-ordered school reject qualified students who didn’t select them as top choice?
Also, students now can only apply to one school for principal discretion—what happens with that process? There is supposed to be “transparency,” but there are just too many question marks.
I do not believe there is anything equitable about a process that drives students like test-taking workhorses. My daughter rose to the challenge, performed well and helped to boost CPS’ test scores during her years in elementary school. She now happens to live in Tier 4, but also be a minority from a family of very modest means. For this, she’s been shown the door.
Zarinah Ali
Exceptionally well addressed
Exceptionally well addressed article on the issue written by parent, Zarinah Ali. Awareness of this issue needs to be even more highlighted. Thanks to your efforts to do so. Chicago's mayor and family didn't go through such an unfortunate educational dilemma, now did they .
What?!
boo hoo, what about the non-minority kid down the street who did score an almost perfect score of 890 and was also shown the door? Are you sympathetic to that? Why should your daughter get in when he's got a better score. He isn't rich either. This is what thousands of kids around the city are experiencing. You are not special. You should have had a plan B and you didn't- shame on you.
Tiers are deceptive
Anonymous (way to step up, pal) misses the point. The tier system is cheap to administer but not very accurate. I live in a 1900 sq. ft. duplex apartment with a Viking stove (I rent). Across the street is low-income housing (Fullerton Courts). We are in the same tier (tier 4) because that's how the census groups us. Those kids are screwed; it's not fair.
While Ali may fairly be criticized for refusing to apply for other SE schools, what happens when a family has children that end up at opposite ends of the city?
anonomous is a dumb ass
If you read the whole article dumb ass you would know what was going on.
hey jamal
typos are one thing ....but winning your case by using that kind of language will help no cause! i personally think it needs to be based completely on INCOME STATEMENTS ALONE!!! Be you black or white....money is what get's you ahead in this world...these schools need to help the POOR of all races!! the whole census tract thing is insane...I used to live in Bucktown ....i was paying 400 a month on my 22 k a year salary while my neighnbor owned a 3million dollar mansion. The guy above me had 4 kids sleeping in the kitchen...yet the are was "rich".
"Safety" Schools
Every high school student who applies to college knows there are three kinds of schools: "reach," "target," and "safety." One of the first things applicants learn is that the admissions process is not "fair," but neither is it true that only Harvard graduates have successful careers.
"Reach" schools can be colleges, or in this case high schools, with high academic bars or those with many more applications than seats. The four schools Ms. Ali lists are both. She chose a strategy that meant "all or nothing" for her child. If she had included a "target" school like Lane, even if she saw it as a "safety" school, her daughter would now be able to attend a great school.
I sympathize with Ms. Ali's plight. Every single child should have the opportunity to receive a great education. But until we reach that lofty goal, let this be an object lesson to parents of next year's eighth graders: hedge your bets.
issues with violence, gangs, drugs and academics at the school,
Our neighborhood high school is Wells. There have been issues with violence, gangs, drugs and academics at the school, well before we were even aware of its existence.
Sounds like a lot of schools in Chicago!
Neighborhood criminals tend to come from fatherless and destabilized homes. Every future criminal is now attending a neighborhood public school.
I have been trying for years to persuade African American citizens to persuade their children and or their grandchildren to delay having children. I believe some people should not have children. I also believe a single young mother with multiple children could be trouble for any low income African American neighborhood.
What do you think?
marcsimschicago@gmail.com
Future Crime
> Every future criminal is now attending a neighborhood public school.
Even the unborn ones?
Even the unborn ones?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8L5qigtqOM
http://gis.chicagopolice.org/website/ClearMap/viewer.htm?POLICEDIST=022
I believe, as I suspect most people do, that the potential for change among human beings is virtually limitless. But I also believe----- and my work on this book has strengthened this belief---- that it takes a truly exceptional person to transcend his or her social environment and that we are shaped (and limited) by our backgrounds and by the thinking of our generation more than we know or are comfortable admitting, even to ourselves.
