Marshall High and other turnaround high schools, in Chicago and nationally, face a thorny dilemma. Higher-performing students are being siphoned off through competition, driving down enrollment and raising tough policy questions about the future of these schools.
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A little bit of high school transformation left
By: Sarah Karp / July 16, 2009
As private support winds down, CPS will continue scaled-back support of its High School Transformation project.
Board members recently approved $12 million over two years for consulting services from seven companies that supplied curriculum packages for the project and an additional one that provides assessments. Those packages—called IDS for Instructional Development Systems—include materials, assessments, professional development and coaching; they were to be the starting point of the district’s comprehensive plan to improve neighborhood and some magnet high schools.
As private support winds down, CPS will continue scaled-back support of its High School Transformation project.
Board members recently approved $12 million over two years for consulting services from seven companies that supplied curriculum packages for the project and an additional one that provides assessments. Those packages—called IDS for Instructional Development Systems—include materials, assessments, professional development and coaching; they were to be the starting point of the district’s comprehensive plan to improve neighborhood and some magnet high schools.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation originally pitched in $21 million for the effort, which Catalyst estimated would end up costing a total of $80 million over three years. The project was to reach 50 schools, but so far, only 43 have signed on and the district has no plans to add more. This last school year was the last year of Gates funding.
With the grant money running out and so much restructuring in the central office, it’s been hard to get a handle on what’s going to happen to this project. An interesting point in the contract: The curriculum companies will be required to also work with 150 elementary schools, but there are no details on what the companies will provide.
Plus, it’s anyone’s guess how this fits into the district’s larger high school strategy. When High School Transformation was first announced, the project had an office unto itself, with its own executive director, Allan Alson, who had been superintendent of Evanston Township High School. Last summer, Alson left and the Office of High School Transformation was subsumed into the general Office of High Schools. Karen Boran, formerly the manager of high school literacy, then became the director of IDS curricula.
Now, Boran says she is transitioning to another job. Mike Lach, head of high school teaching and learning, is left as the contact person on IDS curricula.
Some of the high schools using IDS are also part of the turnaround process. Don Fraynd, the head of the Office of Turnarounds, says those high schools—Fenger, Harper and Orr—will continue to use the curricula, though he adds that he will not be using the ids program’s method for receiving assessment data as he want it to teachers in a more timely fashion.
It is worth noting that the curriculum packages featured assessments designed by the companies and meant to give teachers good, timely data on student performance. This echoes CEO Ron Huberman’s data focus for the district, and I wonder if there could be some lessons here for Huberman on problems that may lie ahead on this front.
Principals report that some of the curriculum companies were better than others at getting the data to the teachers quickly. Also, my observation from visiting schools is that some teachers didn’t know what to do with the data, or felt torn between going back to re-teach skills and moving forward to teach skills that would be tested on the next assessment.
A little bit of high school transformation left
actually, Orr is no longer using IDS
A little bit of high school transformation left
to teacher:
Thanks for the tip. We will check out this development at Orr.
We'd also like to know from our teacher-readers: What impact have you seen from the new curricula? Has it made a difference with your students? Let us know.
A little bit of high school transformation left
IDS was a complete waste. We were required to buy package deals of books we didn't need. For instance, we had to buy 400 of the edition of Romeo and Juliet they wanted us to use when we already had 400 of our own, and they accidentally sent us hundreds of copies of a thoroughly mediocre graphic novelization of Beowulf instead of the promised Seamus Heany translation. The assessments were rife with typos and illogical questions, mistakes that were not fixed from year to year. The coaches were lacking in both content knowledge (one who had supposedly taught American Lit for years was surprised to learn that The Crucible was related to McCarthyism) and basic professionalism. IDS was a corporate sham revealing the absolute worst side of school reform: the misguided thought that what schools need is one-size-fits-all privatization. Good riddance.
A little bit of high school transformation left
From my understanding, the high school turnarounds, like Orr, are not using the entire high school transformation curriculum packages, especially abandoning the assessment portions of the packages. But they are going to continue to use some of the material provided through the curriculum companies. I am curious as to why the IDS were not good for the turnarounds and if they are being let go, what is going to be used in their place.
