catalyst-chicago.org

In summer school earlier this year, "James," a 6th-grader at Howe Elementary, was having a run of bad days. He had enrolled at Howe a couple of years earlier and had some minor discipline problems, but soon became a star student.

Then came an abrupt switch. "He was talking back and was disrespectful to teachers," says Sanya Gool, Howe's social worker for the past six years. Even though she is responsible for nearly 700 students, Gool remembers James well.

A new study of teacher quality in three Midwestern states validates a well-known fact: That poor and minority children are more likely to be taught by teachers who lack experience, are uncertified or have flunked basic skills tests.

The states and districts studied have a long way to go, according to the report, to meet a No Child Left Behind deadline next month to submit plans for ensuring that their low-income and minority students have equal access to qualified teachers.

The late G. Alfred Hess Jr. studied Chicago schools for

more than 25 years, first as a post-doctoral fellow at Northwestern University,

then as executive director of the Chicago Panel on Public School Policy and

Finance and, for the last 10 years, as director of Northwestern's Center on

Urban School Policy. Before his death on Jan. 27, he shared his insights on

school reform under Mayor Richard M. Daley with Catalyst Publisher Linda Lenz.