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At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Posted By Rebecca Harris and Sarah Karp On Wednesday, December 16, 2009
In Government and Policy Reversing himself, CPS CEO Ron Huberman said today that race will be a consideration in admissions to magnet and selective enrollment schools – initially as a backstop to a new policy that relies heavily on other factors.

Huberman also predicted that CPS will wind up back in court, perhaps eventually the U.S. Supreme Court, defending the policy.

Previously, CPS officials ruled out race as a consideration. But at today’s Board of Education meeting, Huberman said that once students have gone through the admission process as laid out in the new policy—passed unanimously—he will look at the racial and socio-economic makeup of the incoming classes. If the populations of magnet or selective enrollment schools are skewed so that there’s less diversity, he said, he will adjust the admission criteria.

“We will do a gut check before sending out admissions letters,” Huberman said. “We will look to see how many white students got in, how many African American, how many Asian?”

In other developments at the board meeting:

•    Huberman pledged that he will close no high schools this year because of safety concerns. The administration also presented the board with detailed guidelines for closing schools or putting them on turn-around status. Officials said that under previous the administration, the criteria for closings—mainly under-utilization and poor performance—were unclear.

•    During a long, contentious public comment period, a group of parents and activists called for a new neighborhood high school to be opened in Carver Military High School. Instead the board gave the go-ahead to Chicago International Charter School to open  a school serving students from 6th to 12th grade in the old Carver Middle School. The activists opposed that move.


The change in course on the magnet and selective enrollment admissions policy comes after weeks of growing discontent with the proposed new policy. In September, a federal judge terminated the desegregation consent decree that required CPS to use race as a factor in determining who was admitted into magnet and selective enrollment schools.

For magnet schools, Huberman’s initial proposal reserved seats for all siblings of currently enrolled students, set aside half the seats for neighborhood children and divided the rest among students in four socio-economic categories, determined by the area in which a student’s family lives. For selective enrollment schools, half of the seats would be awarded by test score ranking and the rest portioned out by socio-economic category.

Announced in early November, CPS officials have spent the last month testing the proposal in six public hearings and meetings with aldermen and community groups. Many expressed concern that the policy would serve to shut out black and Latino students, especially because many of the best magnets are in predominantly white neighborhoods and white and Asian students tend to score better on the admissions test.

Acknowledging those concerns, Huberman revised the proposal to reserve up to 40 percent of seats for neighborhood children in magnets and up to 40 percent awarded based on test scores in selective schools.  Huberman could lower the neighborhood and test score rank portion to 30 or even 20 percent if they are causing the schools to re-segregate.

This policy will be in place only for a year. Huberman said that in January he will lay out a more formal process for community input to develop a new policy. He said that after thorough vetting by the legal department, race might be part of the policy created next year.

By the time Huberman made his presentation to the board, many community members had left. Earlier, Phil Jackson, executive director of the Black Star Project, led a group of at least 50 people into the room chanting “Educate or Die.”

Jackson and others accused the district officials of rushing a decision and said that they were wrong to discard race from the admissions’ process.

School closings

Huberman will announce in January which schools he intends to close and turn around. All of them will be subjected to the new criteria that he laid out on Wednesday. 

In the past, these drastic steps were taken when a school was under-utilized or had too many students performing below grade level on standardized tests.

Now, CPS officials will look at a broader range of factors, including value-added test scores, attendance and freshmaen course completion rates  to determine which schools could be closed for poor performance. 

(Also on Wednesday, CPS posted Performance Policy Reports for each school showing how many points they garnered. Schools that got less than 33 percent of possible points are eligible to be shut down or turned around.)

There are also clearer criteria for closures triggered by declining enrollment. A school would have to have both fewer than 250 students, and be using less than 40 percent of its building’s design capacity. Magnet schools and early childhood centers will not be closed.

The closing policy includes a “Student Bill of Rights,” developed partly in response to findings from a report by the Consortium on Chicago Schools Research, that found that many students fell behind after their schools closed but that those in better-performing schools were more likely to catch up.

Now, schools will not be closed unless students can be assigned to a better-performing receiving school. If that school is more than 1.5 miles from a student’s home, the district will provide transportation. The district will also try to provide extended instructional time in all receiving schools.

The district will also complete a “safe passage plan,” with the Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Transit Authority. Huberman pledged that the plan would be shared with parents.