Ellis Cose
The End of Anger
The real problem
It's not just the tier system (which is a sick joke), but the focus by the mayor and the past mayor on turnarounds, charters and other snake oil edu-scams that is the problem. If they had focused instead on actually giving all schools and teachers the support and resources they need then we would be better positioned to improve, rather than going in circles while a few new charter schools get all the gravy while better performing neighborhood schools get the shaft. While Rahm has said CPS will open 10 new IB schools in a knee jerk response to the tier debacle, as usual, the details are few and far between. With so many kids doing well enough that the tier system is causing the problems that it is, our schools must be doing something right to have so many kids like Zarina Ali's daughter doing so well in school. The support at home is another place that CPS has dropped the ball on, by not sending the message loud, clear and often that the home/neighborhood environment is key to success at school, and demanding more of uninvolved parents by doing so.
Equity still a question
Comment to Anonymous #2...... As your comment ended, may the same be to you. It's time to vent and remove ones self from the assembly line when parents have done their very best possible, only to be met with the rude awakening of how the Chicago world of politics really works and that also includes this educational system . The fact that so many cattle brained individuals simply tuck their tails and disappear in the shadows as if they've done something wrong. So if hard working parents do or do not have a plan B, to be shipped off to slaughter silently is not the way to die. So, Kudos to Ali for the open expression of dissatisfaction to a highly dysfunctional system highly in need of some breakthrough changes. The 890 scoring child has perhaps you with your seemingly snide and arrogance to further their cause. A plan C might also be needed !!!!!!
An 890 score doesn't cut it for top SE schools
If you live in tier 4 then an 890 is not even in the ball park for the SE schools. 900 is what it takes, an 899 has you still climbing the fence to find a place to sit. Not that 890 is a bad score at all, just not good enough for tier 4 kids under the current system. One other thing to never forget is that the SE schools are extremely challenging by design, and not necessarily a good fit for all kids, even the smarter ones. Bottom line is the other schools in Chicago need to improve, and the direction and personnel at the top of CPS are not going to make it happen with what they are doing.
Children First Principal-now that I see with my eyes wide open
how many of our low income high scoring dynamic 8th graders did not get into ANY of these special high schools, I am convinced that this is by design. The coup de grace is that these worthy students are now forced to go to their neighborhood school, which has become more undesirable and infested with time, due to a CPS purposeful plan-making every neighborhood high school undeserving of the students that enter it.
"The coup de grace is that
"The coup de grace is that these worthy students are now forced to go to their neighborhood school..."
Please, do NOT force your student into a neighborhood school. There are always other options (private schools,virtual high schools,etc.). I know this may present some challenges to most parents, but please do not allow Chicago Public Schools to get additional federal dollars based on your child's enrollment in their sub-par schools. The refusal to fix a broken system may simply mean it's time to pull up stakes..
But some "Safety Schools" are unsafe...
While I wholeheartedly understand your position, schools like Lane, Lincoln Park, etc are just not acceptable for some kids (because of social issues referenced above). To each her/his own. There are always other options; Chicago Public Schools is not the be all and end all. This is more in line with our philosophy:
"You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run"
I don't get it.
Why would a great school be unacceptable due to "social issues". Kids at the best schools are there, with the support of their parent(s) for an education, not to have a club to hang with their friends. The greater the commitment of the kids and their families to education, the fewer the significantly negative "social issues" there are. What better place to deal with whatever the issues are than a place where they are more under control? I just don't get your idea on what's going on that you object to.
If you don't get, you just
If you don't get, you just don't..and that's fine. We all have freedom of choice and opinions. As I stated , to each her/his own. A certain school may work wonders for your family, but may not be the best place for mine.
I'd like to understand
So could you give a short explanation? I know that finding a good fit is more important than just going to a school with "name recognition" and a reputation, but I don't understand your objection to Lane or Lakeview etc. in that context. What social issue is so important or overwhelming in those places that it is a deal killer when the school is known to produce good education outcomes for all? What do you think will occur that would prevent your child from being focused on schoolwork like the majority of the other kids there? Peace and be well.
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