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Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a question in selective schools
By: Sarah Karp / July 24, 2009
CPS CEO Ron Huberman last week launched an investigation into whether clout gets some kids into the city’s selective high and magnet schools. But that’s not the only issue surrounding admissions.
CPS CEO Ron Huberman last week launched an investigation into whether clout gets some kids into the city’s selective high and magnet schools. But that’s not the only issue surrounding admissions.
Since 2000, the enrollment of African-American students in the city’s vaunted selective enrollment high schools has been on the decline, and the number of Latino and poor students remains starkly low.
And the School Board is still trying to get a federal judge to lift a 1982 desegregation consent decree that made race a factor in selective and magnet school admissions and ushered in extra resources. The decree allows schools to pass over white students and admit lower-scoring minority students as soon as whites make up 35 percent of the student body.
In January, U.S. District Court Judge Charles P. Kocoras heard arguments in which CPS lawyers suggested the consent decree is passé in a school district where only 9 percent of students are white. Some students and civil rights organizations said that CPS needs continued court monitoring.
If the decree is lifted, CPS will face the knotty challenge of crafting an admissions policy that retains some diversity in enrollment without using race.
Kocoras has given no indication as to when he will rule.
Meanwhile, all selective enrollment high schools have seen a decrease in black students, Catalyst reported in November 2007. Last school year, the only selective high school that increased its percentage of black students was Walter Payton.
A similar trend is taking place at the district’s best elementary magnet schools, a Catalyst analysis shows.
In a school district in which 84 percent of students are low income, 46 percent are black and 41 are Latino, only half of the students in selective enrollment high schools are low-income, 32 percent are Black and 28 percent are Latino.
However, in this highly segregated city, even these numbers make selective schools more diverse than regular schools.
| selective enrollment high schools | 2000 free lunch | 2008 free lunch | 1999-2000 black students | 2007-2008 black students | 2008-2009 black students | enrollment |
| Jones | 76% | 50% | 41% | 24% | 25% | 707 |
| Lane | 60% | 60% | 15% | 13% | 13% | 4088 |
| Brooks | 48% | 81% | 88% | 80% | 85% | 729 |
| Young | 36% | 34% | 41% | 31% | 31% | 2185 |
| Payton | 37% | 28% | 34% | 20% | 26% | 890 |
| Northside | 28% | 33% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 1112 |
| KING HS | 95% | 71% | 100% | 91% | 94% | 899 |
| Lindblom | 90% | 70% | 99% | 81% | 78% | 484 |
Other long-standing issues swirl around selective enrollment sch
I'd like to see numbers for Latino students as well. My impression is that Jones College Prep has seen its Latino numbers decline as its white and African-American numbers have risen, but I'd like to see the numbers to know if that is accurate.
Other long-standing issues swirl around selective enrollment sch
Hi Maureen,
The percentage of latino students at Jones dropped about 12 percentage points from 44 percent in 2000 to around 32 percent last year. In the other selective enrollment high schools there was a slight uptick in the percent of Latinos, but considering they were starting a pretty low numbers, any additions look particularly good.
Other long-standing issues swirl around selective enrollment sch
I would like to see CPS take a proactive approach to the number of non minority students attending the selective enrollment schools that do not actually reside within the City of Chicago. The only time they address the issue is in response to a tip. We should be more proactive like schools such as Homewood Flossmoor.
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
Add another 30+ sites to investigate: enrollment at charter high schools in the 10th -12th grades (handled on a 'case-by-case basis' at most charter high schools as a loophole around open lottery admissions for freshmen. MANY acceptances through personal connections or upon review of student grades/tests scores, directly in objection to supposed 'open enrollment.'
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
Your consistent and continual ignoring of the Hispanic population in a city where forty percent of the school children are Hispanic is an absolute disgrace.
Every single time there is an issue of disparity of resources to the disadvantaged, you can [i]always[/i] be counted on to mention Hispanics as a mere afterthought. You aren't still buying that swill about most of us not having our papers, are you? Wake up, people. Your ignorance makes your so-called analysis (how much scholarliness could be required to copy and paste CPS's press releases verbatim?) laughable.
Your prejudice shows folks, and it fools no one, not even those you are seeking to co-opt.
Other long-standing issues swirl around selective enrollment sch
When did Jones become a SE college prep? Were existing students grandfathered at that time - meaning allowed to continue until graduation? I thought it used to be more of a vocational school. That might skew the enrollment statistics and comparisons.
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
To RossR:
According to the Jones College Prep web site, it was 1998 when the school shifted focus from preparation for business careers to college prep/selective. If my memory serves they were among the first high schools that transitioned by not accepting freshmen for a few years. I think the last of the old Jones seniors graduated at the end of the new Jones freshman year.
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
Charters have a high Freshman "exit" rate so to keep the funding up, they'll accept "better" 10-12th graders.