Chicago Board of Education member Norman Bobins pointed out that such steps are easier proposed than taken. “It’s all in the delivery,” he told Huberman, who responded that staff would monitor whether Student Bill of Rights benchmarks had been met for each student in a closing school.

Fenger High School

Testimony before the board grew fiery and disintegrated into several shouting matches as parents and activists decried the violence faced by high school students from the Altgeld Gardens area who travel as far as five miles to attend Fenger High School.

“Every passing period, I’m paranoid because I don’t know if I’m going to get jumped on,” Fenger student Deontea Jones told the board. “We need a neighborhood school so we can have safe passage, and don’t have to worry.”

The neighborhood lost a high school when Carver High School was turned into Carver Military Academy. About two dozen members of the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), a coalition opposed to Renaissance 2010, gave the board a proposal for a new Hazel Johnson School of Environmental Justice that would share Carver Military Academy’s building, in Hegewisch.

Cheryl Johnson, executive director of People for Community Recovery, said that since the conversion violence has increased.

In the hallway after the testimony of Johnson and others, Chief Administrative Officer Robert Runcie said it was unlikely that the board would grant GEM’s wishes. He said that the CICS charter school set to open in Fall 2010 in the old Carver Middle School had been vetted by the community’s Transition Advisory Council, set up by the Office of New Schools to consider such proposals.

“CICS are high quality schools, and they have long waiting lists,” he said. “A cross-section of community members have determined that this is what they want.”

But Johnson and others said that since the TAC met, the situation has deteriorated, as evidenced by the beating death of Fenger High School student Derion Albert. They said it was an emergency and they wanted a public school that had a local school council. Charter schools are also public, but they are generally run by not-for-profits and have few, if any, parents or community members on a governing board.

In the meantime, Runcie told parents, CPS is addressing Fenger’s problems by bringing in motivational speakers, holding assemblies, and increasing the number of security guards at the school. He said the district had agreed to provide transportation to students who transferred out of Fenger – so far, more than 150 have accepted.

But Rico Gutstein, an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who helped write the neighborhood school proposal,   told board members that “the transfers are not the issue.” He asked if they would consider an emergency meeting.
“…Or do you want the blood of another child on your hands, because you refuse to hear the people’s voices and act quickly?”

Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart, addressing the board about an unrelated issue, also weighed in.

“Carver was built for the Altgeld community. Give the school back,” she said.






Comments
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 8:17 AMBy: Dunreith Kelly Lowenstein Thank you! Thank you wonderful Catalyst reporters for bringing me right into the board meeting both in texture and content. I appreciate knowing I could expect to be alerted to and then read the Catalyst notebook for timely and important information!
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 9:06 AMBy: Valerie F. Leonard At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Excellent report, as usual, Rebecca and Sarah.
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 9:32 AMBy: ? At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy "Huberman said that once students have gone through the admission process as laid out in the new policy—passed unanimously—he will look at the racial
“We will do a gut check before sending out admissions letters,” Huberman said. “We will look to see how many white students got in, how many African American, how many Asian?”

And how is this going to happen if applicants were instructed not to put down racial identity on the form AND if it is prohibited by the court ruling??????? This must have come out off the cuff.
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 9:44 AMBy: Steve Questions I have an 8th grader applying to Selective Enrollment high schools. On the FAQs posted on the OAE web site, there was a question that expressly asked whether the applicant's race needed to be filled in on the application. The answer was simply "No." So we didn't fill in my child's race. Yet Ron Huberman is quoted as saying the following at yesterday's meeting:

“'We will do a gut check before sending out admissions letters,' Huberman said. 'We will look to see how many white students got in, how many African American, how many Asian?'"

If race wasn't filled out on the application based on the clear answer in the FAQs, how can CPS do what Mr. Huberman said at the meeting? How will they know the race of the applicant? More frustratingly, the FAQs isn't on the web site anymore (though I downloaded a copy from a couple weeks ago).

