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Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

i'm extremely sadden by this. i noticed a number of schools improved from the previous year and were a point or two shy from meeting the required percentage. Shouldn't those schools be put on probation for a year or two before they close?

Although, i am aware of the pressure put on principals and instructors, what pressures are put on the students and their parents and/or guardians?

Some may poo-poo this says, but it rings true for me. You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. My Mom would say that to me from time to time.

i am not a teacher, but i have relatives in the Chicago Public School System. They are dedicated and concerned educators.

Hats off to all principals and educators. You have one person on your side. God bless you, all!

Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

Rebecca Harris and Sarah Karp write: “At the Dec. 16 School Board meeting, the district laid out its clearest criteria yet for closing and turning around underperforming schools. The turnaround process sends the principal and staff packing.†At the December 16, 2009 Board meeting the district laid out no criteria, the criteria was laid out at the board meeting of June 24, 2009 when CPS passed board report 09-0624-PO1. What we got this December were the results of the criteria established in June. Possibly CPS laid out its most simple criteria yet for closing and turning around underperforming schools, but it is far from what I would call clear.

Now as to the actual performance scores and their calculation that was established at the June Board meeting. The math of the calculation that creates the performance score itself is odd in many respects. For example significant weight is given in the elementary school calculation to eighth (or highest grade) ISAT test scores which compose 14.29% of the total possible points in this elementary school 42 point system. The reality is in Chicago it was the seventh grade ISAT scores that were critical in determining the future of children until CPS revised its selective high schools admissions policy just a month ago. Moreover, in elementary schools with high mobility rates a good number of students in eight grade may have only been in the school for a year or two and it is hard to argue that the elementary school they are attending is fully responsible for these students academic standing. CPS attempts to offset this mobility factor with yet another component.

That offset is the complex Value-Added ISAT math and reading components which together compose 28.57% of the total possible points in this elementary school 42 point system. According to the CPS Board report that created this performance score value added scores are defined as: “the metric that assesses school effects on students’ academic growth,
controlling for student characteristics, grade level, and prior performance through a regression methodology. Academic growth is measured by the change in scale score points on the ISAT from one year to the next.â€

Value-Added metric (VAM) according to CPS accounts for the following student-level characteristics: Prior ISAT score, Free / Reduced Lunch Status, Grade Level, IEP status, Gender, ELL status, and Mobility. However, in all the information CPS has provided on the value added metric it has also included the following cautionary notes: “Only a Data Metric – Not intended to provide information on what to do,†“Based on Statistical Estimation – Cannot account for all external factors, but confidence intervals are provided so that information can be interpreted with caution.†There is more cautionary note than just what the CPS department of applied research has presented on its web site. Terry Hibpshman writing for the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board in September 2004 ( see http://www.kyepsb.net/documents/Stats/Journals/Heterogeneity%20of%20regr... ) states that “None of the (VAM) models can be shown to have sufficient precision to be useful in a high-stakes environment.â€

While VAM seems to have some value in understanding student improvement, it does seem questionable whether is should be such a big component of the ultimate high stakes test, one that could lead to a school being closed and all its staff fired. I can really see nothing in the literature that that would recommend that VAM should compose 28.57% of the life and death performance scores being used by CPS for elementary schools.

Rod Estvan

Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

What this article is, is just a speculative article. These two authors don't know anything, other than the criteria & who meets that criteria. Bad journalism. Dumb journalism. Now people who read it will think these authors actually know something and this is being reported like some decisions have been made. Dumb and unethical.

Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

Would you send your child to a school where 5 out of 10 students can read? I am sorry, 3 out every 10 students can read or do simple grade level math? We have been spoiled as educators and did not have the wisdom to see the ship sinking. There are many factors that contribute to a school's success or failure, however there is one set of employees that will bare the cross for success the demise. Is this fair, most likely no, however inner city educators have allowed a clever trick to be played on them. While we point fingers and watch scores decline, what could be done differently? Does or should anyone have to tell a failing school or a staff of this. This teaching body should have and will always be the first line of defense. When our students sit in classes and schools that are not productive, what type of obligation should we have. If the school is not fit for your children, then it should not be fit for anyone else's, especially the under served. We are, were and should have been our brother's keeper and this should have been in the classroom. Teachers are in a position of great power, and it is up to them as to how to use it. When you see your school train going off the track, you do your part to put it back on. The factors that you can't change will remain, but take control of what you can alter. Society does not feel sorry for displaced teachers of failing schools. In fact, it is questionable if teachers really feel sorry for each other. If we did, we would be more accountable to each other and the business of education would be the only business!

Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

Dear Daley and CPS Top Admin trolls on this forum, the buck stops at the top! If Daley had any integrity, which he doesn't, he would admit his incapacity and fear to hire a very competent CEO with successful experience of leading and running a large urban school district with the freedom necessary to carry out his or her duties apart from Ren 2010. Daley needs to stop the train wreck of a plan called Ren 2010 and follow what true high performing school districts are doing.

he report notes that U.S. teachers participate in workshops and short-term professional development events at similar levels as teachers in other nations. But the United States is far behind in providing public school teachers with opportunities to participate in extended learning opportunities and productive collaborative communities. Those opportunities allow teachers to work together on instructional planning, learn from one another through mentoring or peer coaching, conduct research on the outcomes of classroom practices, and collectively guide curriculum, assessment, and professional learning decisions.
“The United States is squandering a significant opportunity to leverage improvements in teacher knowledge to improve school and student performance,†http://www.srnleads.org/press/prs/nsdc_profdev.html

Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

What does a warning resolution mean to a principal? Who gives a principal a warning resolution?

Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

The Board of Education gives a warning resolution to a principal. Whatever the act of misconduct that the principal received the warning resolution for, if the principal does it again ,they can be terminated!

To: What

I applaud your concern for the children, but there is absolutely no evidence that closing down schools helps the students whose school closes in anyway. In fact, the evidence shows just the opposite. You add in the increased youth violence created by the closings and it is clear the closings are not being done to help the children.

Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

Thanks for your response. Do you know for instance if any teacher suspended even for minor offenses gets a warning resolutions?

Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

I am sorry that CPS treats it's veteran teachers like dirt. I do know there are many vindictive principals out there. I have always believed in karma. Hopefully "what goes around comes around and twice as bad." I hope that you are still working for CPS or perhaps that you are looking outside of the system. I have two children who attend CPS schools and I am worried about the direction the school district is following...pretty soon we will lose all of the wisdon of the veteran teachers and central office staff. Then our schools will be full of the "shake and bake" teachers with no experience and no way to gain insight from teachers who have been with CPS for numerous years. Once again I am sorry for what you have been through and I hope you are able to get through this. Thanks for your quick response to my question.

Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

One last question (just trying to help one of my friends), how did you find out about the warning resolution? Are you told at the hearing or do they tell you when you receive the hearing officer's decision?
PS-I'm happy you found another job. When you have good karma you always land on top. Sorry to see CPS has lost yet another veteran to someplace else. Thank you for all of this information. It has been very helpful.

Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

One other thing. Please tell your friend, and I'm sure others will corroborate this, regardless of how hard she/he fights, and regardless of how much evidence she/he presents to the contrary, the Board will side with his/her principal, even when the Board knows that the principal is wrong. There is nothing the teacher can do. If the principal requests discipline, the teacher absolutely will receive it, and an appeal hearing is a waste of time. Because of my stellar work record, I refused to believe this when other teachers warned me, and they were absolutely right. There is nothing you can do, and if you refuse to accept their bullshit, you will be targeted and blackballed. In my case, I have no regrets whatsoever, but others who have mouths to feed please be forewarned. I endured a lot of stress and grief for something I honestly, honestly did not do. There is no way I would have fought for the truth to come out if I had committed the alleged misconduct, which, in fact, if it had been true, did not warrant the punishment I received. Occasionally, I run into my former principal and she can't even look me in the eye because she knows I am aware of the lies she told and the people she solicited to bring me down. Good luck to all of you who still works for this district and please believe what I have told you. We all have to work for a living. I'm just glad I can make my living someplace else.

Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

I'm not a teacher, but my wife is. I can't tell you how many hours, per night, she spends creating lesson plans, grading papers and attempting to institute a fun learning enviornment.