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
Jones was founded as one of the new SE high schools, just like Payton and Northside. Besides the name and location, Jones College Prep has no ties with the past Jones High School.
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
Jones Commercial only enrolled juniors and seniors.
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
If the hispanic leaning poster wants to talk brass tacks, he/she should focus on the enormous drain they have placed on the system.
No wonder it is bleeding money, having to waste money on billingual education, build a new school on every block for people that breed like rabbits, but will not be bused to the empty schools along the old state street corridor ( like we African American would have loved to during the era of the Willis Wagons).
No, a lot of us are not concerned with the plight of the hispanic because they are such a drain on the system without adding any value.
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
Has anyone brought up the racial breakdown of the people let go at Central Office during the recent cuts?
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
I still don't see the big deal about trying to get your child into a better school. What's the point of having clout if you don't use it? After all, isn't that how our CEO got his job? If someone really looked at credentials, his resume would have went into the trash! So, for him to take a hard stance on this is a laugh riot!
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
This article would be better if you put complete breakdowns by race in the chart.
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
I think this article only fuels the race-related resentment fire of any person. White people complain that their kids don't get into schools because of racial quotas, Hispanics apparently (according to the poster above) are an afterthought and African Americans and Asians I am sure have some complaint as well.
None of this discussion however gets at the root of the problem which is that if you are a kid with an involved parent you will do better at CPS (especially if you want in at any sort of selective school) than if you are a kid with a parent who just drops you at the door and expects CPS to work their magic. If I have learned anything about CPS is that it is a system that favors the tenacious and the involved (and if are you are educated yourself, that doesn't hurt either) over those not able to put CPS front and center. This means that LOTS of smart kids get passed over - and in part because their parents are not present (for lots of valid and less valid reasons) they ultimately get a second or third rate education - because no one is consistently advocating for them. If all (or most) parents were involved in their kid's educations (and felt empowered to do so), I'd like to think that every school at CPS would be better. Maybe I'm just idealistic that way.
These articles about racial quotas and the like are academically interesting but don't provide solutions and only encourage parents (at least) to be racists under the guise of advocating for their kids.
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
Joe, yes, the racial breakdown of the people let go at Central Office during the recent cuts absolutely has been brought up. Just ask the Chicago office of EEOC. Plenty fireworks ahead about that, I'm sure. Stay tuned.
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
Good because my wife was one of the people let go during the recent wave of layoffs yet people who were hired after her kept their jobs. After twenty years with CPS it was a slap in her face to be let go when she did the job that was required of her. Then, many of her colleagues tried to get on with other departments only to hear through the "grapevine" that they had been blackballed in the system because of the failings of their manager. It's no wonder that the mayor is trying to dismantle the Chicago Public Schools in favor of charters.
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
Joe, your wife's complaint is a very, very common one from many others--particularly African-Americans who were laid off in this recent wave. I'll bet when (or if) the numbers are released, it will be absolutely appalling to see how many people in this racial group were laid off. And when you consider that three of four of the top CPS brass are African-Americans--Scott, Eason-Watkins, and Runcie, and stood by and allowed this to happen, it makes you wonder if the Jim Crow laws actually were, in fact, overruled by the Civil Rights Act..... Shameful!!
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that race cannot play the primary role in desegregation plans (suggesting socioeconomic status replace it) it will be interesting to see what happens in the future after the consent decree. Am I the only one disturbed by all the "zero-sum" reactions people have towards enrollment figures? Yes, more white and middle-class people are enrolling in selective enrollment schools, but isn't that maybe a good sign that Chicago is finally giving people the educational options that keeps more people in the city (paying city taxes) rather than leaving for the suburbs? I always heard growing up that White Flight was just about the worst thing to ever happen to us urban minority people, but now that more whites are staying in/moving to the city I hear/read lots of complaining that now they're taking too many places in the best public schools, etc. I encourage my kids to work hard in school and do all I can to make sure that they measure up intellectually (reading to them, teaching, nurturing, etc.) --I don't want them to get into a competetive public school largely because they're non-white. Also, as an educated professional able to give my children all the advantages that entails, how can I look at a single white parent struggling to get by with a low-paying job (and I know some, including our cleaning lady and one of our babysitters) that my child should get into a school over their child even if mine has lower scores and grades, just so that my minority group can have more places --I can't! Socioeconomics will have to play the lead role in the future in creating diverse schools, which is OK with me.
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
Thank you Kevin S. Its nice to know that there are other parents out there who are capable for seeing the forest for the trees. If anything, CPS should start looking at economic quotas over racial ones.
Huberman investigates clout, but minority enrollment also a ques
I oppose any kind of enrollment that is based on race. Discrimination by any color is discrimination. There is no such thing as reverse discrimination. Let's stop being hypocritical and judge people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. The NBA judges athletes on pure merit. There is no affirmative action in the NBA. Let's make it that way everywhere. There has to be aday where we don't look at people by their color.
--Neilski
www.CPSfan.com
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