I'd really like to know just what is going on. This is a public school system, and we are entitled to clear answers from the public officials who run it. Will race be used or not? If yes, exactly how will it will used? (And simply saying race will be used as part of some "gut check" won't pass muster, legally or otherwise.) And how will CPS determine the race of applicants if that information isn't on the application?
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 10:08 AMBy: Yolanda Woods At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy I was having a conversation with a co-worker and we were wondering why was the name changed from George Washington Carver High School to Carver Military Academy in the first place? Does the name change also come with a curriculum change also
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 10:13 AMBy: Horace Mann At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy "During a long, contentious public comment period, a group of parents and activists called for a new neighborhood high school to be opened in Carver Military High School. Instead the board gave the go-ahead to Chicago International Charter School to open a school serving students from 6th to 12th grade in the old Carver Middle School. The activists opposed that move."
Once again proving that the administration cares nothing about what the community wants or needs. If they had listened to that community in the first place, violence related issues would not be as much a problem. This community has been through enough already! Give them what they want and need!! People in the community know their community!!! Administrators in offices and charters from outside the community do not! This is obviously more about privatization than it is about community and education. Sad thing is that its going to go national with Arne Duncan in control of our nation's schools. So much for Obama's bottom-up campaign rhetoric.
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 10:15 AMBy: ggg Typical Chicago city government This is what happens when you make a decision and THEN decide to run it past the people. Although we live nextdoor to a highly regarded magnet, my kids will be going to a neighborhood public school. I just don't want to deal with that kind of drama -- not that my kids will get in anyway!

But I am thinking about all the parents out there who must be completely and utterly frustrated. They should have had a plan in place all along. The plan should have been the topic of many meetings with parents long ago. This whole thing was no surprise to anyone.

Huberman's comments make it seem like the principals are just going to handpick their kindergarten class. And as the poster before said, race was NOT supposed to be a factor. What are they going to do? Guess from the child's name? Our youngest child was adopted. If we don't have race on her application, how is anyone to know her race (African-American) from her very Swedish last name? Yet, she is not the child they are trying to help in the magnet system, is she?

Yet, that is the "kind" of minority one too-often finds in magnets nowadays, anyway. The "Hispanic" child whose parents are from SPAIN, for example.

The system is very, very broken. It's going to take a lot of hard work to fix it. The only way to help all our children is to help all our schools. I am so, so sorry for the frustration parents are feeling today.

And, yes, thank you Catalyst for being the only source I know for this important information.
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 12:30 PMBy: John Paul Jones At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy The public and moreso the students from the Riverdale/Calumet communities were wise to participate in this public policy debate governing new schools and magnet/selective enrollment program amendments. The public added value to Developing Communities Project and its Vocational Review Team efforts to gain student entry to the original George Washington Carver High School and to expand vocational options in the region via the Hazel Johnson School of Environmental Justice. FY 2010-11 will certainly bring victory to the community and elevate the importance of public education in Chicago. We have just begun to Fight!
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 12:54 PMBy: just listened to the board meeting At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy I just listened to the Board meeting on the WBEZ site. Huberman DID say at 21:45 in response to a Board member's question that there will be an opportunity before finalizing acceptances for a gut check to see if the goals of socio-economic AND racial diversity is acheived. Fair enough on the social economic issue but I am at a loss as to how they can gauge racial information since parents were instructed not to put it on the application.

The most interesting aspect of this will be the applications from census tracts 1 and 2. If they want to acheive the diversity, they are really going to have to work with principals at selective enrollment schools about minimum cutoffs--that is where the diversity will come from. I suppose they could look up the race of current CPS students but they will not be able to determine the race of those applicants who have not attended CPS schools.
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 1:29 PMBy: I listened to it too At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy The only people who made any sense to me were Norm Bobbins who asked common sense bottom line questions and Pat Rocks who explained that the Board cannot scrutinize 15,000 applicants using race in an individualized manner. My sympathies to Claire Munana dealing with that zoo. That female professor from UIC was the most unbalanced of series of unbalanced speakers. What a nutcase!
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 3:13 PMBy: Laura At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy “We will do a gut check before sending out admissions letters,” Huberman said.

Can anybody inform me on what kind of data is used when checking guts?
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 3:15 PMBy: to laura At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy ouch! touche!!! wish i had thought of that . . . not everything can be quantified.
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 4:00 PMBy: Rod Estvan on cut off scores At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy The poster "just listened to the board meeting" raises this very interesting issue writing: "The most interesting aspect of this will be the applications from census tracts 1 and 2. If they want to acheive the diversity, they are really going to have to work with principals at selective enrollment schools about minimum cutoffs--that is where the diversity will come from."

I would assume the cut off scores for the Selective schools from tiers 1 and 2 would be lower than for tiers 3 and 4. But if you look at Tier 1 you will see that there is at least one census track in it that has a median family income of $62,139 and probably several other Tracks with a median family incomes somewhat less than than that. There are 210 tracks in tier 1 and I would conservatively estimate there are at least 10 tracks composed of middle income families within that tier. (All of this data is on the CPS web site.)