A little bit of high school transformation left
Lorraine and Sarah -- Call AUSL with your questions. Go to their schools, ask administrators, call teachers at their homes, then let us know the results in a news article. A little more gumshoe work in Chicago ed reporting circles would be refreshing.
A little bit of high school transformation left
I think the science company we had did a good job of mapping out the scope and sequence. Coaching was very good. However the pacing was way too fast and in the end I felt the students were set up to fail. The assessments, objectives and labs could have been better aligned.
I liked the prgram and am sad to see it end. Could it be improved? Of course.
A little bit of high school transformation left
The principal of my far northwest side high school firmly resisted Central Office overtures to adopt the IDS voluntarily. Our biggest objections are the $300 per student fee that must be paid from local school funds (and would decimate our school budget) and the loss of academic freedom and teacher autonomy that would result from following a scripted curriculum.
As an alternative to IDS, the principal proposed (and faculty approved in waiver votes) a restructured day that gives us about one-and-a-half hours each week to meet in teams. Last year, we developed standards-based learning packets, and this coming year we are working on developing common assessments.
Granted, not everyone has bought into the idea. There has been, I believe, a pervasive belief that no matter how much work we put in to developing our own instructional delivery system, the Board will evenutally come in and mandate we use their IDS (or whatever the fad of the day is). I must say that I am somewhat relieved the combination of dwindling funds and a new administration has stalled efforts to force additional schools to join the IDS program for the coming year.
A little bit of high school transformation left
This very thread highlights the damage that is done to new initiatives in the absence of communications and targeted discussions with key stakeholders. Rumor and myth abound in the absence of information. IDS Schools DO NOT and HAVE NOT paid for materials during the three years of IDS ramp up and implementation.
And actually....Danny to your point...What people should know is that IDS stands for Instructional Development System...it is a framework and strategy. It is Aligned Courses, Materials and Technology, PD, Assessments, developing Teacher Leaders, Release periods for Lead Teachers and Common Planning Time...people get hung up on the curriculum- it's not perfect; it's not scripted; it's managed curriculum... it can be and will be modified.
Contrary to belief...IDS is not ending.. It just will not look the way it has looked because it really was very expensive - with materials, technology, teacher stipends, coaching, and OT indicators taking up a significant portion - it is not sustainable in its inception form. Danny, kudos to your school for taking action to put pieces into place. Really, all schools should have an instructional development framework in place. Many good schools do. Science teacher, there will be continued refinement and adjustments around pacing and assessment alignment.
I'm amazed at how many people explain that CPS did not get into the situation it's in overnight yet, want a magic pill that will radically turn everything around in a year on the fly.
In the new world of high-stakes performance management and data analysis... there are going to be quite a few schools that wish they had Central-Office supported IDS.
A little bit of high school transformation left
Um,
This comment is directed at the person who identified themselves as "a little ids insight". Who are you? Huberman? More likely Mike Lach. Trying to appear useful. What the heck are you talking about? Every school HAD TO and ALWAYS HAD TO pay to have IDS program. Ten of thousands of dollars out of their school budgets to pay for this central office program. Poorly written assessments, inexperienced coaches, and everything not aligned to ACT/PSAE. How wonderful. Why don't you talk about the data? How have IDS schools have fared since becoming IDS schools? How about the comaprison of data between IDS & non-IDS schools in the same region? How come that never happens? What a mystery. For anyone reading this, IDS will soon be dead, these excuses about money are bull. It was a bad idea all around, decided upon by the non-educators at Central Office, who then forced it on the schools, and it didn't work. Nobody wants a magic pill, they want real educational leadership at the district level. With Huberman though, it's only going to get worse. Just watch what the next "initiative" is going to be.
A little bit of high school transformation left
To Liars Will Be Liars: Re-read Little IDS Insight's comment. S/he did not say schools have not paid for IDS. S/he very specifically said they did and do not pay for MATERIALS.
Another fact: Many who were involved in IDS' development and who are still involved are former classroom teachers.
That said, IDS, like any school reform effort, is not perfect, and some of your comments are valid and should be addressed, in my humble opinion.
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