Are there underperforming schools and bad teachers? Absolutely! However, the problem starts at home. When 75% of the parents do not speak English (as it is in my wife's school), it becomes increasingly difficult to effectively communicate. How can you possibly inform parents that their child is underperforming if they don't show up to report card pickup and a note sent home in English will be ineffective? Thankfully, my wife is bilingual, but I feel real sympathy for those non-Spanish speaking teachers who are at a severe disadvantage.

Look at the schools on the list... many of them are from low-income neighborhoods, with little home access to computers and learning material, but no shortage of cell phones, SUVs and XBoxes. In my opinon, these parents need to enforce education and less time in the nail salon.

Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

Many of the problems in these schools now is the lack of discipline for these students of today who have no regard or respect for anything or anyone. I blame the administrators of the school, and the school principals. Teachers have no power any more. I believe that if they did, some much of this would not be allowed. The students know that teachers have no real say or power so that is why they do what they do when they want to do it. The profanity used in these schools all up and down hallways and in classrooms toward the teachers and other staff, as well as other students is unacceptable and unexcusable, but when reported, all principals do is send them back to the classroom. There are no rules and no morals. Parents are not assisting in most cases. Children come to school every day without paper, pens, pencils. That is not the teacher's job. This is a fact, not an opinion. How can teachers teach when this type of lack of learning behavior is so prominent? Come and see for yourselves if you think this is exaggeration. Why aren't parents held accountable for this? These are their children. They are responsible for home training and responsible attitudes toward their children's academic achievement. You cannot teach anything or anyone out of control and out of bounds of discipline. If you want to see improvement in these schools, go back to the old way of doing same, and forget about the rap age. When I attended school, you could not talk back to a teacher. You definitely did not use profanity or you went home, not back into the classroom. Look at all of the weaknesses on the part of the administrators, both downtown and in the schools. No, this is not a teacher problem. I don't doubt we have some bad teachers, you have bad in every group of working people. For example, we have bad superintendents, bad policemen, bad CEOs, bad chief educators, bad managers, bad mayors, bad governors, bad presidents, bad principals,and so on and so on. This is evidenced every day, so why pick on teachers only? Deal with the reality of what you allow to happen in our schools today; for instance, the way you allow the students to dress: baggy pants off their behinds, with their underwear showing; rags on their heads, earrings in their ears. Girls: tight jeans, tight tank tops, nasty mouths, disrespectful attitudes, etc. How can you possibly expect the kinds of scores we received years ago when students had to be respectful, when parents sent children to school with adequate supplies and monitored them, when parents monitored and assisted in their child's homework every night. When parents cared and came up to speak with the teachers with respect, not threats and profanity? Why don't you top administrators stop sitting in your plush offices and come on in the schools unannounced, and get the true picture of where your problems really are in these schools. I guarantee you will come out with a different agenda. Don't judge teachers of today with what we have to teach today until you walk a mile in our shoes.

Dozens of Chicago schools eligible for closure, turnaround under

I agree with so many of the comments from my colleagues! Yes, there are teachers that need to revisit their teaching ethics. However, the first teacher, let us all remember, is at HOME! Until accountability is placed there in a major way, we will continue to see poor results (contrary to turnaround belief). Our union (and the other powers that be) needs to create a plan for accountable parents to present to our CPS administrators. For example, let's place some stipulations on government issued items. If the parent are the recipients of these types of funds, why cant' we put something in place? 1. Parents must meet with teachers weekly to receive reports about their child. 2. If the teacher doesn't see the parents he/she reports it and the funds or whatever is withheld until they do. 3. If the child is failing, offer parent supportive classes to provide strategies for their failing child. 4. If the parents don't show up or sign documentation withhold the funds or whatever. These are just a few ideas that I am sure will give us the results we are all looking for (including the Republican party). It's mighty funny that they are willing to go through extremes to eliminate teachers rather than pull together and improve are parents! We are quick to say "well these are the conditions but we have to...." have to what? There isn't much some of us can do without the parents total involvement. Our union can speak with the politicians and get these parents involved one way or another, instead of holding teachers accountable for the impossible. Ps. What are the statistics of success on turnaround schools and charter schools? I've read they aren't great at all. Charters and turnaround schools are other revolving tactics not solutions!!!!!!!