Some of these middle income tracks in tier 1 are populated by non-minority urban pioneers. These tracks will likely produce the higher scoring students within tier 1, assuming the research on the relationship between income and standardized testing scores is correct. So adjusting down the cut off scores for this tier really may mean nothing in relation to increasing the number of black and hispanic students who qualify for the selective schools.

The actual results will be interesting to see next year, as will the spin CPS may put on those results.

Rod Estvan
Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 9:43 PMBy: Danny At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Thanks, Catalyst, for the excellent coverage.

I'm somewhat hopeful that Mr. Huberman intends to do the right thing on school closings (though, maybe it's just the euphoria of one more day 'til Christmas break).

The Huberman team certainly doesn't cover for the Duncan administration. You report "Officials said that under previous the administration, the criteria for closings—mainly under-utilization and poor performance—were unclear."

This sounds about right to me, and it shows that the Duncan administration was much more hype than substance.
Fri Dec 18, 2009 at 12:09 PMBy: Aardvark At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy I know your focus is on race issues, but why don't you branch out a bit and investigate the fact that Huberman et al have utterly destroyed morale at CPS, most competent administrators with real expertise are jumping ship or being forced to walk the plank, and the whole thing is being turned into a phony numbers game? After all, given the demographics of the student body, this gutting of the human infrastructure will in some sense bear most heavily on students of color.
Fri Dec 18, 2009 at 1:35 PMBy: the Q & A has reappeared on the website At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy 28. Do I still have to fill in my child’s race on the application?

No.
Fri Jan 1, 2010 at 2:44 PMBy: not selective At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Please change the term "Selective" to "Advanced" or "Accelerated." Gifted and Advanced children need these programs to be challenged and reach their potential. (Just like selection criteria for ESL, Learning Disabilites) Using the word Selective Enrollment Elem/HS for Gifted or Advanced only ticks off people of every race. The children that are selected for those schools are genetically predispositioned for advanced learning and have very supportive parents in early education. It has nothing to do with selection based on race or some magical criteria. Performance, hard work and aptitide, not race. You gotta pass the test to be in the program, not appease the Selection Fairy. It seems not many people complaining about not getting into Selective schools understand this.
Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 5:11 PMBy: mom At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy So, when do the letters go out this year for selective enrollment high schools?
Mon Jan 18, 2010 at 2:25 PMBy: race question on selective enrollment test? At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy My 8th grade neighbor took the selective enrollment exam on Saturday and told me that they had to identify their race at the test site. A few kids questioned this, but were told to fill it out.

Is this the gut check or what?????
Tue Jan 26, 2010 at 7:16 PMBy: Parents for Fair Testing Selective Enrollment Testing Procedure This may be unrelated, but I'm sure that students who go to magnet elementary school get such coaching.

When taking the selective enrollment exam should a student who runs out of time (a) guess at the remaining questions to finish the test, or (b) leave them blank?

Also, does anyone know if it scored strait on number of answers answered correctly, or by algorithm?

There are so many mixed opinions that it isn't clear how the test is scored. Just hoping to empower the people with some information.
Wed Feb 3, 2010 at 10:31 AMBy: CPS Parent At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy How many people knew that after this new policy was approved, the application deadline was extended to January 6 and re-ranking of schools was allowed? This was not well-publicized. I found out only because I called to make sure my child's application was received. As for race, I marked it on the application even though we were told not to at the information meeting. I don't know what will happen with those who did not. Maybe they will just draw more students from neighborhoods with high minority populations. It won't help us, because we are in a majority white area.
Wed Feb 3, 2010 at 1:01 PMBy: cpsparent2 At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy to cps parent: we received a voice mail from CPS stating the deadline was extended and we received a mailing telling us that if we wanted to rerank we needed to do so by 1/6. It was also available on the CPS website. Not sure what else could have been done.
Sat Mar 20, 2010 at 2:18 AMBy: SE PARENT At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy well, my child didn't get into ANY of the magnet schools. tho, she has high scores, I just can't pay for private school right now. I just got laid off. My child will have to attend her neighborhood school--which is kenwood. I've heard horror stories about that kenwood, but i was wondering if anyone knows if it's true? Is kenwood a good school or not? be honest...
Sat Mar 20, 2010 at 6:45 AMBy: rave At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Kenwood is a fantastic school for students who work hard, are serious about their education, and have parental support.
Sat Mar 20, 2010 at 8:02 AMBy: rave reality please At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy What about the 60% at Kenwood who are not? Why do you think their 8th graders go somewhere else if they can? And when Kenwood's 8th graders have to stay at Kenwood, why? They came in as high scorers, but fall short of SE high Schools.
Sat Mar 20, 2010 at 1:49 PMBy: not first hand but At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy I know a family whose child is at Kenwood. Last I heard, they were not happy with social dynamics but the academics are pretty strong. The school definitely has resources--U of C is a resource and I believe that students can take classes there. There are also some strong serious families. You could do a LOT worse than Kenwood as your neighborhood school.
Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 12:53 AMBy: SE Parent At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Thanks for your imput guys!!

Well, I don't know much about the school(our family just moved to chicago & hyde park 7 years ago)

I still am a lil weary about the school. Especially since my daughter is white, and the school is mostly black. Im not racist or anything, but I am @ fear that she'll be picked on, b/c she's the little white girl. I did read that the school got a silver medal by U.S News report. I guess that's good?? I don't know too much about charters schools to enroll her there. But the opportunity of her taking classes @ the U OF C FOR FREE sounds pretty amazing.

What should I do people? Should I honestly worry about her not getting a good education at kenwood??? I swear i will up & move to the lincoln park neighborhood, and enroll her there if I have to!

Sad it would have to come to that, tho..
Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 10:25 AMBy: Sarah Karp At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy To SE Parent:
Kenwood is a magnet school that you must apply to, even if you live in the neighborhood. Unlike selective enrollment schools, magnet schools choose their students through the lottery. Unfortunately, the deadline for applying to magnets has passed. The nearest neighborhood school is Dyett High School, which is not a high performing school. I am sorry to break this news to you. You might see if some of the charter schools are still options. While their deadlines have also passed, many of them scramble to fill seats and will accept students after the actual deadline.
Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 10:45 AMBy: Karp Corrections At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Ms. Karp,

First, Kenwood is also a neighborhood school. If SE Parent lives within its boundaries her daughter may attend.

Second, while you're correct that Dyett is not a high performing school, most of the charter schools are not high performing either.
Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 1:54 PMBy: SE Parent At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Okay, you almost had me scared for a moment...lol. I knew kenwood is a neighborhood school. I'm going to try to arrange a tour of the school for my daughter. The school doesn't look bad on the outside. Looks nice & clean. I just hope she can get a great education there. That's most that I'm worried about.
Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 2:03 PMBy: to kenwood mom At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy google kenwood and selective enrollment--you will find you are not alone.

http://www.ednews.org/articles/chicago-selective-enrollment-high-schools-face-huge-demand-for-few-spots.html
Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 2:45 PMBy: SE parent At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Hmmm..anyone think Kenwood could work as a selective enrollment school?

I was looking at their test scores, and they're not BAD, but they aren't great. From what research I've done in the past 2 days, they rank 2nd as a neighborhood school--Lincoln park being number 1. It also came to my surprise that they have higher scores than King college prep. weird?

Im not getting too worried with the more research I do, but I still do like to hear others opinions about the school b/c i still don't know much.

Im happy I'm not the only parent that's going threw this, but I feel bad for the children who have to deal with this. The CPS system is a big ole mess.
Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 7:21 PMBy: to parent At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy go to Lincoln park--trust me--go. Glad you will visit Kenwd; you will see that I am right. Those older boys, who think that they are young men, will think your daughter is lady gaga and treat her that way. It is not your responsibility to integrate this school. How many all white students are there--and do NOT count the 7-8th graders--who leave because they test out to other high schools--this is real data. (The charter is not that hot.)
The social dynamic is so wrong there. This is NOT the school's fault. They have had to keep the 7-8th grade girls away from these older boys. sad sad.
Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 9:12 PMBy: SE Parent At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Wow!! lady gaga?!! I do know a few white parents who daughters and sons who went there(for 9-12th). They didn't too much care for the principle, but they gave nice remarks about the academics(mind you these are only TWO parents I've talked to). Their kids weren't picked on to my knowledge though. Thanks for the info..? It still wasn't enough information about the school. I did hear the kids there were a bit troubling from hyde park residents, & the local newspaper--Hyde park herald.

Does any horrid things go on at lincoln park that I should know about? I've heard only good things...but that's only about their double honors & IB program. If I do make a huge move like that, I don't think she would be in those programs b/c we didn't apply.

We really had our hearts set on her going to a SE school. And she did REALLY well on the test!!!
Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 8:46 AMBy: Mel8730 At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy This is to SE parent - my daughter is currently enrolled in the Academic Center at Kenwood, in the 8th grade. She will remain at Kenwood, in the Magnet program for highschool. While test scores for the school as a whole, are not the best, they are improving. As you correctly noted, the scores are better then King's, which is a SE school.

Your daughter will be fine at the school. She will not be the only white girl enrolled. I wish the school had more diversity, but that's not going to happen until neighborhood people, such as yourself, enroll their children in the school.

As to the comment that the 7th and 8th graders test out and leave, that simply is not true. Over 90% of the 8th graders stay at Kenwood - this is real data.
Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 12:29 PMBy: SE parent At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Thank you, Mel8730!! Your comment seems honest. My daughter didn't attend the neighborhood feeder school(canter) She attended disney. So that's mostly why we don't know much about kenwood. When she went to ray, we never really heard much about kenwood. I've only read stories and have heard news threw the grapevine.

My daughter will attend kenwood in the fall. If she doesn't like it, I'll plan to transfer her out. Which i hope is NOT the case b/c i hate jumping my daughter school to school.
Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 2:14 PMBy: SE parent At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Mel8730, if you don't mind me asking. what race is your child? and what made you keep your child @ kenwood? Is the faculty and the schools curriculum good/challenging there? Just curious..
Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 3:50 PMBy: kenwood's real data At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy First-is the test data including the 7-8th grade scores with the HS scores? So of course, they would be higher--they go down after those scores are taken out and since students DO leave for WYHS and Jones CP.
(One reason why Kenwood 'looks' like it is better than King CP.)
Second, 90% you say--how many do not even go to Kenwood from Ray or Murray? They go to the 7-8th grade at WYHS. What is THAT #? How many who attend Kenwood's 7-8th grade have the scores to get into WYHS? What is that number? How many go to UC lab for HS that are in Kenwd's boundaries? Maybe if the black community of HP was more welcoming to others, there would be more who would attend Kenwood. This schools glory days are long over. And mother, why in the world did you NOT apply for your child to go to an SEHS? It will not be that easy to pull her out and send her somewhere else AFTER scholl has started.
Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 6:22 PMBy: To kenwood's real data At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Actually, no. The data excludes 7-8th grade scores. This isn't the first time that kenwood has out performed king college prep in test scores either. King isn't even making AYP. kenwood IS. King is also on academic watch status for the SECOND year...in a row. That's one heck of a college prep school, eh?

To SE parent: Your child will LOVE kenwood. Kenwood has some AMAZING teachers! And if she plays an instrument or sing, she will adore their music department. They're one of the best in the city, if not the state!!

Faults of the school: It lacks diversity, and they due have some rude students mind you. But what neighborhood school doesn't?
Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 6:34 PMBy: Kenwood is great... At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Like the previous comment, you can do A LOT worse than kenwood. Trust me. My child's neighborhood school is Amundsen. The only good neighborhood schools are is Lincoln park and kenwood. That's it. Sad, but true.

Kenwood's glory days are not over. They have a great principle now, have been increasing in ACT and state exams each year, and the school is no longer overcrowded like it once was.

I do wish it was kenwood that got the magnet status than king though...
Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 7:31 PMBy: Take Kenwoods 7th & 8th grade scores out At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Using the the Interactive Illinois Report card sponsered by ISBE, it is clearly the 7th and 8th grade ISAT scores that make the school's composite 62%. If you take the 7th & 8th grade scores out then only compare PSAE scores in 2009 Kenwood is 45% and King is 43%. Kenwood is not making AYP in Math and yes King is not making AYP in either area and the state has them on academic watch for the second year in a row. Please check out the data before blogging. http://iirc.niu.edu/
Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 8:11 PMBy: Kenwood is great... At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Kenwood test scores are STILL higher than king even if you take them out. King's test scores having been dropping , while kenwood has been rising. Kenwood is making AYP in reading. King is not making them in ANY area. I checked out the facts; And the fact that kenwood test scores have risen while having to take low performing students from low performing schools, show's that the school is improving. What is kings excuse?

Kenwood or any neighborhood school should NOT be out performing a SE school. It shouldn't even be close.
Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 8:18 PMBy: To Kenwood is great At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Yes, you are right since King tests its students it should be doing better. However, everyone was blogging about Kenwood's scores being so high when they are actually 2% higher than King's once you take out the 7th & 8th grade scores. Rumor has it that Kenwood purposely sabotages their 7th graders to keep them at Kenwood to improve the scores. I don't know if they purposely lower grades in reading, math, science and social studies but they are desperately trying to keep their Academic Center students at the school. I never said that Kenwood wasn't great, I was just providing facts.
Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 8:30 PMBy: kenwood is great,... At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy 2 percent or 1 percent. Fact is, they're higher than king. Do you have something against kenwood? I was just trying to get across that Kenwood or lincoln park are nice schools if a kid doesn't make it into a SE school. Kenwood isn't as bad as people try to make it out to be.

Now I haven't heard that about academic center. That's news to me. Do you have more info on what they've been doing? Tho, IMO, I think with the new way CPS is doing the SE selection, I do see a see more kids from Kenwood's Academic center staying there for 9-12. Do you have any thoughts about that?
Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 8:55 PMBy: To Kenwood At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy I have nothing against Kenwood my sons are in elementary school. I like presenting parents with facts and nothing else. Parents on this blog and district299 blog have been saying Kenwood is sabotaging the 7th & 8th graders. I have no proof of this, I'm going by what has been said on the blogs.
Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 9:06 PMBy: kenwood is great.. At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy I had no ideal that this was happening. Do you have a link to the blog which you read that on? I would honestly like to know what's going on.
Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 11:10 PMBy: To kenwood At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy It was either on Catalyst or district299.com. You may be able to search for it but I believe both serach engines don't pick up the comments. I think it may be under the selective enrollment changes on both or one of the blogs.
Tue Mar 23, 2010 at 8:49 AMBy: Mel8730 At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy To SE Parent - My daughter is biracial. She is staying at Kenwood for a number of reasons:

1 - Even though my daughter wants to stay at Kenwood, I applied for a SE school so that she could have a choice. She wasn't accepted at a SE school. I decided not to apply for the principal selection, because I thought the whole admissions process this year was ridiculous, and didn't want to be involved with it anymore.

2 - We went to the open house at Jones. While there, we received a copy of a typical student's curriculum. My daughter is already taking classes that were freshman classes at Jones. Since she started at the Academic Center at Kenwood in 7th grade, she's had highschool classes. She currently has all honors classes, that are freshman and sophomore level. If she continues to do well, she will take be taking AP classes by her junior year.

3 - Kenwood offers a large number of AP classes. I believe they offer the most out of any neighborhood school.

4 - Kenwood still has the Bridge program, where students can take classes at college campuses. CPS cut the program last year, but Kenwood decided to keep it going. One of Kenwood's Bridge partners is the Univ. of Chicago.

5 - The administration held a meeting for eighth grade parents last December, to answer questions regarding keeping our kids at Kenwood. The meeting was very informative. We heard from teachers, former students and parents. One parent who spoke has a child at Kenwood, and one at Whitney Young. The parent talked about the difficulties he had working with the administration at WY regarding the classes his child was taking. He said the attititude was take it or leave it. He found just the opposite attitude at Kenwood.

6 - I like the Magnet program at Kenwood.

7. The mission at Kenwood is college, and that everyone who goes to college, goes with money. The administration is focused on obtaining scholarship money for the college bound students. One young man who graduated last year, received over $1 million in scholarship money. He received more than any other CPS student.

8. I truly believe Kenwood is making positive changes and am happy to be a part of this. It's time to start fighting for our neighborhood schools.
Tue Mar 23, 2010 at 8:59 AMBy: Mel8730 At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy To Kenwood's Real Data - I have to respond to a couple of your comments. My daughter went to Kenwood from Murray, and a large number of her Murray classmates are at Kenwood. To be honest, I was surprised at how many Murray students are at Kenwood. Kenwood's glory days are long from over. They are making strides every year in the right direction.
Tue Mar 23, 2010 at 10:06 AMBy: SE parent At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Mel8730, thank you for all of your input. Me and my daughter will be touring the school next week. I am starting to feel better about her attending the school. And I do like the opportunity they have with the Uni of Chicago. Though, I still am worried, b/c of the other stories I've heard about the school....like violence, gangs, ect But no school is perfect, I guess. I just pray those things won't be a threat to my daughter.
Tue Mar 23, 2010 at 11:01 AMBy: Mel8730 At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy You're welcome SE parent! Good luck to you and your daughter. I hope you get a chance to meet with the principal, Ms. Kirby.

I question my daughter quite frequently about fights at the school, bad behavior, etc. She said she's heard of one fight so far this school year. I have been in the school on several occasions, most recently last Tuesday. I was surprised how clean the school was, at the end of the day. I have heard nothing about a gang problem at Kenwood. However, I will admit, that gangs are probably a problem for CPS as a whole. The gangs are more prevalent at some schools. I haven't found this to be the case at Kenwood. I'm not saying that Kenwood is a perfect school. Actually I don't think any school is perfect. I have a friend with a daughter at Walter Payton. My friend frequently has to tell her daughter to stop studying and go to bed. Apparently the girl does nothing but school work to stay on top. That is not the atmosphere that I want for my daughter. That's just me.

Again, good luck to you and your daughter and let us know your thoughts after the tour.
Tue Mar 23, 2010 at 11:09 AMBy: SE parent At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Mel8730, I sure will! I walked past the school yesterday after school let out . I was happy to see teachers and i think some administration from the school outside with the students to make sure everyone was getting home or on the bus safe.
Tue Mar 23, 2010 at 4:37 PMBy: keeping grades low at Kenwood At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy for years it has been whispered that the 7-8th grade kenwd teachers grade students low to KEEP them at Kenwood when they apply for high school. Since these students have high ISAT scores for 7-8th grade, then low report card grades would be very suspect. This could be proof that teachers are purposely grading low to keep them as freshmen at Kenwd or NOT offering an instructional program that challenges them. I wonder if the HYde pk Herald would be interested in this data?
Tue Mar 23, 2010 at 10:18 PMBy: To keeping grades low at Kenwood At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Thats a lie. Both of my children were "preppies" at kenwood and 1 attended Young, and the other stayed at kenwood which was HIS choice, because he loved the jazz band and concert choir there.

Both of my sons were A honor students. Kenwood's academic center has the same grading policy as Whitney Young.

See, this is the reason why neighborhood schools can't and don't work. Cause of lies and he say she say BS. That makes parents not want to send their child there. Unless you have factual proof of that "data" keep your mouth shut! Gosh...

Ps: My other son didn't stay at kenwood because he didn't like the school. He did. He choose to leave because kenwood's sports teams suck.
Wed Apr 14, 2010 at 3:07 PMBy: edgewater rose At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy even if you are in Lincoln Park school district, you have to apply to IB program. outside of that, Kenwood's academics are better than Lincoln Park-- more students (excluding IB) take APs at Kenwood. Kenwood students are more impressive than King students. Principal is great. Sports is not so good but everyone does cross country. Music is good. Debate is good. Languages are good. easy to find trouble if you want it, you can avoid it easily. Not very much racial diversity but pretty diverse in all other ways. there are more white, jewish, hispanic, asian, native, and FOREIGN EXCHANGE students than there were a few years ago (can no longer count white students on fingers of one hand).
Wed May 5, 2010 at 12:10 PMBy: S.allen At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy I agree with the statement, this is why there are problems recruiting for our neighborhood schools because of misconceptions and non- factual information. Which leads me to information given about King College Prep, and I am not basing this on heresay, but on facts. There are actually ONLY FOUR CPS SCHOOLS THAT MADE AYP in past two years and they are: Young, Payton, Northside, Jones. King College Pre did not meet AYP in only ONE area and that was math. However, this year will be different because, King scores were(past tense)not the hightest but were not low. Because of the past graduating students who scores were low coming in, but that all about to change, because King has raised their entrance examines scores based 66ton the students who are now coming to King. Recently, students at King took the Explore exam ( pre ACT test) and scored higher than the past graduating students which is an indication that these new incoming students will bring the scores up during their ACT examination. I believe that King college is THE one to look for. One parent informed me that she took her daughter to the orientation and they already have homework assignments over the summer and the assigments are no joke!!! and they will be tested during the first week of shcool on the information sent home in these packets. Also, the principal was the former AP at Jones college, a Harvard graduate and is young and full of energy. He is determine to put his school up there with the top ranking SE. So Look out!!!
Wed May 5, 2010 at 12:35 PMBy: New SE parent At busy board meeting, race back in mix in magnet and selective school admission policy Kenwood is a good school, my daughter was in the AC(academic center) and is going to a SE this year. Reason, she was little to sociable so her dad felt she needed a change. The teachers are committed to the students and do support them. If your child is focused he/she will do well at Kenwood or any school for that matter! Safety is key and I totally agree with concerns around that, however, during the two years my daughter was there, she had no incidents with violence, etc.

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